Ding's 147 not enough as Ronnie, Allen, Robertson and Perry make the semi-finals

Ding Junhui made a maximum today at the Welsh Open but it came in a losing cause as Neil Robertson beat him 5-2. Joining Neil in the semi-finals are, Mark Allen, Joe Perry and of course the star of this weeks show, Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Ding Junhui and Neil Robertson started the day off as the tournament moved on to best-of-9's, and it was the Australian who was dominant making a 140 break of his own on the way to a 4-1 lead, Ding's maximum came in frame six after he had had a 120 break earlier on in the second frame but it was Neil who was the stronger player over the course of the match, playing more consistent snooker but this week does show signs that Ding could yet make a charge to qualify automatically for the World Championships.

Then we had a resumption of the rivalry between Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan. Selby looked good to take the opener but it all went downhill from there for the world number one. Ronnie played well overall, though the course of the match would have changed had Selby potted a long range black to lead 2-1, instead O'Sullivan made a tougher black to take the frame and took the next three, continuing his heavy scoring from the rest of the week to run out a comfortable 5-1 winner.

In the evenings televised match Mark Allen was a comfortable winner against the last Welshman left in the event in Michael White. White did not really turn up on the night and Allen said afterwards that his game plan worked perfectly, with the particular turning point coming after Allen stole frame two after needing snookers and the home favourite started to lash out after that and lose his cool, while Allen was solid and will now play Robertson in tomorrow's semi-finals.

In the final match, Joe Perry and Ben Woollaston were not televised, and Ben could not keep his good form going in Cardiff to repeat his run to last years final, with Perry making breaks of 57, 74 and 71 after losing the opening frame and he was able to steal a key frame five after the interval, after the Leicester man had made an earlier break of 69.

Quarter-Final Results:

Mark Allen 5-0 Michael White
Neil Robertson 5-2 Ding Junhui
Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-1 Mark Selby
Joe Perry 5-1 Ben Woollaston

Semi-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Neil Robertson Vs Mark Allen - Neil Robertson has been playing well once again this week to get through to another major semi-final, while Mark Allen was hitting the ball as well as anyone while I was at the venue in the first three days and he has carried that on well since then to make it through to the last four. It will be interesting to see if Allen can carry on that form now that he has made it to the latter stages as his record against Neil is not great. Robertson just seems so comfortable in the back end of a tournament and as such an accomplished winner you would not be surprised at all if he breezed another title into his growing collection.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Joe Perry - What can you say about Ronnie? He's playing as well as ever right now, long potting for fun and scoring like there's no tomorrow, missing virtually nothing when amongst them. His head seems to be in a good place and he will certainly take some stopping if he keeps this form up. Perry has had a good week and improved from game to game because he seemed a little shaky when I was at the venue for the early rounds and I do not think he was happy with his overall performances. He will need to take every chance he gets against Ronnie though and even then it may not be enough.

Nice to see four top players making the semi-finals though in response to no-one inside the top 16 making the semi's in Berlin, and it makes for a very entertaining end to the week.