After eleven and a half days of play at the Crucible we now know two of the four semi-finalists, with the other two to be decided later tonight…
Third Semi in Five Years for Murphy
Congratulations to 2005 winner Shaun Murphy who this morning completed an excellent 13-11 victory over a resurgent Stephen Hendry. Having gone 5-2 down and seen Stephen fire in a terrific maximum break, Shaun responded brilliantly and last night played some terrific snooker to turn the tables and lead 9-7 overnight.
Stephen responded well this morning and gave him a real run for his money, but Shaun is not the world number three for nothing and he held his nerve to complete what he has since described as ‘biggest wins and victories of my life’.
After the first session it looked like Stephen was on top but the damage was done last night for me as against someone as good as Shaun, you just can’t afford to lose a session 6-2. Sadly for me that is ultimately why it is unlikely that Stephen will win this tournament again in my opinion because as good as he can still be, he struggles to maintain that during such a long match and so it has proved again.
Take nothing away fro Shaun though because for the first four frames last night he was absolutely sensational, punishing every one of Stephen’s mistakes by winning the frame in one visit and piling on the pressure. He finished the match today in much the same vein with yet another century and underlined his credentials as a real contender to win his second world title this week.
Dream run goes on for Allen
Over on table one meanwhile, Mark Allen has kept his fairytale run alive by defeating Welshman Ryan Day to advance to the semi-final stage for the first time in his career. I have hardly seen any of this match for one reason or another but having gone 7-6 down having led 6-3 last night, he responded brilliantly with a century and ensured that he went into today with an overnight lead. Ryan hung in there and pushed him close but as they alternated frames it was Mark who got over the line and will play on the one-table set-up at the Crucible for the first time.
Can he go all the way? Definitely, but against either John Higgins or Mark Selby in his next match he will face an opponent who perhaps unlike Ryan, has an absolutely top safety game and will provide an entirely different challenge. As a result I would probably have Mark as second favourite against both of those players, but as Shaun Murphy showed in 2005 when he won the title, you can win this tournament with an attacking game and Mark certainly has that.
As an aside, if you look at my latest rankings page you will see that both Mark and Joe Perry are currently tied on 32875 points. If it were to finish this way it would be Mark who would be ranked the higher due to the fact that he has scored more points during 2008/9 than Joe has.
Tonight?
With John Higgins and Mark Selby resuming level at 8-8 and Maguire with an 8-6 lead over Stephen Maguire we are sure to have a sensational evening of snooker tonight and one that I would advise anyone with an interest in snooker nor to miss! This afternoon it looked like Higgins might run away with it at one stage but Mark hit back brilliantly and has left the match perfectly poised…