Day 2 in Hong Kong saw wins for Judd Trump over Shaun Murphy, by 5-3, and  for Ronnie over John Higgins by 5-4 from 4-2 down.

Judd’s win was rather straightforward, he never looked really in danger. Read the report on Worldsnooker.

 

Photo shared by Django Fung on twitter

The Ronnie v Higgins match was something different entirely. Here is the report on Worldsnooker:

Friday 21 Jul 2017 04:51PM

Ronnie O’Sullivan came from 4-2 down to beat John Higgins 5-4 and reach the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Masters.

O’Sullivan will now meet Judd Trump in another showpiece clash at the eight-man invitation tournament.Higgins came from 2-0 down to lead 4-2, firing breaks of 87, 72, 61 and 81. But a packed crowd was treated to an exciting conclusion as the two players with nine world titles between them battled to the end.O’Sullivan made a 65 in winning the seventh frame then came from 20-0 down to take the eighth with a top run of 42. Higgins had two clear chances in the decider but could only make 16 and 24, and O’Sullivan eventually took it 80-40.

“i felt I got away with that one, I was 4-2 down and John was playing solid,” said O’Sullivan. “I won a good frame to go 4-3 and that put the match in the balance. You should never give in until it’s over. For my first match since the World Championship I felt pretty good. I enjoyed the occasion, it was a great crowd and you have to look forward to playing in an atmosphere like that.”

Higgins said: “I had a few chances and didn’t take them and that came back to bite me. We missed a few easy balls between us tonight. All the players are a bit rusty and my technique was all over the place in some frames. but the atmosphere was incredible. The hospitality here in Hong Kong has been fantastic, I can’t thank the people here enough and I would love to come back here for more tournaments.”

Ronnie  had only one break over 50, but there are still plenty that really pleased me.

• He applied himself from start to finish, never giving up. John Higgins is a player who has a very good winning record against Ronnie, paricularly in recent years,and, at times, it feels as if Ronnie has a bit of a mental block when playing him. Not today.
• He actually won the frames that went tactical against one of the best ever tacticians.
• Ronnie is not playing with a new cue (yet), but his cue had repair work done on it and I reckon that the feeling and  behaviour aren’t exactly as before. So it probably needs some getting used to.
• It was the best match of the QF round, because it was the most competitive and the closest.

There was an official opening ceremony before the evening match, featuring officials, Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins, Marco Fu, Stephen Hendry, Jimmy White, On Yee  Ng, two cues, two white balls and a number of reds, everyone taking selfies. Don’t ask what they said, I have no clue!

Photo shared by Worldsnooker on weibo

The match was streamed,  legally,  on the CBSA web page, and  shared on facebook by about a  zillion people.

Here is  one of these shares, thank to krdltr

 

Plus a few images, thanks to Tai Chengzhe!

And finally, here is tomorrow’s SF line-up:

Photo shared by Worldsnooker on weibo