Ronnie O’Sullivan and Zhao Xintong finished level at 4-4 after the first session of their Halo World Championship semi-final at the Crucible.
O’Sullivan started slowly, losing the first two frames, but found some rhythm as he battled back to all-square. They return on Friday at 10am for eight more frames, with a possible eight more on Friday evening then the conclusion on Saturday afternoon. First to 17 frames will go through to the final to face Judd Trump or Mark Williams.
World number five O’Sullivan is playing in the semi-finals in Sheffield for the 14th time, two ahead of Stephen Hendry’s previous record of 12. He is aiming to reach the final for the ninth time which would match Hendry’s record, and the Rocket has won seven of his eight finals. This is the 94th ranking event semi-final of his career and first since the Xi’an Grand Prix last August.
Zhao is already enjoying the deepest ever run by an amateur in snooker’s biggest event. He won four matches just to make it through the qualifying rounds, and has since scored three more victories at the Theatre of Dreams. The 28-year-old from China is hoping to become the first Asian player to life the famous trophy. This is his fourth ranking event semi-final, and on two of the three previous occasions he went on to win the tournament. He becomes the third player from mainland China to compete in the one-table situation at the Crucible, after Ding Junhui and Si Jiahui.
These two have met twice before, O’Sullivan winning 4-3 at the 2016 English Open and 6-1 at the 2022 Champion of Champions.
Breaks of 60 and 62 helped give Zhao the first two frames, before O’Sullivan hit back with 64, 73 and 60 to lead 3-2. Zhao dominated the sixth, before O’Sullivan regained the lead with a break of 82. The last of the session went Zhao’s way with a run of 86 to leave the contest perfectly poised.
Judd Trump pulled away from 3-3 to take a 5-3 lead over Mark Williams in the first session of their Halo World Championship semi-final.
Having played the best snooker of the tournament so far to reach the last four, Trump’s standard dipped in the early exchanges tonight, but he rallied at the end of the session to take a handy overnight advantage. They return on Friday at 2.30pm for eight more frames, then first to 17 on Saturday will go into the final to face Ronnie O’Sullivan or Zhao Xintong.
World number one Trump is playing in his sixth Crucible semi-final and is looking to reach the final for the fourth time. Champion in 2019, the 35-year-old dreams of becoming the seventh player to lift the trophy in Sheffield on multiple occasions, joining Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, O’Sullivan, John Higgins, Mark Selby and Williams himself. He is aiming for his third major title of the season having already landed the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters and UK Championship.
Having turned 50 last month, Williams is the oldest Crucible semi-finalist since Ray Reardon in 1985. A veteran of 27 appearances at the Theatre of Dreams, this is his eighth semi-final and the Welshman is looking to reach the final for the fifth time. Williams, who lifted the trophy in 2000, 2003 and 2018, has had a fine season highlighted by victory at the Champion of Champions and a run to the final in Saudi, where he was narrowly beaten 10-9 by Trump. These two met in the semi-finals here three years ago, Williams coming from 12-5 down to 14-14 only to lose 17-16.
World number six Williams took the opening frame tonight with a break of 73 and he had a chance to win a fragmented second but missed the penultimate red to a centre pocket when trailing 60-32, allowing Trump to level. In frame three, Williams led 42-32 with three reds left when he attempted a cross double, but botched the safety element and gifted Trump the chance to go 2-1 up.
A superb 116 restored parity for Williams, before Trump’s run of 52 helped him regain the lead. In the sixth, Trump trailed 33-35 when he missed a difficult pot on the third last red, and he was punished as Williams drilled in a mid-range red and added 48 for 3-3. Trump had a huge slice of luck in frame seven as he fluked a red escaping from a snooker when he was down 54-27. It came down to the colours and Williams lashed at a risky brown to a centre pocket, missing the target and leaving it for Trump to edge ahead.
Bristol’s Trump carried that momentum into the last frame of the night, closing in style with a 109, his 12th century of the tournament and 105th of the season.
I saw nothing of the evening session, and only half of the first session … courtesy of my island thunderstorms.
As I wrote before, I don’t have further expectations regarding Ronnie. I would be delighted if he won, but given that he hadn’t played since January, and hadn’t won a match for over four months coming in Sheffield, it feels like a miracle already that he’s competing in the semi-finals.
As for the other semi-final, realistically, I expect Judd Trump to win it. So far, Willo is making a match of it though. Let’s wait and see.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 