Yesterday news was dominated by the sad announcement that Clive Everton had passed away at the age of 87. By an extraordinary coincidence, the British Open trophy, is the “Clive Everton Trophy”. A visibly emotional Rob Walker paid tribute to the great commentator and journalist at the start of the afternoon session. The WST officials, the commentators, the referees, the players and the fitters surrounded table one, where the trophy stood on display. A minute of silence was observed in the arena, followed by one minute of applause.
Then the action at the tables resumed… the show must go on.
Here are the WST reports on the matches:
SELBY AND HIGGINS INTO SEMIS
Mark Selby won a fourth consecutive match in the deciding frame to beat David Gilbert 5-4 at the Unibet British Open, remaining on course for a first ranking title in 18 months.
Selby, renowned for his toughness under pressure, beat Pang Junxu, Yuan Sijun and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh by a 4-3 scoreline to reach the quarter-finals, and once again proved stronger at the business end against Gilbert to earn a place in the last four in Cheltenham. It’s his first ranking semi-final since the Players Championship in February, and the Leicester cueman is chasing a first ranking title since the 2023 WST Classic.
John Higgins is also into the last four, thrashing Elliot Slessor 5-1. The random draw for the semi-finals will be made live on ITV around 6.45pm.
Four-time World Champion Selby built a 4-1 lead today with top breaks of 101 and 66. Gilbert stormed back to 4-4 with 93, 66 and 59, and he had a chance early in the decider but made just 8 before his attempted pot on the black to a top corner jumped off the table. Selby converted a tricky red to a baulk corner to set up a match-winning run of 50.
“I don’t make it easy for myself,” joked Selby. “It’s just about getting the win, whether it’s 5-0 or 5-4. I got a bit nervy towards the end, although Dave played very well from 4-1 to 4-4. I thought I wasn’t going to get a chance, but he was unlucky in the last frame. We practised together before the English Open, we had four best of sevens, each for £5, and I won all of them so he owed me £20. At the end of the match today he shook my hand and said he hopes I win the title, but he wants me to let him off the £20!
“My game is close, I just need to be more clinical and close out matches earlier when I get chances.”
Paying tribute to Clive Everton, the great journalist and commentator who passed away today, Selby added: “When I first started as a pro he was the main commentator, and I would also buy his magazine Snooker Scene. It’s a very sad day for snooker, he had such an iconic voice.”
Higgins, a four-time British Open champion who has won more matches in this event than any other player, reached his 85th ranking event semi-final and he’s just two wins away from a first ranking title since the 2021 Players Championship.
The 49-year-old Scot compiled breaks of 132 and 102 in an impressive win over Slessor. “I’m pleased with the way I played, I won two frames from Elliot’s break-off, which is something the top boys do consistently and it has been missing from my game,” said Higgins. “I’m feeling good about my game and my new cue.“
ALLEN OVERTURNS WORLD NUMBER ONE TRUMP
Mark Allen took a giant step towards a first title of the season as he won his Unibet British Open quarter-final 5-3 on a night of mixed emotions for Judd Trump.
Trump became only the third player in snooker history to make 1,000 career centuries, joining Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins, with a ton in the second frame. But the contest finished in disappointment for the world number one as his hopes of a third title this season ended.
Allen, ranked third, goes through to the last four to face Mark Selby on Saturday night. Having won three tournaments in each of the last two seasons, the Northern Irishman has had a relatively quiet start to the current campaign and this will be his first semi-final. He’ll relish a battle with Selby in Cheltenham and the opportunity to chase a 12th career ranking title.
The opening frame tonight lasted 48 minutes, resolved when Allen got the better of a safety battle on the green and cleared the table. Trump levelled with his landmark century, but Allen made a crucial 33 clearance to pinch the third frame and added the next two for 4-1.
Bristol’s Trump pulled one back with a 92, and gained momentum by taking frame seven after his opponent had missed the final yellow to a baulk corner. But Allen shrugged off that mistake and dominated the next with a top run of 50 to reach his 39th ranking semi-final.
“It was frustrating that I didn’t close out the match earlier because I had chances at 4-1 and 4-2,” said Allen. “Any win against Judd is a good one, especially the season he is having. I have a good record against him and I feel like he knows that. There are a lot of players who don’t believe they can beat Judd, but if I get a chance against him I’m capable of doing it, so to do that in a big tournament is always nice.
“It was great to be a part of history, seeing Judd make his 1,000th century. He’ll be disappointed not to have won the match, but he’s got that monkey off his back because everyone had been talking about the 1,000 centuries for a while.”
World number 99 Oliver Lines enjoyed a huge breakthrough in his career as he beat Jak Jones 5-4 to reach his first ranking event semi-final. The 29-year-old will meet John Higgins on Saturday at 1pm.
Leeds cueman Lines turned pro in 2014 and had lost his two previous quarter-finals 5-4, but this time he was on the right side of the scoreline. In fact he has won four matches this week in the deciding frame, having beaten Lei Peifan, Ka Wai Cheung and Sunny Akani 4-3.
Breaks of 102 and 55 put Lines 2-0 ahead tonight, before Crucible runner-up Jones took the next three with top runs of 84 and 68. The next two were shared, then Lines compiled excellent breaks of 76 and 75 to win the last two.
“I know I have got it in there and I can stand up and be counted when I need to,” he said. “It was nice to prove to myself and my family that I can do it. I can’t put into words how good it would be to make my first ranking final, that’s what I have worked my whole life for.“
I don’t have anything to happen to these reports. I watched table one in both sessions.
But now WST has a serious issue on their hands. Indeed the 2024 Northern Ireland Open qualifiers start today and Oli Lines is due to play in them. He’s due to play Josuah Cooper at 6 pm, in Ponds Forge, in Sheffield. The winner is due to face Ricky Walden tomorrow. He obviously can’t play in Ponds Forge today and it would be totally wrong and absurdly unfair if he was forced to withdraw from the Northern Ireland Open because of WST ridiculous scheduling. On one hand they constantly go on about how good the lower ranked players are nowadays, and many are indeed excellent as Oli’s run in Cheltenham is proving, on the other hand they schedule a qualifying event to clash with a main event which means what? Apparently it means they assumed that nobody ranked under 64 can reach the semi-finals of an event, and nobody ranked under 32 can reach a final for that matter, despite previous occurrences1. This is utters shambles. And “holding over” to the main venue means “holding over” two qualifying matches. Plus … Cooper and Walden have probably already booked their hotel and trip to Sheffield and it doesn’t come free.
- If some of Ronnie’s comments about lower ranked players are disrespectful to the players and the game, what about this coming from the governing body itself? ↩︎
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
“…paid [tribute to] the…” ?
yes of course… thanks!