Selby, Ding, Allen and Bingham make up Shanghai Semi's

Mark Selby, Ding Junhui, Mark Allen and Stuart Bingham all won today to be the 4 players who make up the semi-final line-up at the Shanghai Masters after they saw off Fergal O'Brien, Graeme Dott, Michael White and Alan McManus respectively. Mark Allen survived a big scare as Michael White wiped out Allen's 4-1 lead to force a decider but luckily for the Northern Irishman he was able to win it and book his last 4 place. Elsewhere in the opening session Mark Selby had to scrap hard at times but after some lengthy safety battles in certain frames he whitewashed Fergal O'Brien 5-0. In the Shanghai evening Stuart Bingham eased past Alan McManus 5-1 while home favourite Ding Junhui was the victor in the only all-top 16 clash in the quarter-finals by beating Shaun Murphy's victor Graeme Dott 5-2 to continue his title defence.


Quarter-Final Results:


Ding Junhui 5-2 Graeme Dott
Stuart Bingham 5-1 Alan McManus
Mark Allen 5-4 Michael White
Mark Selby 5-0 Fergal O'Brien

Semi-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ding Junhui Vs Stuart Bingham - Ding Junhui has been gradually improving as the weeks gone on this week and has also been gradually improving as games go on which is of even more importance now that we've reached the best of 11 frames semi-finals. At 3-2 up against Graeme Dott the game was in the balance but from their the Chinaman made breaks of 101 and 56 as Dott only managed another 15 points in the match showing how Ding always comes to the fore at the key stages of a match, which is the making of a true champion. Stuart has been playing quite fluently this week looking at the breaks he's been making, although as you'd expect things didn't seem to be as fluent for him today against Alan McManus. Although from 1-1 against Alan, Stuart won all of the next 4 frames as the Scot only scored 27 points in the first 3 of those showing how Bingham was able to dominate things against a player that is very tough to dominate. Both of these guys are in good form and I expect this to go close, but often when things go close it comes down to that factor of who's able to come good at the right time and that player is often Ding Junhui when he's in any kind of form.


Mark Selby Vs Mark Allen - These 2 guys had quarter-finals of varying difficulty levels today as Mark Selby whitewashed Fergal O'Brien while Mark Allen's match with Michael White went the full distance. These 2 last met as recently as the Riga Open final which Selby won 4-3 from 3-0 down which sums up once more the type of player he is. Mark Allen is in great form though as he showed in bouncing straight back to win the next ET event, and I'm often impressed by Allen's own strength of character which was needed again today as he watched his 3 frame lead disappear in an instant. Having had breaks of 83,74 and 55 to lead 4-1 he then had to watch as Michael White made breaks of 85, 83 and 76 to force a deciding frame. Mark held it together though to win a scrappy decider and take the match. Selby's match may not seem close by the score line but it was only the first and last frames where Selby was dominant with breaks of 75 and 76 but the 3 frames in between went down to safety and were very close. If it comes down to tactical play tomorrow Selby has the obvious strength but both players are in the mood to take their chances when they get them and that will be the really key factor. Their matches are always close and although it seems like Selby has an edge I expect Allen to edge this one as he's in great form and has something to prove and learn from after their last meeting.




With the 4 players we have left in the Shanghai Masters we can guarantee another top 16 ranking event winner with 2 of the top 3 in the world left in the tournament and we know that it will certainly be a good standard of snooker needed to win the title on Sunday.