Graeme Dott has maintained the fine start he made to his Betfred.com World Championship semi-final against Mark Selby, building a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval.
The 2006 champion was the outsider for the match but has taken control of proceedings so far, kicking off with a break of 79 in the opener and could even have whitewashed Selby in the first half-session as he had chances in the only frame his opponent won.
Breaks of 70 and 48 claimed the last two frames before the break for Dott, whose form during this event has been a revelation and he is actually performing much better now than when he captured the crown four years ago.
He is still not the favourite for the match though. Selby remains the ‘jolly’ at 4/7, with Dott in to 5/4, essentially because 17 frames are required to win a match that could potentially go on late into Saturday night.
And Betfred still have Selby as the Evens favourite to lift the trophy, the price to which he was cut after a big bet was laid following his win over Ronnie O’Sullivan last night.
Dott is now 5/1, trimmed a point from his odds before today’s action began. Neil Robertson, who leads 6-2 against Ali Carter, is a 7/4 chance and his opponent 8/1.
Incidentally, for any darts fans out there, leading PDC players Colin Osborne and Andy Hamilton are at the Crucible tonight, suited and booted and enjoying the action!
