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| Xiao Guodong is through to his first ever ranking semi-final after beating Mark Davis 5-4. Image: World Snooker |
4-2 down. Davis had looked unbeatable earlier in the week, having already beaten Ali Carter and John Higgins but could do nothing to halt the young Chinese player. The Hastings man did lead 3-1 at the interval though, thanks to breaks of 63, 71 and 87. A run of 67 helped Xiao close to 3-2 but Davis went within a frame of victory by winning the sixth on the colours. But the world number 39 had plenty to answer for and won the next three, with two separate breaks of 61.
He’ll face Michael Holt, who’ll also be featuring in the semi-finals of a ranking event for the first time after beating Kyren Wilson 5-1 in the other afternoon quarter-final. Nottingham’s Holt led 3-1 at the interval, thanks to top runs of 85 and 64, and won the next two he needed to progress, including a break of 80 in the sixth.
In the evening session, Barry Hawkins executed an excellent fight back from 4-2 down to beat Mark Selby 5-4. Hawkins won the opener but Selby showed his excellent break-building abilities by constructing runs of 101, 83 and 74 to lead 3-1 at the break. Hawkins won the next to close to 3-2 but a run of 68 saw Selby re-affirm his two frame advantage. But as Xiao had done earlier in the day, Hawkins battled back and took the next three in a row, including a new tournament high break of 140 before an excellent long red in the decider allowed him to secure the match.
He’ll face Ding Junhui in Saturday’s second semi-final after he ended Neil Robertson’s hopes of winning three consecutive Chinese tournaments, by beating him 5-2. After sharing the first four frames, Ding came out of the interval the sharper and runs of 75 and 109 helped him to take the next three frames.
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