WILSON STUNNED BY ROCKET COMEBACK!
Ronnie O’Sullivan ( pictured below) produced a sparkling comeback at the Shanghai Masters, coming from 5-1 behind to beat Kyren Wilson 6-5 in their quarter-final clash.
O’Sullivan’s hopes of successfully defending the title he won last year looked all but gone when Wilson raced within one frame of victory, breaks of 131, 67 and 57 putting him firmly in command until The Rocket produced another memorable great escape.
A magnificent break of 107 in frame seven finally saw O’Sullivan settle into the match and he followed that with a typically fluent contribution of 51 to reduce his arrears to 5-3.
With his tail now up, O’Sullivan stroked in his second century of the match (124) before dominating frame 10 and forcing a decider with more impressive scoring, this time a run of 69.
A break of 60 in that deciding frame wasn’t quite enough to get O’Sullivan over the winning line but he was always in control and closed out the match soon after to warm applause from the local crowd.
Here is the match for you to enjoy…….
Mark Allen (pictured below) set up a semi-finals meeting with good friend Shaun Murphy with a dazzling 6-1 defeat of world champion Judd Trump.
Trump kicked off his title bid with a hard-fought defeat of David Gilbert on Wednesday but 24 hours later, he was no match for Allen who laid down his early intentions by edging the opening frame with a well-taken run of 63.
A break of 62 saw him extend his lead to 2-0 and more solid match-play was good enough for him to win frame three as Trump struggled to get a foothold in the match.
Trump, a recent winner of the International Championship, finally sparked into life when getting his first frame on the board courtesy of a terrific break of 109 but that was to be his only moment of cheer on an otherwise forgettable outing.
Any thoughts of a Trump comeback were extinguished when Allen returned from the mid-session interval with breaks of 55 and 73 to put him within one frame from victory and he needed no second invitation when faced with the winning line, closing out the match with a typically cool, match-winning contribution of 69.
Robertson too strong for Hawkins
Neil Robertson (pictured below) turned in another fine display as he beat Barry Hawkins 6-2 to seal his place in the last four in China.
The Australia kicked off the match with a fabulous break of 115 and added three more breaks of 50+ to set up a semi-final clash with O’Sullivan.
Having raced into a 4-0 lead, Robertson was always on the front foot but Hawkins did rally, making breaks of 99, 114 and 57 to win two of the next three frames before Robertson pinched a closely-contested frame to close out the match.
Murphy maintains resurgence
Shaun Murphy (pictured below) maintained his return to form by thumping Jack Lisowksi 6-1 in their quarter-final encounter.
Following a frustrating campaign last term, Murphy has looked more like himself so far this season and having played really well to finish runner-up at the recent International Championship, he has continued in the same vein here.
It was actually Lisowski who drew first blood, winning the opening frame before Murphy responded with breaks of 55 and 60 to win the next three frames and take a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval.
Murphy took complete control of the match thereafter, winning three frames without reply thanks to breaks of 56 and 107, ensuring his comfortable passage to the semi-finals.
Quarter-final results & remaining schedule
Quarter-finals
- Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-5 Kyren Wilson
- Barry Hawkins 2-6 Neil Robertson
- Shaun Murphy 6-1 Jack Lisowski
- Mark Allen 6-1 Judd Trump
Semi-finals
Friday 13th and Saturday 14th September
- Ronnie O’Sullivan v Neil Robertson
- Shaun Murphy 10-3 Mark Allen
Final
Sunday 15 September
Shaun Murphy vs Neil Robertson or Ronnie O’Sullivan
