Day 5 Snooker: Welsh Open Highlights

It is than to eight people now, it is the best light players were left

in it. -- best eight players who are left. Good evening. We have had

four brilliant quarter-finals today. We have been waiting to see whether

Ding Junhui or Stephen Lee would be making it through to the semi-

finals. This best of nine match went to deciding frame. We join it

there, Stephen Lee at the table, That was very fortunate from

Stephen Lee. As soon as those two balls collided, anything could have

happened. By the look of it, he has no good both reds around the black

spot and that is going to force Ding Junhui to move one of the

loose reds tied up on that right This is just what Stephen Lee once.

11 points in arrears, he does not want any of those reds to be tied

He has played a superb cue ball to here. He can play most I pot shots.

Many players would not be able to consider playing a short leg that.

It would not be in their repertoire. The train of thought here is,

firstly, which red can I roll up to, which is in a safe position? But to

be those two reds behind the black. The second question is, what is the

best way to get to them, which is off the yellow side of the table,

somewhere near the baulk line. Off the right hand side cushion and in,

It was a good effort. Just short of pace. It is an automatic miss. If

you do not reach the ball, then it Slight readjustment needed by Ding

This is going to slide too much, and it has. If there two of the two

Pass - if that top of the two reds pots, Stephen Lee will not be

He banged his cue on the table there. I hope that he has not

damaged anything, Stephen Lee. He is angry with himself. It means

such a lot to these two to contest one of the semi-final places

tomorrow. Ding Junhui will require all the remaining reds. That is

unlike Stephen Lee. This cue ball needs to slow down. Dear me. It is

unlike these two, to allow the pressure to get to them in such a

way as has happened in this final frame. It is becoming a very tense

He could theoretically attempt the pot on the red that has next to the

cue ball. -- that is next. He is having a look at it. Is he trying

to pot the red? Yes he is. Wonderful, wonderful shot from Ding

Junhui! The touch of a brilliant player, there. To be honest, he did

not have a lot on except to roll up Could say that sort of shot

deserves to win the match for him, very brave, to take that on. The

remaining two reds, with two covers, he needs, to see him through. --

I don't believe it. He has done the one thing he could not afford to do,

and leave the cue ball short of the black. I think they know it, too.

He cannot get on to this final red from there. Absolutely impossible.

He will have to just take his medicine, pot the black, and play a

snooker on this final red. What is He probably would have been able to

hold position for the red, if he I do not think it is a snooker. It

is an effective safety shot, He can get to play that red on to

the baulk cushion or even use the brown and the green to snooker the

last red. I hope Stephen Lee realises he can get through to the

red because the shot t is looking at his to come off the side cushion,

and I do not think that he needs to. He is not snookered on that red.

That was such a difficult shot to execute and he could not have

played it better. Full marks, 2 Not too difficult to hit this red,

but he's going to have to trust to luck whether re gets it safe or not.

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 90 seconds

-- whether he gets it safe. He is That was a fluke. He did not play

for that. He swerved round the blue, intended to play the red thicker

and on to the cushion, it would have been a good shot. But put too

much swerve on the ball and made 15 behind. The colours remain.

Stephen Lee needs every one of them. Let us have a look at this again.

Too much swerved on the cue ball, check side on it, and still on the

The brown is in the perfect position for Stephen Lee. The key

shot is going to be the pink to the black. Assuming he gets that far,

and he plays one a good shot, it could win him the match. He has

missed, I don't believe it! Surely, a more well for has not gone off?

He could not lose a match in a worse circumstance, than to hear a

more well phone go off, just as you strike the cue ball. I've feel very

sorry for Stephen Lee. -- a mobile phone. A mobile phone was off, just

as you're about to strike the cue ball, and that is what can happen.

-- phone goes off. Well, well, well. Obviously, the brown will pass the

pink, and this is much ball for Ding Junhui. -- match ball. I can

only hope they fanned out who's found that was. -- find out whose

phone that was. One of the most dramatic final frames you will ever

see but it is Ding Junhui who wins, in the end, by 5-4. He goes through

in the end, by 5-4. He goes through to tomorrow's semi-final. It was

nervous in the final frame, and I missed so many chances. I practised

hard, but it did not work to do, so Stephen was unlucky. With some

shots. I'm lucky to win. He Ding Junhui will now play Shaun Murphy

in the last four. He came through his mark with Mark -- match with

Mark Allen in the deciding frame.-2 victory, Mark Allen fought hard,

looking for a likely snooker, then decided to give up the chase after

20 minutes of trying, so it is Shaun Murphy through to face Ding

Junhui. It was always going to be a tough match with Mark Allen, one of

the best players on the planet. It is a funny game, I can say no real

pleasure, because he is one of my best mates, so it is a tough one. I

was pleased with how I came through in the end, although the last frame

was a pantomime. But the game of the day, Ronnie O'Sullivan against

Judd Trump. The two most exciting players in the game. They match

these to other blow for blow, both making centuries. When picking up

the match in frame five. -- we are picking up. Ronnie also a win is at

He might play for the red a loose in the middle, which he has done.

Two more loose reds after this one before he has got to start thinking

He would like to finish low on this red but he is going to play to the

opposite corner for the black, to If you played it 20 times you could

not hit it better than that. Absolutely perfectly played. He

played with that little bit of chat side. He has checked it to make

sure he was potting the black. -- He is using the extended rest this

time. I am not sure that he has got the angle to one round two cushions.

I thought he might have played a bit harder and got a full-ball can

He doesn't necessarily want to bring other reds into play. There

are times that you risk that, times I am not too sure there's an angle

There is just enough room. If he was 49 behind, he would be playing

There are different ways of brick One more red and colour will taken

into the lead for the second time It looks like normal service has

APPLAUSE. It is the plant. This is You cannot imagine her missing this

in any shape or form. There you can It is Ronnie O'Sullivan who has

enjoyed his interval a little bit This is as good as it gets, to be

fair to both players. Both players When you consider he missed a very

Amazingly enough, we could have had In every other frame, we could have

APPLAUSE. Another wonderful legs but the -- exhibition of building a

A good positional shot. He misses He has played at the other way

around to make sure he avoids the kiss on the green. He deserves to

Isn't it a shame, Willie, that It is the maximum from what was

Absolutely superb! He looked in a bit of trouble earlier in the match

when Judd Trump made a century. Ronnie O'Sullivan has made two

Let go to the next frame. This is the 6th frame. Ronnie O'Sullivan is

APPLAUSE. I just can't believe the pace that he plays some of these

Have that! I think he has had a little bit of a kick there. He is

He wasn't too impressed with the connection. From a wrangle, they

didn't look like it, but he has A couple of options of the green. A

APPLAUSE. He has decided to come down and play for the loose reds.

There was value in going for that APPLAUSE. Again, you have the same

sort of shot. You can come off the side cushion. You can play for the

This time, he has, and he has gone too wide. He has still got a shot

Every pot seems to fired into the back of the pocket. He likes to

hear the sound of the ball's going I suppose it is because his can --

Ideally, he would like to play this, Port the red and come off the

He has decided to go for the blue. Now the Pride of York, into the

He might push that read right over the corner. -- that red. This has

If he has landed on his red into APPLAUSE. This is turning into a

terrific effort. By potting that red, he has opened up a couple of

others into that right corner pocket. He just want to drag back a

He has got the loose red now to the None of those to be go to the right

corner. He used to get on this pink They don't now. He may be reluctant

to play into the black at this If he was 45 behind, he would

probably have played for the canon. Because he is 45 in front, he has

played for the pink and gone too You could have got a double Decker

bus through there. This has been a fabulous break. He just keeps

I think this crowd deserves third match to go the full way. It would

be good to have the next two frames shared so that we can have a

It is like the gunfight at the OK Once again, this knowledge of all

crowd realised that was a difficult It is amazing how they not those in

at speed. I cannot tell you how difficult that is. Ronnie

O'Sullivan looks bemused, there, sitting in his seat. He must have

thought, there is no way I can win Six minutes later, it is free more.

Does he have the angle to come off There's the flick, he did not get

It's never-ending, isn't it! Absolutely deserves a century here.

What a shame! Judd Trump returns to make it all square again. It is 3-3.

That levelled things up again. Ronnie O'Sullivan took the 7th

frame. He needed just one more for victory. We did come in the 8th

frame? Judd Trump has it all to do Wow! He has been so unfortunate

there if he is not in a good If the quite came down just by an

inch more, he would have been perfect on both baulk -- on both

He could have got through to that pink if that cue-ball had just

He has surprised us. That is one of the very few pot he has refused in

this match. That was probably an easier shot in the long red he took

on. Obviously, it was not easy. To say the least. He has played a good

He may have forced the opening, because Ronnie has not got past the

baulk line. That is unusual for Ronnie. He may be able to play this

He has found another one. I did not think he could see that. He has

made a big mistake there. That cue- ball has stopped to fire this end

of the table. -- too far up this This is no chance of a match. --

this is now Iraq chance for Ronnie He has got a fantastic future ahead

He has had a great season. He will He will be feeling good, not only

that he has reached the semi-final, but obviously that he has had their

Both players are almost playing perfect snooker. We mentioned what

a breath of fresh air this young man has been. He has a wonderful

He knows he is possibly facing been APPLAUSE. Ronnie O'Sullivan looks

Ronnie O'Sullivan is going to get to the semi-final. He is playing

some of the best snooker we have seen this year. A couple of months

ago, he was 4-0 behind against Andrew Higgins. He won that match

and went on to win the tournament, re-establishing himself as a top

APPLAUSE. He cannot do anything else but enjoy this match. The key

thing here, Ronnie has won the When it came to the safeties, he

No clearance, but I'm sure Judd Trump will congratulate them.

Ronnie O'Sullivan is firing on all cylinders. He will be very hard to

beat in this tournament. He wins 5- Now have started to play a part

later on in the game. I thought, this match is not about who plays

the great snooker, it is about who hold it together under pressure. I

thought judge to -- I thought Judd Trump was playing some safety's he

would normally play. I took that as a sign that he was therefore

A mark Selby played his best snooker by some margin. It was a

tight game against Stephen Maguire from Glasgow. They had matched each

other friend for frame early on. This was the last pot of the match.

That made it 5-3. A really good when. He is running into some form

at the right time. Just as well, because he has Ronnie O'Sullivan in

I was really pleased with the way I handled that match. I was letting

the pressure get to me a little bit before, but there, I knew I

Here is the semi-final line-up. Two former Welsh Open champions pitted

against each other. Mark Selby against Ronnie O'Sullivan. 32

players have now been reduced to just four and, out in the arena,

two tables have been cut to one. There is only one needed now for