After the first day of the semi-finals and one session played in each match, Si Jiahui and Mark Allen both lead by 5-3.

Ronnie was in the ES studio yesterday evening and explained why he believes that Mark Selby is the best equipped to win the title this year: consistency. Ronnie’s argument is that in a long competition like the World Championship, consistency is what players need more than anything else. He’s probably right. One very bad session can be enough to lose you a match, especially if your opponent is consistent. He would know after what happened on Wednesday 🙄. One brilliant session may not be enough as we have seen in the first round when Milkins beat Perry from 7-2 down.

What happened yesterday is that Luca Brecel played OK but was nowhere near his fluent best. Si scored well when in and took his chances, as he has been all tournament so far. On the other table Allen found something special after the MSI and won the last three fames of the session, with three breaks over 60, restricting Selby to just one point!

That’s basically it for today… Don’t get me started on Barry Hearn floating ideas of bringing the Snooker World Championship to Qatar 😡😡😡