Mark Allen v Chang Bingyu live stream | Scottish Open Semi-Final preview
Allen is eyeing his second Scottish Open title this weekend (Credit: Colin Poultney)
Mark Allen bids to reach his second Scottish Open final when he locks horns with Chang Bingyu in Edinburgh on Saturday.
The second semi-final at the Meadowbank Sports Centre pits the highest-ranked remaining player against the rising star that has already eliminated two former World champions this week.
English Open champion Allen has maintained his record of reaching every semi-final in this season’s Home Nations, having also been defeated by Judd Trump at this stage of the Northern Ireland Open.
The Pistol, who lifted the Stephen Hendry trophy in 2018, will secure the BetVictor bonus of £150,000 if he doubles up in the Scottish capital this year.
Allen arrived off the back of successive first-round exits at the UK Championship and Shoot Out, but reeled off eight frames without reply in his opening two matches against Ishpreet Singh Chadha and Wang Yuchen.
The world number 10 then edged out Zhang Anda in a deciding frame before defeating Joe O’Connor 5-2 to reach his 45th ranking semi-final.
Contrastingly, this is the first ranking semi-final appearance of Chang’s career, and he has certainly earned it this week.
Having beaten Xu Yichen and Xu Si in October to qualify for the main stages, the Chinese then overcame Stephen Maguire, Si Jiahui and Kyren Wilson for the loss of just four frames.
World number 70 Chang, who returned to the tour at the start of the season after winning the Asia-Pacific Championship, then ended Mark Selby’s run of 12 straight victories with a 5-3 win in their quarter-final showdown.
He now looks to claim another scalp this week in Allen; a player he has already beaten this season at the Saudi Arabia Masters.
Although, a good omen for the Pistol is the fact he went on to lift the trophy following his most recent victory over Chang at the 2022 Northern Ireland Open.
Either Chris Wakelin or Matthew Selt await the winner of this clash in Sunday’s final.
The match breaks off at 7pm GMT on Saturday and will be contested over the best of 11 frames at Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh.
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