Luca Brecel won the battle of the last two World Champions, beating Kyren Wilson 4-3 in an exciting finish to reach the semi-finals of the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship.
Mark Allen is also into the last four, scoring a 4-2 success over Mark Selby despite letting nerves get the better of him when he had sight of the $1 million bonus available for a 167 ‘super maximum.’
Current Crucible king Wilson has had an excellent first half of the season, winning the Xi’an Grand Prix and BetVictor Northern Ireland Open, but finishes 2024 on a low note with an early exit in Saudi Arabia. Brecel, runner-up to Ronnie O’Sullivan in this event last season, continues his return to form having reached his first quarter-final of the season at last week’s BetVictor Scottish Open. The Belgian has now gone one step further and will face Mark Williams or Judd Trump in the semis in Riyadh on Friday.
Wilson started strongly by taking a 2-0 lead, then Brecel hit back to take three frames in a row with a top break of 83. Frame six went to Wilson, then in the decider Brecel led 42-1 when he failed on a red to top corner. That gave world number two Wilson a chance to steal, but he took just one red before missing the black off its spot. This time Brecel made no mistake.
“It was a good game overall, we both played some good stuff. At the end it was really tense,” said Brecel. “I thought he would clear up. When I came back to the table I just tried to stay composed. This is exactly what I need, to win these games against top players like Kyren. I have always been someone who can play well under pressure. Last time here I got to the final, I was really focused. This time it’s the same, from the start I have been really up for it. Maybe if I was like that in every event it would be better for my career. But it’s difficult to be that motivated all the time.”
Allen scored an impressive win over Selby and has now reached the semi-finals of four of his last five events. The Northern Irishman will meet Ronnie O’Sullivan or Ding Junhui on Friday for a place in the final.
Selby opened with a break of 88 then Allen levelled at 1-1. In frame three he was on target for a possible 167, but after potting nine reds and eight blacks, he missed a routine black on 65. Selby stepped in with a 68 clearance to regain the lead, but his opponent dominated the last three frames with top runs of 76 and 75.
“I felt so nervous, going for the 167,” said world number four Allen. “I fluked the black on 57 and brought a red off the cushion and I wondered if it was meant to be, they were all there. But I got too excited and took my eye off the next black. I would love to have potted a few more just to see if I could have handled the pressure later. It’s a massive prize so you can’t help thinking about it even when you pot the first red. Mark made a good clearance to put me under pressure. But from 2-1 I didn’t give him much of a look and finished the match off well. My form is coming together.”
Mark Williams scored a thrilling 4-3 victory over Judd Trump to reach the semi-finals of the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship, despite suffering a bizarre injury to his elbow during his match-winning break in the deciding frame.
From 34-8 down in the decider, Williams made a fantastic break of 68, highlighted by a superb shot on the blue to bring the last two reds away from the top cushion. As he played the next red, stretching with the long rest, the Welshman slipped on the carpet, dropped the rest and banged his right elbow on the bed of the table. He was fortunate not to touch a baulk colour with the rest, and managed to regain his composure, shrug off the pain and complete the clearance.
The three-time World Champion, who turns 50 in just three months, goes through to the last four in Saudi Arabia and will meet Luca Brecel at 5pm local time on Friday for a place in the final. Williams has already won the Tour Championship and Champion of Champions this year and could finish 2024 in style with another huge trophy.
In a high quality contest, Trump had leads of 2-1 and 3-2, making breaks of 64, 66 and 107. Williams compiled 101 in frame one, 64 in the fourth and 86 in the sixth for 3-3, then seized the opportunity which came his way when Trump made a safety error in the last.
“I dropped everything when I slipped on the carpet and I was lucky not to hit the brown,” admitted world number six Williams. “I hurt my elbow and it is very sore. It was a good break. The blue (with two reds left) was a tricky one, you can so easily decelerate on that shot. But I had to go for it rather than play safe. Judd looked very good tonight, he didn’t look like missing. He has beaten me in a lot of deciding frame to it’s nice to win one.”
World number one Trump – who beat Williams 10-9 in the final of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in September – looks certain to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan’s record of £1,265,500 for the most prize money in a single season, and could have done so by reaching the final here. Instead he’ll have to wait until 2025 to surpass that tally.
Defending champion O’Sullivan needed just 49 minutes to beat Ding Junhui 4-0 and set up a semi-final with Mark Allen. The Rocket is seeking his first title since he won this event in March, and he looked extremely sharp tonight, watched by a packed crowd which included his son Ronnie and boxing legend Naseem Hamed.
A break of 85 gave O’Sullivan the opening frame, and he took the second after a tactical battle on the colours which was resolved when Ding severely under-hit an attempted safety on the brown. The Chinese ace had no chance to recover from that mistake as seven-time World Champion O’Sullivan raced through the last two frames with 129 and 113.
“I have enjoyed the last three tournaments,” said 49-year-old O’Sullivan. “I have found a way to feel comfortable at the table which is great. I knew I had to tighten up on my safety because I was giving too many chances away. I have been working with Lee Walker and he has pointed some stuff out to me. It’s great to see the fans here. The sport coming to Saudi Arabia is incredible, if you are into sport it’s paradise.”
Here are the scores for the Ronnie v Ding match:
Yesterday the first session was delayed. It started one hour later than initially scheduled. No explanation was given by WST as to why this decision was taken. It could have delayed the second session.
Then, the Trump v Williams match went to a decider. Just as well that Ronnie was super quick. Even so, it was only minutes short of 3 am in Riyadh when Ronnie’s match finished. It’s preposterous really. Let’s hope he was able to sleep well and will not be too tired today. He has possibly/hopefully two matches to play today.
It’s great to read that Ronnie is enjoying his snooker again, although snooker rivals may beg to differ 😉.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 