McManus rolls back the years to make Crucible Semi's

A stunning display from Alan McManus has seen him get back into the semi-finals of the World Championships at the age of 45, as he came back from 11-9 down with four consecutive frames to beat fellow Scot and good friend John Higgins 13-11. Let's not forget that Angles came through has already beaten another Scot and friend Stephen Maguire in the Last 32 and came back from 9-7 to beat Ali Carter 13-11 in the Last 16. In qualifying he overcame Jimmy Robertson (who I heavily fancied to qualify) 10-2, David Morris 10-6 and Michael Wasley 10-5 so it has been an incredible run and the thing that is most impressive is the scoring. A certain publication that shall remain nameless talked about McManus before his quarter-final match with Higgins saying that he was "Back laying a sneaky snooker or two and cobbling together the odd unconvincing 30 break". I hope the writer of that one was watching his final session against Higgins lets just say that much.

He will now play another qualifier in Ding Junhui who came through his match with Mark Williams without anything close to a test, winning with a session to spare. Many people have tweeted me saying "Ding is not really a qualifier". I recognise that as a man who until this year had been in the top 16 or a long period of time and was world number one not too long ago, it is hard to see him as a qualifier. At the same time these people should recognise that Ding has had to come through three qualifying rounds the same as Alan McManus has done and the same as the other 14 players who qualified at Ponds Forge for their trip to the Crucible. It takes some doing, and it takes a lot of mental strength to deal with such a fall from grace. The wisdom of Terry Griffiths will certainly have helped but the Chinese player has really shown all of the determination that it requires to become a world champion.

In the other semi-final we have Mark Selby and Marco Fu. Firstly, Selby overcame another qualifier in Kyren Wilson 13-8, after leading 6-0 at one stage and in the end it could have been a lot closer in my opinion had Wilson capitalised more on a poor second session from the current world number one.

As for Marco Fu he played out one of the all-time Crucible classics against Barry Hawkins. Hawkins was not at the races after his victory against Ronnie O'Sullivan in round two and soon found himself in a seemingly hopeless position, 9-1 down to the man from Hong Kong. Hawkins came back to just trail 10-6 going into the final session and that deficit was soon reduced further to 10-9. Fu took a very important frame twenty before the final mid-session break to lead 11-9 and then went one away at 12-9. He missed opportunities in the next to seal a 13-9 victory and soon found himself just 12-11 up and almost certain to go to a decider at 60-0 down with just 75 points remaining. A remarkable clearance though saw him avoid any nervous final frames and book his place at the one table set-up in Sheffield for the first time since 2006.

Quarter-Final Results:

Alan McManus 13-11 John Higgins
Ding Junhui 13-3 Mark Williams
Marco Fu 13-11 Barry Hawkins
Mark Selby 13-8 Kyren Wilson

Semi-Final Draw:

Ding Junhui Vs Alan McManus - Prediction: 17-12 victory for Ding Junhui
Mark Selby Vs Marco Fu - Prediction: 17-14 to Mark Selby

I cannot quite get over the brilliant line-up that we have this year. Starting with the first semi-final many people thought that going through qualifying was the kick that Ding Junhui needed to really sort himself out and finally have a run at winning the World Championship. He will not have it all his own way against Alan McManus as we have already seen in this tournament. McManus has plenty of belief in himself and all the experience to undo Ding on the one-table situation at the Crucible. However, I also think there is a bit to be said for the day off that Ding has had compared to Alan's late night battle and whether that will have a bearing on the first session or two in this contest.

As for Selby and Fu that really is a tough one to call. Selby showed more signs of his best against Kyren Wilson and is getting better as each round goes along, as you need to do at the Crucible if you're going to win the coveted prize. Fu though has played well himself. Against Ebdon he was on fire and the final session against McGill in round two he found that same touch after a bit of a slow burner. After Hawkins started slowly Fu was able to put himself a long way ahead and kept his cool brilliantly with a couple of crucial clearances to go 11-9 ahead and then win the match at 13-11. Fu has not been to the one table set-up as often as he should have been for a man of his quality, and for the amount of time that he has been in the game on top of that. He certainly will not be a pushover for Selby. The one up that the 'Jester from Leicester' has on the rest of the field is that he has been world champion. He knows how to handle the 17 days in Sheffield and come out on top. His best asset of grinding out results in sessions and matches when he has not fired on all cylinders has been in full force during this tournament but now is certainly the time for him to step up.


It's going to be a really exciting conclusion to this years World Championship, and with all the twists and turns I would not like to pick the player out of these four who will lift the trophy on Monday evening. Enjoy everyone.