UK Championship semi-final predictions and snooker betting tips

Free snooker tips, best bets and analysis for Kyren Wilson v Luca Brecel and Barry Hawkins v Zhao Xintong on Saturday.

Where to watch

BBC Two, 1pm Saturday

Best bet

Kyren Wilson -1.5 frames
1pt 4-5 bet365

Zhao Xintong
1pt 6-5 bet365, Betfred

Preview

The UK Championship, a tournament which rarely springs surprises, has broken the mould this year with almost all of the fancied runners falling by the wayside to leave an unlikely final four in York.

Kyren Wilson is the only top-ten player remaining and will perhaps not have a better chance of a first Major success.

The 29-year-old beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-5 in the quarter-finals and Belgian Luca Brecel now stands between him and a place in the final.

Before that final-frame decider with the Rocket, Wilson had won all of his previous matches by at least three frames and he is taken to overcome the two-frame handicap set by the layers.

Brecel has played some lovely stuff to get this far but could come up just short.

In the other semi-final, Barry Hawkins takes on Chinese youngster Zhao Xintong.

Hawkins has enjoyed a fairly serene passage to the last four and beat surprise package Andy Hicks 6-1 in the quarters. In fact, Hawkins has faced only one player in the world’s top 50 in York, Matthew Selt.

Zhao, on the other hand, has beaten Jack Lisowski and John Higgins en route to the semi-finals and mixing it with those quality operators could be to his advantage as he seeks a place in a first ranking final.

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