Graeme Dott and Neil Robertson into semi-finals
Scotland’s Graeme Dott reached the semi-finals after overcoming Mark Allen in a final-frame decider 13-12. In the first session, Allen was 4-0 up at the interval, rattling in breaks of 66, 58 and 54, but Dott came out and made a break of 76 as he took the next three frames. However, the Irishman made sure he had a lead at the end of the first session by making a century in the concluding frame.
In the second session, Allen, a semi-finalist of last year, extended his lead to three, but Dott came back to take the next five frames, knocking in breaks of 74, 116, 85 and 67. Allen responded in the final frame of the session with his own break of 67.
Dott came out firing in the final session, and took a two-frame lead with breaks of 65 and 54, but Allen once again stayed in touch by making the score 10-9. Allen levelled up the match again at 10-10 going into the mid-session interval. Allen took the 21st frame on the black after Dott had made a break of 53, and then took the next to go within one of a place in the semi-finals. Dott showed his fighting spirit and made a superb 115 after Allen missed a red to the left middle pocket. The Scot was cool and composed and took the match to a decider, and clinched the win to book a semi-final place, and get his place back in snooker's elite 16.
“It was a great game. I said to Mark when the referee was setting up the balls at 12-12 I knew it was going that way. The two of us played really well. That was the biggest match. That was the one that gets me back in the top 16, it was massive to get in after one year. If I had lost that match 13-12 it would have been hard. I'm over the moon,” said Dott.
Neil Robertson booked his place in the semi-finals after beating Steve Davis 13-5. Robertson had led 7-1 and 12-2 and looked to wrap up the match with a session to spare last night, but Davis salvaged two frames to take the tie to the final session. The Nugget pulled another frame on the board today but The Thunder from Down Under sealed the win with a 107 to reach the last four for the second year in a row.
In the other quarter-final, Shaun Murphy and Ali Carter are all square at 8-8 after two exceptionally high sessions of snooker. Murphy took the opening frame with a well-constructed 70 break, and then he took the second on the black. Murphy was playing the better snooker and deserved his lead. Carter’s 51 helped him to make the score 2-1, and then he took the next after potting a brave black into the top right pocket. Murphy came out firing after the interval and took the next three frames, scoring 257 points to Carter’s 84. The 2008 runner-up at The Crucible didn’t give in, and he took the final frame of the session.
Resuming from a 5-3 lead overnight, Murphy won the first frame to extend his lead, but Carter rallied in a break of 55 to reduce the gap. The 2005 world champion continued to show his good form, and he knocked in a break of 84 to have a three frame advantage again, but Carter had to do more as Murphy took the next to lead 7-4. A long 12th frame saw both players miss balls, and after a long battle on the colours, Murphy potted an excellent green into the top right pocket and a difficult brown to clear all the colours and win on the black to lead 8-4. Carter took the next two frames, and made the score 8-6 with a break of 87 after Murphy had a kick on the red to the left middle pocket. Carter levelled the tie with runs of 73 and 64.
The match plays to a conclusion tonight at 7pm.
Tags: