Mark Allen vs Guodong Xiao Prediction: Allen won’t fall the second time

The 2024 Champion of Champions encounter enters the semifinal stage, and in this one, Mark Allen will play Guodong Xiao. Both players are doing well and will hope for a positive outcome. Can Mark Allen get a revenge win, having lost the last meeting of this fixture?

Mark Allen faces another tough test against his Chinese opponent after losing 6-2 in their last meeting. However, heading into this game, the Northern Irish has been playing well in this Champion of Champions, defeating Jak Jones and Igor Figueiredo in games that ended 4-2 and 6-4. However, in his last encounters prior to this tournament, Mark Allen lost to Oliver Lines and Guodong Xiao, while his wins were against Aaron Hill and Hongyu Liu. 

Guodong Xiao has been decent in this Champion of Champions tournament, and there is more to expect from him. In his first match, Guodong Xiao defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan and then went on to pull off a hard-fought victory over Mark Selby. However, in his prior encounters with this competition, Guodong Xiao won four of five matches, defeating Jackson Page, Jack Lisowski, Mark Allen, and Ricky, his only defeat coming against Chris Wakelin, all in the China International Championship. 

I will bet on Mark Allen to win this encounter. While Guodong Xiao has had decent performances in recent times and also won the last meeting of this fixture, everything still indicates that Mark Allen is the better player. This could go down to the wire, but in this game, I trust Mark Allen to make it to the finals.