Today was a truly remarkable day in Hong Kong. The afternoon semi-final was an extremely high quality affair and the real possibility that the loser of this might need to qualify for the Crucible is frankly puzzling. The evening match delivered an unexpected result. Here are the reports shared by WST:

Afternoon semi-final – Neil Robertson 6-5 Shaun Murphy

Robertson Fightback Stuns Murphy

Neil Robertson came back from two down with three to play to reach the final of the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong, defeating Shaun Murphy 6-5 in a crucial clash in the race for Crucible qualification.

The winner of today’s encounter was guaranteed to clinch a place in the projected seeding positions for the World Championship, with the other ending the week outside of the qualifying slots.

Victory for Australia’s Robertson sees him bumped up to 13^th in the provisional Crucible seedings, leaving Murphy in 17^th. There are two events remaining for contenders to jostle for position, at the Sportsbet.io Players Championship and the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship.  

The loss for Murphy means his hopes of avoiding the qualifying rounds for Sheffield remain very much in the balance. The Englishman won both the Players Championship and the Tour Championship two years ago, meaning those points will fall off his ranking in the coming weeks.

Robertson gains revenge for a 6-2 defeat at the hands of Murphy in their recent Johnstone’s Paint Masters quarter-final. The Magician went on to win that event and lift the Paul Hunter Trophy for a second time. Today’s win for 2010 World Champion Robertson enhances his superior head-to-head record with Murphy, which now stands at 19-12.

Tomorrow’s final will see 43-year-old Robertson pitted against either world number one Judd Trump or 2015 Crucible king Stuart Bingham. The first to ten frames will scoop a record £180,000 top prize in what is the first ranking event to take place in Hong Kong for 36 years.

The Thunder from Down Under got off to a blistering start this afternoon, firing in breaks of 114 and 104 in the opening two frames to establish an early 2-0 advantage. However, Murphy hit back with contributions of 52 and 77 to make it 2-2 at the mid-session.

Robertson regained the lead after the break, but Murphy summoned a three-frame blitz with runs of 64, 107 and 77 to move one from victory at 5-3.

Melbourne cueman Robertson dug deep and prevented Murphy from registering a point in the ninth and tenth frames to force a decider at 5-5. He hammered home a full-blooded red from long range to get his chance in the final frame. The 24-time ranking event winner took full advantage with 114 to earn his place in the title match. He will be aiming for a second title of the season tomorrow, following on from his win at the BetVictor English Open earlier in the campaign.

Robertson said: “It was a brilliant match. I started off so well. I missed a couple of difficult pots, but other than that I didn’t do too much wrong. Shaun played really well. He was very aggressive, potting some brilliant balls to get in and create frame winning opportunities. It’s easier to stay in the match when you haven’t done much wrong. Full complements to Shaun, he said after the match that there wasn’t anything he could do about that long red I potted in the last frame. It was an unbelievable shot to create the match winning visit. 

“A massive part of how I’m playing is switching to a titanium ferrule. The cue power I’m generating, I haven’t been able to play these sorts of shots for six or seven years. I didn’t realise at the time, but when I got my brass ferrule taken off I could see that it was damaged. I’ve effectively been playing with damaged equipment for the last few years. I feel as though I’ve got about 30 percent more power and the difference is huge. 

“Coming here, I was just trying to get used to the ferrule and win a couple of matches. To be able to reach the final and get some significant ranking points is good. The only down point about playing the final is I don’t get to go and see the LIV golf tomorrow now, with it being in Hong Kong!”

Evening semi-final – Stuart Bingham 6-3 Judd Trump

Bingham Battles To Hong Kong Final

Stuart Bingham scored a stunning 6-3 win over world number one Judd Trump to make his first ranking final in six years at the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong.

Bingham last featured in a ranking final back in 2019 at the Gibraltar Open, where he defeated Ryan Day to capture the sixth ranking crown of his career.

Tomorrow sees the Essex cueman go head-to-head with Australia’s 24-time ranking event winner Neil Robertson. They will battle it out over the best of 19 frames for an event record £180,000 top prize.

It’s a dramatic upturn in fortune for 48-year-old Bingham, who has admitted to suffering from the ‘yips’ this season. To this point, he hadn’t been beyond the last 16 of any ranking event in the campaign and only just qualified for the 32 player field in 30^th position.

Today’s victory secures 2015 World Champion Bingham his place in the upcoming Sportsbet.io Players Championship, dislodging Ali Carter from the qualifying positions. The guaranteed £80,000 puts Bingham into 14^th position on the Johnstone’s Paint One Year List, moving Carter out to 17^th. Only the top 16 players of the season earn a spot in the Telford event.

The ranking implications for Carter are drastic, with the Captain now set for a trip to World Championship qualifying. He’s placed 18^th in the provisional seedings for the event and with no further involvement in the Players Series, he is left without any opportunities to rectify that.

A fragmented opening frame this evening eventually went the way of Bingham, after 36 minutes of play. However, Trump responded immediately with a break of 106 to restore parity at 1-1. That century run was the 39^th of the tournament, which sets a new record for the event.

From there it was Bingham who turned on the heat. He crafted the 40^th century of the tournament with a 104, before further runs 72 and 69 helped him to four on the bounce and a 5-1 advantage.

Trump responded with 124 and 72 to close the gap, but Bingham eventually won the ninth to emerge with an emotional 6-3 win.

“I’m over the moon. I had a little tear there at the table, because it has been a long time. It has been hard,” said world number 23 Bingham, who has also defeated Mark Williams, Wu Yize and Mark Selby en route to the final.

“Without a doubt, I’ve wondered if I ever would get back in a ranking final. The last few years haven’t been good on my part. I’ve been searching and trying things. This week it has clicked for me. I’ve got through matches without feeling the best, but now I’m in the final. 

“I’ve got a great story from last night. I rang my wife and she asked what happened. I said that I won. Because the first two games were best of sevens, she switched it off at 4-2. When she found out she was amazed. I rang her today and reminded her it was first to six!

“That was my final, to get into the Players Championship. I can relax tomorrow and it is a nice payday. I’ll be trying as hard as I can to get my hands on that trophy though.“

The first match had a break over 50 in every frame. Very, very high scoring. The second match though was more compelling. Very few expected Bingham to win and one of the commentators seemed to keep the faith that Trump would eventually prevail until the very end. What I saw from Bingham today reminded me of the Bingham at the Crucible in 2015. Not the most spectacular player but extremely efficient and reliable when in the balls. It will be an interesting final against Neil Robertson.

No matter what happens tomorrow, the field for the 2025 Players Championship is now known, although the seeding could, probably will, still change.

Sportsbet.io Players Championship Line-Up Confirmed

The field of 16 players for the Sportsbet.io Players Championship is now confirmed, with an elite line-up of the world’s top stars heading for the tournament which runs from March 17-23 at Telford International Centre.

Tickets for the event in Telford are on sale now from just £28, book fast now that the line-up is confirmed! The match schedule will be announced early next week. …

Only the top 16 players on the Johnstone’s Paint One-Year Rankings, as it stands after the final of the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong, will head to Telford.

Stuart Bingham’s run to the final in Hong Kong has boosted him from 30th into the top 16 and earned him a place, at the expense of Ali Carter who misses out on Telford. 

The 16 players are below, not necessarily in seeding order as that could change depending on the result of Sunday’s final between Bingham and Neil Robertson.

Judd Trump
Kyren Wilson
John Higgins
Neil Robertson
Xiao Guodong
Mark Selby
Mark Williams
Barry Hawkins
Shaun Murphy
Ding Junhui
Si Jiahui
Wu Yize
Chris Wakelin
Stuart Bingham
Mark Allen
Lei Peifan

The draw will be announced at the end of Sunday’s final, based on the seeding structure below. The match fixtures will then be announced early next week.  

1 v 16
8 v 9

5 v 12
4 v 13

———–

3 v 14
6 v 11

7 v 10
2 v 15

Following the Sportsbet.io Players Championship, the last event in the series is the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship, running from March 31 to April 6 in Manchester. Only the top 12, as it stands at the end of the week in Telford, will earn a place at Manchester Central.

There are five Chinese players in that field, including the 21 years old Wu Yize. At the other extremity of the age spectrum, we have two members of the “Class of 92” nearing their 50th birthday celebration … No Thai player in the draw this year.

Mark Allen won it last year and will have the opportunity to try to defend his title.

On a different topic … Jack Lisowski …

Jack withdrew from the World Grand Prix for personal reasons. Today, Jack’s mother, Tracy, posted on Facebook, saying that her husband, Nick, passed away suddenly earlier this week. It was completely unexpected, he wasn’t ill, nothing at all foreshadowed his sudden demise … he went for a walk, as he did most days and collapsed. My thoughts are with Tracy, Jack and their family in these extremely difficult times.