17-year-old Chinese sensation Yan Bingtao has kept his sensational run going in the International Championship by beating John Higgins 6-2 to make it into the semi-finals.
Yan has already beaten Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ricky Walden and an in-form Jack Lisowski but today was his toughest test in only his second ranking quarter-final. He was off to a quick start though once again as he has been all week, taking the first three frames against the Scotsman looking calm and composed. On the way he made a break of 52 in the opener and added a superb 99 in frame three, before a 55 from Higgins saw him take it to the interval at 1-3, but otherwise the number two seed had been poor.
Yan regained his three frame advantage with another sublime break, a 123 this time making it 4-1. Higgins needed a couple of chances to take the sixth, but Yan again kept the four-times World champion at arms length by taking frame seven and going one away from his maiden ranking event semi-final. He did not have to wait long either to get over the line, thumping in a break of 89 to get over the line at the first opportunity and confirm his spot in the last four.
There on Saturday he will take on Mark Allen as he edged out the third seed Judd Trump. Allen was never behind in the match, and started brightly compiling a 117 in the third frame on the way to securing a 3-1 mid-session interval lead. Trump stormed back with runs of 89 and 58 to level the scores and after the next two frames were squared, a key moment came in frame nine.
Trump had been in early and with a break of 58 had built a very healthy lead in the frame, with the balls in awkward positions. When the Northern Irishman's chance came, he made a number of difficult pots on the way to a unbelievable 60 clearance that delivered a huge blow and put him 5-4 in front. Trump's response was emphatic as he made his first century of the match, a 110, to force the decider without reply. In the final frame, both players had chances but it came down to the final red. Trump's failed double attempt came off the bump of the pocket and was left for Allen, who completed another good clearance under pressure to make it through to the semi-finals.
Earlier in the day, defending champion Mark Selby won each of the last four frames in a comfortable victory over Robbie Williams. It has been a good week for the 61st seed though he bagged victories against Joe Perry and Neil Robertson on the way to the best cheque of his career so far, and he started off reasonably against the world number one. Williams dominated the opener, before Selby hit back with a run of 90. In the third frame, Williams was going well again until an awful kick on the black cost him, and Selby completed a 59 clearance to rub salt into his wound. The left-hander shrugged it off well though and compiled the highest break of the match in frame four, with a 106 squaring the scores at 2-2 going into the mid-session interval.
From there, Selby was dominant and Williams only had a couple of decent chances in the frames to follow. Runs of 60, 81 and a closing 93 got the world champion over the line with some comfort as he made it through to his first semi-final of the season so far.
In that Friday semi-final he will face Martin Gould, who held on to see off Ali Carter in a final frame finish. The match got off to a good start for Carter who took the first frame with an 81 and at this point he looked to be in similar form to his previous two games, where he dispatched Shaun Murphy and Stephen Maguire for the loss of just three frames. The scores were level at 2-2 at the interval, and Carter took a tight fifth frame to move ahead for the third time in the match, before Gould squared the match with a magnificent 105. Carter had chances in both of the next two frames but lost them both, despite an earlier run of 60 in frame seven. A clearance of 66 in the eighth proved critical as Gould built up his 5-3 lead and went to within one of the last four.
Carter hit back with a 62 assisting him to stay in the match, before he dug in further and added the tenth frame to force a final frame decider. Carter again had the first chance in the final frame, but when Gould's chance came he held his nerve to build a brilliant 81 break and book a best-of-17 with the world's best player.
Quarter-Final Results:
Mark Selby 6-2 Robbie Williams
Martin Gould 6-5 Ali Carter
Mark Allen 6-5 Judd Trump
Yan Bingtao 6-2 John Higgins
Semi-Final Draw: (Best-of-17 frames)
Mark Selby Vs Martin Gould - (Match to be played over two sessions on Friday)
Mark Allen Vs Yan Bingtao - (Match to be played over two sessions on Saturday)
The opening semi-final sees Gould and Selby face off for the eighth time (outside of Championship League play) and the head-to-head is pretty even. Gould won their last meeting in the first round of this year's World Grand Prix, as well as beating Selby in the last 16 of the same event in 2015. Gould has also beaten Selby in a ranking event semi-final before going all the way back to the 2011 PTC Grand Finals. However, this will be the first time they have met in anything longer than a best-of-9 frames match and it is in the longer format when Selby truly comes into his own.
It was at this stage of the competition last year when Selby thumped Stuart Bingham 9-3 before winning the final 10-1 against Ding Junhui. Gould though will be no pushover, he has been and done it before now in ranking events, taking his maiden title at the 2016 German Masters and he will now be hungry for more having seen off Kyren Wilson and Ali Carter who were had both looked in good form. There is also a carrot dangling on Friday for Gould with a victory here putting him into the top 16 on the provisional Masters seedings and in all likelihood he would be far enough clear to clinch that spot.
Then on Saturday Yan Bingtao will play the first of surely many ranking semi-finals that he will reach in his career. In it he faces Mark Allen who has come through deciding frames in the last four frames and played 43 out of a maximum of 44 frames at the venue this week. It will be interesting to see if this effects his performance in any way but he does have a day off to recover. Allen has shown true grit and determination this week as well as some heavy scoring and it has taken him to consecutive Chinese ranking event semi-finals.
Anyone that thinks Yan might buckle under the big game pressure has not followed his journey to this stage. He is the real deal and showed it in his very first match on UK soil, beating Shaun Murphy in the 2015 Champion of Champions. He has since beaten the world champion on TV, and qualified for the Crucible at the first attempt, before coming close to beating Murphy again on his debut there. This week he has thrashed Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins under the pressure of playing in front of his home crowd, and by the time he played Higgins he was the lone Chinese player left in the event. This match looks like one that could really go down to the wire, like Allen's matches this week and Yan's victories against Walden and Lisowski which were both close affairs. Their only previous meeting at the 2016 English Open saw Yan come through 4-3 and the quality on show in that match gave a taste of what is to come here on Saturday, in what shapes up as another brilliant encounter.
No comments:
Post a Comment