Jack Lisowski is just two wins away from his first ranking title as he scored a tremendous 5-3 win over defending champion Kyren Wilson to reach the semi-finals of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open.
Widely considered the best player yet to win a ranking event, Lisowski has been runner-up in six finals and few can match the 34-year-old in terms of natural talent but he is still waiting to convert that into silverware. On Saturday from 1pm he will meet Tom Ford or Zhou Yuelong and will hope to move a step closer to a career-defining moment.
Lisowski’s father sadly passed away last March and he admitted in an interview with TNT Sports earlier this week that for a while he struggled to hold back tears while competing, but he is now “feeling stronger and enjoying snooker more.” The left-hander has played superbly to knock out Mark Selby, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and now world number two Wilson.
A break of 68 gave Wilson the opening frame and in the second he trailed 25-23 when he over-cut a tricky black to a top corner. Lisowski punished him with a run of 41 for 1-1 then compiled runs of 63 and 68 to go 3-1 ahead at the interval. Wilson pulled one back with a break of 70 before Lisowski’s 104 made it 4-2.
In frame seven, Lisowski trailed 56-33 when he missed a tough pot on the penultimate red along a baulk cushion, allowing his opponent to add the points he needed to halve the deficit. Wilson had an early chance in the eighth but missed an awkward red with the rest and Lisowski’s marvellous long red set up a winning 76.
“To beat Kyren, who was the best player in the world last season and won this last year, shows where my game is at,” said world number 29 Lisowski. “It was as hard a game as I could have had, a really big test and I stood up to it. I am hitting every shot well and felt great. I just need to concentrate and get focussed from the start of the match, after that it comes eaiser.”
Lisowski and his friend Giles Martin have been working on a new cue tip called Vortex and the Gloucestershire cueman believes that has been a key factor in his performances this week. “I have been trying for years to find the right one,” he added. “I am excited about it, it gets a lot of spin on the white, it’s very accurate and consistent. Finding the right tip has has been so frustrating, I have definitely lost matches because of it. Giles is the best tip fitter in the world in my opinion so with him I felt we had a chance of getting it right.”
Judd Trump scored his 13th consecutive ranking event win over John Higgins with a 5-2 success to reach the semi-finals and feels his game has “taken a step forward” this week.
Remarkably, Trump has won every ranking event match against four-time World Champion Higgins since 2019 and that sequence now covers 13 fixtures. With one century break and four more over 70 today, this was perhaps Trump’s best performance of the season so far and the world number one is into his first semi-final of the campaign.
Trump will meet Mark Allen or Jordan Brown at the Waterfront Hall on Saturday at 7pm and will be contesting the 70th ranking event semi-final of his career. He is chasing a fourth Alex Higgins Trophy, having lifted the crystal in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2023, and a 31st ranking title in all. After a slow start to the season – he came into this week in 34th place on the one-year list – Trump now looks to be returning to his brilliant best.
Higgins took the first frame of a high quality contest with a break of 61, before 36-year-old Trump compiled runs of 93 and 82 to lead 2-1. A scrappy fourth when Higgins’ way but the veteran managed just 19 points after the interval as Trump fired runs of 72, 72 and 121.
“My scoring was the difference today,” said Trump. “After the interval my long potting was great and I scored heavily. The first time I won this I could feel the warmth of the crowd and every time I come back here it inspires me to play well. I could easily go the whole season without winning a tournament, there’s no guarantee. I would love to get that out of the way here so I can relax. I feel my game has taken a forward step here no matter what happens, I feel a lot more comfortable with my cue and how I am playing.”
Mark Allen managed to put friendship to one side to beat fellow local favourite Jordan Brown 5-2 in the quarter-finals, boosting his hopes of winning the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open for a third time.
Allen described the night as a “strange atmosphere” as he went head-to-head with best friend and practice partner Brown, but kept his focus to progress to the last four of his home tournament. The Pistol will meet world number one Judd Trump on Saturday evening at the Waterfront Hall, with the winner to go through to Sunday’s final to face either Jack Lisowski or Zhou Yuelong, who enjoyed a 5-4 success against Tom Ford.
World number eight Allen lifted the Alex Higgins Trophy in 2021 and 2022 and is now into a 44th ranking event semi-final and remains in the hunt for a 13th title. The Antrim cueman is also looking to strengthen his position at the top of the BetVictor Series rankings, having beaten Zhou in the final of the first event in Brentwood last month, with a £150,000 bonus up for grabs for the leading money winner across the four-event series.
After a raucous welcome into the bear pit for both players, Allen opened with a break of 101 then Brown responded with a 131 for 1-1. A scrappy third went Allen’s way, then in the fourth Brown trailed 57-20 when he missed the penultimate red to a top corner, and he found himself 3-1 behind.
An excellent 120 saw Brown pull one back and he had a chance to snatch frame six from 65-4 behind but again missed the penultimate red, this time to a centre pocket on 28, allowing Allen to take advantage for 4-2. Again Brown had chances in frame seven, but when he failed to pot the black off its spot leading 41-0 that proved his shot as Allen cleared superbly with 71.
“I was relieved to get over the line, it was not a lot of fun playing Jordan,” said 39-year-old Allen. “It may have been a great occasion for the neutral as we had a lot of support, but it was a strange atmosphere because they want us both to do well. I don’t get much enjoyment out of beating Jordan because I always support him otherwise.
“He played a lot of good stuff, made two good centuries, he just missed one or two balls at key moments. If it had gone 4-3 he would have been confident. This is where he belongs. I have practised with him for 25 years and I know what he is capable of. But when you lose confidence in this game then things can get on top of you. I said to him at the end that he has had three good wins this week and he needs to take the positives forward because he is a class act.
“I am here to win the tournament and it would be great to do that in front of my home fans again. But I have two very tough matches ahead of me. I always look forward to games against Judd, I have a decent record against him (Allen has won their last three meetings). He brings the best out of me because he is in the top five or six players of all time so I am always focussed, I know I won’t get a second chance. I grew up with him through the junior ranks so I am not scared of what he can do because I back my own ability. If I play my best stuff, that will be good enough a lot of the time.”
China’s Zhou is into his eighth ranking event semi-final and will meet Lisowski at 1pm on Saturday. Both players are chasing a first ranking title and world number 30 Zhou is aiming to reach a fifth final and second of the season.
Breaks of 90 and 60 put Ford 2-0 ahead before Zhou battled back to 2-2. Ford regained the lead in the fifth then made an 82 for 4-2, then Zhou hit back again with 59 and 66 for 4-4. The decider looked to be going Ford’s way until he missed a red to top corner on 53, and Zhou pulled out a marvellous 77 clearance which included a tremendous pot on the last red along a side cushion.
“It’s a big win for me because I didn’t feel as if I had good touch today, to be able to turn things around,” admitted 27-year-old Zhou. “I have played Jack Lisowski many times, and his style is very distinctive, extremely fast and very precise. Against an opponent like that, all I can do is to focus on myself, control the pace, and play my own game.”
Again, those reports are comprehensive and I don’t have much to add to them.
I have a feeling that this may be Jack Lisowski week and that’s not just because I believe that he might want to win it to honour his late father’s memory. Watching him play this week, It seems to me that something has changed. He still attacks, but maybe he doesn’t take as many low percentage shots as he used to do? Maybe he looks more focussed? I’m not sure. At the time of writing, Jack has already booked his place in the Final. He beat Zhou by 6-1 this afternoon, and scored five breaks over 50 in the process, including three centuries. Of course, both Judd Trump and Mark Allen have won their fair share of tournaments while Jack is still to win his first and experience does matter. If Judd were to prevail tonight, it would probably make things even more difficult for Jack, as, for a long time they practiced together, and they are friends. But even so … I believe that Jack has a real chance tomorrow…1
Or am I blinded by “wishful thinking?” … who knows? ↩︎
Ronnie O'Sullivan 