2020 WSF Junior Open | Semi-Finals Set in Malta

The semi-finalists for the 2020 World Snooker Federation Junior Open are now known following the completion of the opening knockout rounds in Malta over the past few days.

England’s Sean Maddocks, the Republic of Ireland’s Aaron Hill and Chinese pairing of Yi Ze Wu and Yang Gao remain in the event, where the winner will not only receive the prestigious title, but also a lucrative two-year professional tour card for the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons.

Maddocks, officially recognised as the youngest player to have made a 147 break in competitive play, will face Hill, the current European Under-18 Champion.

Both players qualified for the knockout stages after qualifying top of their groups with 100% records. Maddocks subsequently eliminated Bradley Tyson (Wales), Antoni Kowalski (Poland) and Jovan Todorovic (Serbia), while Hill ended the hopes of Lewis Ullah (England), Attila Horváth (Hungary) and Oliver Sykes (England).

Compatriots Yi and Yang will contest the other last four affair, both hoping to make the step up to the top tier of the sport and join the growing contingent of young Chinese players on the full-time circuit.

Like Maddocks and Hill, Yi is undefeated. After heading Group D, the 16-year-old saw off recent Beverly World Cup quarter-finalist Ben Mertens (Belgium) 3-1 in the last 32. Then, in arguably the match of the tournament so far, he ousted another Belgian in Julian Leclercq 3-2 during the last 16, where Yi compiled breaks of 106, 85 and 100 to counteract efforts of 83 and 55 from Leclercq. Yi then denied 2019 Snooker Shootout star Ryan Davies (England) 4-2 in the quarter-finals. Yang finished second in his group before defeating Mickey Joyce (England), recent Challenge Tour event winner Dean Young (Scotland) and Kreishh Gurbaxani (India).

Both semi-finals will be live streamed on the World Snooker Federation Facebook page with Maddocks v Hill scheduled for 14.00GMT and Yi v Yang set for 18.00GMT. The 2020 WSF Junior Open best-of-9-frames final will take place on Thursday at 11.00GMT; this too will be live streamed

For full results throughout the competition, please visit snookerscores.net here.