In the UK Championship quarterfinals on Friday, Mark Selby will face Judd Trump, who has been called the “player of the season by a long stretch,” and he acknowledges that he will “be up against it.”
A thrilling final eight matchup has Selby taking on Trump as the main attraction, closely followed by a rematch between previous champions Mark Williams and Ding Junhui.
As he portrays Zhou Yuelong, Ronnie O’Sullivan is sure to draw a lot of attention, and Hossein Vafaei plays Zhang Anda, the campaign’s surprise star.
After winning three ranking titles already this year, Selby looks to be in excellent form this week. On Wednesday night, he defeated Barry Hawkins 6-5, but he knows that Trump will be a tough test season and giving up just one frame in two York games.
“Judd is the player of the season by far,” Selby declared following his victory over Hawkins to Eurosport. “Won three tournaments and made it to the finals of two more.” He is unquestionably the guy to beat and the man in form.
“I’m going to face challenges.” To have a chance, I’ll need to play somewhere like that or the performance against Mark Joyce. I look forward to the challenge and the game.
Although Ding has a winning record versus Williams, he has not defeated the three-time world champion since 2016 and has lost to him in both of their matches this year.
On Thursday afternoon, Zhou Yuelong defeated John Higgins once more, this time without the need for a decisive frame after Ronnie O’Sullivan had defeated Rob Milkins 6-5 in his opening match in York.
When they square up on Friday afternoon, the in-form Chinese star—who is hoping to defeat the Rocket for the first time—said, “Ronnie’s my idol, but I believe I can beat him.”
Zhang Anda and Hossein Vafaei, who are both fighting in their first UK Championship quarterfinals, are arguably the two guys displaying the best form of the entire field.
Vafaei defeated Shaun Murphy in the opening round after advancing through qualification, and on Thursday night, he crushed Matt Selt 6-1 while scoring three hundreds.
This season, Zhang has already made it to the English Open final and won the International Championship by surprising everyone.
The 31-year-old has advanced to the last eight of the season with victories over world champion Luca Brecel and Elliot Slessor. He has never made it to a semifinal in his career before this one, so he will be hoping for his third this season.
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