Defending champion Judd Trump scraped into the semi-finals of the European Masters after Mark Allen fought back from 3-0 behind to force the deciding frame in Lommel.
Trump was in complete control in the early stages of the match, with a run of 58 giving him the opening frame, before a swift 88 doubled his lead. When a scrappier third frame also went to Trump it looked very much like he was going to have an easy afternoon, but the Northern Irishman had other ideas. In the fourth frame Allen got his first on the board whilst keeping up his record of making a century in every match so far this week, with a 102 break on this occasion. A 76 in the fifth frame confirmed that Allen was certainly still in the match, despite a six point at the end of the break that brought on a long battle for snookers from Trump that certainly could have been avoided.
The sixth frame then looked like it could have been the key one in the turnaround in fortunes in the match. It was a scrappy affair with both players having chances before the frame came down to the colours. When the defending champion's chance came he only needed brown, blue and pink for victory but he missed match ball pink and Allen eventually potted pink and black to force a deciding frame that looked very unlikely an hour or so beforehand. After fighting so hard though, Allen's hard work was undone by one unfortunate bump of the middle pocket. That saw Trump left in with reds open and the subsequent 70 contribution was more than enough to see him survive and make the last four in Lommel.
In the semi-finals he will play one of two Chinese players who will be on ranking semi-final debut on Saturday as he faces Cao Yupeng. Cao took out Mark Williams in the opening match on quarter-finals day 4-2. Williams started brightly by taking the first frame in quick time thanks to a break of 75. He had an early opening in the second frame but when Cao's opportunity came it was gratefully received, with a run of 73 levelling the match up. More one visit play followed from the man who was only in his second ranking quarter-final, as he made a 76 in the next to move 2-1 ahead. That lead did not last long though as the Welshman waded in with a century break of 102 to level the match. Cao managed to get back in front at 3-2 and after taking an early lead in the sixth frame, Williams came back at him but could not complete the clearance and Cao was able to complete the job.
The second Chinese player who will be in the semi-finals for the first time is Zhou Yuelong as he emphatically halted the run of Anthony McGill with a whitewash win. Both players had chances in the opening two frames, but a key point came in the second frame when Zhou came from 53 points adrift and won the frame on the black to double his lead at 2-0. From there he did not look back nor even concede another point in the match, showing along the way why so many believe in his ability and what he can achieve in the game. Back to back centuries of 138 and 136 finished the job in the style of a true champion, and if he continues playing like that he will take some stopping this weekend.
The man with the task of ending his run tomorrow will be Stuart Bingham after he defeated world champion Mark Selby 4-2. Selby has been on thin ice all week, despite playing well and scoring heavily at times, having come through three deciders in the earlier rounds and having come from behind in both his last 32 and last 16 games. The first two frames of this contest were shared after a 65 in the opener from Bingham was countered by 61 from Selby to level at 1-1. From there though, the 2015 world champion took control with a break of 83 in the third being followed up with a magnificent 113 in the fourth to put him 3-1 up and one frame from the semi-finals. Things are never that simple though (as Bingham will remember from the 2013 Masters where he squandered a 5-1 lead against Selby in the first round) and Selby clung on by winning the fifth frame after Bingham had a couple of half chances. In the sixth though he made sure of victory and avoided the dreaded decider by compiling a 65 to complete victory.
Semi-Final Draw:
Judd Trump Vs Cao Yupeng
Stuart Bingham Vs Zhou Yuelong
Obviously, Trump and Bingham will be the favourites to make the final from here and set up a repeat of the epic Welsh Open final where Bingham ran out victorious in February to win his first ranking title since the 2015 world championship. Although, the two Chinese players will have other ideas and have been playing well this week and this season overall. Despite being in the semi-finals for the first time, Zhou was a quarter-finalist just a few weeks ago in the China Championship; while Cao has finally kicked on and backed up the fact that he has qualified for every event this year and comes into this fresh from making the last 16 in the World Open after a poor couple of years.
Cao and Zhou both making the semi-finals this week confirms that the Chinese revolution is well and truly on. Their involvement in the last four now means that five Chinese players will have made a ranking semi-final for the first time in their careers inside of the last year. Yu De Lu started this off at the back end of 2016 by reaching the semi-finals in Scotland, while Li Hang achieved this feat in August at the China Championship and tour rookie Xu Si managed it last month in India. Add to that the fact that Zhang Anda made a ranking quarter-final debut in India and the achievements of Yan Bingtao in his rookie season (qualifying for the Crucible, making a ranking quarter-final and several last 16 appearances in addition) and I believe these are very exciting times on the tour.
In my view, I think it would be great to see both Cao and Zhou make it to the final as they are two fantastic players, and Zhou in particular has the potential to become a multiple ranking event winner. They have played so well this week but tomorrow brings a different pressure and they may be affected by nerves in the early stages.
Add to that the fact that Bingham looks to have found his form this week and that Trump will be very hard to beat also and in all probability we will see an all-English final instead.
Even though the matches are stretched to the best-of-11 frames for the semi-finals, anything can happen and whatever the outcome both games should be great spectacles.
No comments:
Post a Comment