The group stages of the Jiangsu Classic tournament come to a conclusion today and we will soon know the identities of the four semi-finalists taking part tomorrow…
Friday 5 June – 13:00
Peter Ebdon 1-2 Stephen Hendry 64(35)-16, 9-73(64), 28-66
Mark Selby 1-2 Marco Fu 44-100(58,36), 74(38)-6, 6-60
Allister Carter 0-2 Marco Fu 29-55, 17-86(81)
Ryan Day 2-1 Stephen Hendry 68(68)-0, 14-102(102), 76(76)-1
Ding Junhui 2-1 Peter Ebdon 49(31)-70(52), 70(49)-46(31), 70(46)-47
Mark Allen 2-0 Li Hang 79(34)-44(36), 68(52)-49(31)
Shaun Murphy 2-0 Mark Selby 84(45)-29, 85(52)-8
Joe Perry 2-1 Jin Long
Friday 5 June – 19:00
Stephen Hendry 2-0 Li Hang 94(49)-21, 71(47)-7
Mark Allen 2-0 Peter Ebdon 78-73, 86-32
Ding Junhui 2-0 Ryan Day 65(36)-16, 53-35
Marco Fu 2-0 Jin Long 69(54)-29, 54-37
Joe Perry 2-1 Mark Selby 0-151(147), 68-56, 74(74)-1
Shaun Murphy 2-1 Allister Carter 76(38)-63(49), 26-82(64), 86(85)-0
Morning Notes
After his terrific run yesterday, young Li Hang came back to earth slightly this morning with a 2-0 defeat to Mark Allen, though he remains in with a chance of qualifying for tomorrow’s semi-finals from Group One.
His main rivals however are Ding Junhui and Ryan Day who have both won their matches today against Peter Ebdon and Stephen Hendry respectively. Both Ding and Day now share top spot in the league ahead of their crunch meeting in this evening’s final session.
As was the case in the Championship League it has been something of a struggle for Peter Ebdon who also lost out to Stephen Hendry this morning, the Scot winning his first match of the event in the process.
Over in Group Two, Shaun Murphy and Marco Fu have both recorded important wins over Mark Selby and Ali Carter respectively and with three wins from four each, will qualify for the semis should they both be victorious tonight.
If they slip up however, Ali Carter, Joe Perry and Mark Selby are all still capable of overtaking them with two wins each so far, while Jin Long like Ebdon in the other group, is stranded at the bottom with four defeats.
Evening
The battle for top spot in Group One between Ding Junhui and Ryan Day was won won by the defending champion as Ding took a 2-0 victory to secure his passage through to the semi-finals. Worse still for Day, his defeat combined with Mark Allen’s 2-0 victory over Peter Ebdon means that it is Allen who finishes in second place due to having a superior frames difference, taking the second semi-final spot as a result.
Another player to finish up with three wins was Li Hang but his 2-0 defeat to Stephen Hendry this evening meant that he has an even worse frames difference and will exit the tournament as a result. The less said about Peter Ebdon’s tournament the better though as he finishes bottom of the group with five defeats.
In the second group the situation is more straightforward as 2008 UK Championship finalists Shaun Murphy and Marco Fu have both progressed with four wins five five matches played. It is Shaun who takes top spot however due to winning their meeting 2-0 yesterday and will play Mark Allen as a result, while Fu takes on Ding.
Mark Selby and Ali Carter both entered the day with a good chance of qualification but as both lost to Marco today, their chances suffered a fatal blow. Still, Mark will be pleased with his day’s work as during his defeat to Joe Perry, he made the first 147 break of his career.