Day five and we are down to the quarter-finals as Stephen Maguire takes on Peter Lines and Ali Carter faces Ding Junhui…
Note that I have updated the provisional rankings after these two matches.
Peter Lines has done a brilliant job this week to reach the last eight but having ended the opening session 6-2 down against Scotland’s Stephen Maguire it looks like the end of the road for the man from Leeds.
It could have have been so different as although he went into the mid-session interval level at 2-2 with Stephen, he actually managed to score 62 and 60 points in the two frames that he lost! After the break however Maguire showed his class with breaks of 54, 36, 79, 57 and 48 to power away and leave himself needing just three more frames tonight.
Whether Peter was slightly overawed by being in front of the TV cameras for the first time in a long while or whether Stephen played too well is hard for me to say without having seen the afternoon session, but whatever happens he can be happy with his tournament.
Stephen has extended his lead to 7-2 but following a mistake from the Scot in frame 11, Peter has got back to the table and punished him with a terrific 88 to keep his hopes alive…
Drama over on the other table however as Ding Junhui comes close to making a maximum break at the UK Championship for the second successive year. Despite an extraordinary fluke however, he eventually ran out of position and broke down on 96, though he did at least level a very close match at 5-5.
In the afternoon session it was Ali who made much of the running, opening with his 100th career century break before racing into a 3-0 lead. Ding though did not throw in the towel and did enough to come out of the session level at 4-4. Could be a late night for those two.
Peter Lines meanwhile looks like getting another frame back against Maguire, subject to snookers anyway…and he has added another courtesy of a bizarre fluke to trail just 7-5 at the break. Interesting times…
The score is now 7-5 over on the other table too as Ali Carter has taken two frames in a row as he bids to reach the semi-finals for the second straight year in Telford.
Lines and Maguire are back from their interval and it looks like Peter’s concentration has been dented as he has failed to take advantage of a golden chance and been punished by a break of 108 from the world number two. It is a long way back from 8-5…and barring two snookers from Peter it is too long as Maguire leads 64-16 with just two reds remaining…
And it is over, our first semi-finalist is Stephen Maguire who now awaits the winner of the other match currently in progress which currently stands 7-6 to Carter. It is a shame to see Peter’s run come to an end but at the same time I am pleased to see Stephen playing well again and would quite like to see him go all the way now…
Strange frame between Ali and Ding at the moment, the latter in with a terrific chance before a kick looked to have halted his progress, only for Ali to miss a red down the cushion…and Ding has cleared the table for 7-7.
Well we now have a deciding frame as Ding once again levels the match at 8-8 with a break of 95…
Having been chasing for much of the day, it would be typical if Ding were to steal the match and having got himself in with a great opening red he has at least given himself a chance…
The break moves on to 55 and with three reds easily pottable, things are looking desperate for Carter…and it’s all over, Ding eventually taking the frame with a very well-taken break of 76. Having led 7-5 Ali will be gutted to have lost that one but Ding was excellent amongst the balls towards the end and simply did not give him a chance in the decider.
In his second straight semi-final now, Ding is proving to be very difficult to beat this season…