Day 12 Snooker: World Championship Highlights

Welcome to the highlights. Today the three remaining quarterfinal

matches were completed. Stephen Maguire beat Stephen Hendry. He is

the first man through to semifinals. But as go straight to the action.

The clash between two former What an afternoon of snooker this

could be. It has got such a presence.

Five each. Neil Robertson on the back foot,

five down. One of the cleanest pots hit all

day. He could not have hit it better.

He leads in tonight's final session. After two sessions and three frames,

Ronnie O'Sullivan was in charge. The Rocket is at the table and he

There will be a 15-minute break If Ronnie O'Sullivan wins this

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round, some intervals concern a He pots the frame quickly, or puts

it in a position way he Kenwyn it. He tried to leave the blue half

He plays so well. He can increase the pace a bit. He still needs to

be careful, though. It will be a The top Red Bull is possible. --

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Four minutes, and he already won Ronnie O'Sullivan is catching up

How can he play this could, yet If he wins this quarterfinal, his

Neil Robertson possesses steely determination. Can he keep it

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The interval has changed the Ronnie O'Sullivan will have to find

Does he decide to miss the first two reds? All does he keys the one

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If he screws off it, it could go He thought he missed it. The cue

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It looks like another frame for There we go, over the line. The

He has left it to play the cannon. You know he can have the one in the

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He's great players do not lie down, That is another one for Neil

Robertson. A heart the comeback is on. He is trailing by 37 points. --

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He made that last shot look very He can still cut and the red in the

middle pocket. He was lining up to He can pot this and get the right

In trying to do that, he missed the His last hope is that Ronnie

O'Sullivan cannot do something similar. To get the position on the

The angle looks good. I am sure Ronnie O'Sullivan can create that

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angle. It could be a frame winner He is getting closer to the finish

Maybe if he flicks the two report One more red is needed. He has

played superbly in this tournament, apart from one session. That has

The knowledgeable Crucible audience knows exactly what that means. He

I think he will be a very strong favourite for the tournament now.

At times, it was absolutely vintage. At times, we wondered whether he

was being too safe. But overall, he has played the best snooker he

could play. There are still three very good players in the semifinal

He will be tough to beat but he He just had to sit there and be

patient. Hopefully, he will be given another opportunity. He was a

very aggressive with his shot selection. He put me on the back

foot. I never really recovered from the situation. When you get down to

the quarterfinals, anyone is capable of winning. Now it is only

one of former players who can win it. I do not think there are any

favours. -- one of four players. Ronnie O'Sullivan will play Matthew

We struggled last night. It was really hard. You have to do a job.

I managed to do it. It spiralled out of control, really. It was

disappointing. You cannot change it now. It has been a long fuse. --

few years. Years ago, I was getting to the semis and quarters. But to

be upstaged in this event -- I feel proud of myself. Stephen Hendry

decided to retire from the game after an illustrious career.

Will you welcome, of the best of the very best, Mr Stephen Hendry.

Earlier today, he received an ovation in front of a packed

A number of past world champions saluted the man who compiled the

greatest kissable record of them all. 19 matches, 70 wins, 100 --

over 100 centuries. He had the burning desire to be the best. He

will be missed. He's not on the sport of snooker will remain

forever. -- his mark. There is one semifinal spot. It will either go

Ali Carter is a great player. He has done brilliantly. He has had is

a lot harder than the rest of us. He has suffered a lot, just

watching him struggle with that. has done well at The Crucible.

is one of the best strikers of the ball I have seen. He's a good

player to watch. He does not really mingle with the players. He is not

a great mixer but he is there to win it. There is nothing from

stopping me from winning. The captain was in control, leading

9-7. And then 12 -8 into the concluding session. It leaves one

more frame in the place for the He is a little bit thin on the blue.

If he could pot the blue he would. But he can play the brown. If he is

playing the blue, he would not want to play the cannon. He might just

He did not play the cannon. He would have been better off playing

Someone at the shouting, come on! But it should be, come on Jamie.

That was pure pressure. He has done so well here, Jamie, but at this

stage, it is hard to tell you just 40 can do to you. Especially with

this game. You have no margin for error. You are trying to control

the cue ball. I think Jamie fears the worst. Yes, but nothing to be

ashamed of. He has acquitted himself really well. The way he

scores, there is no reason to suspect he will not be back here in

the years to come. A great pedigree, the Welsh players. Ali Carter was a

bit short on the black. I don't know if he will risk and play a

cannon on the pink to go for the red. He is not perfect by any means.

That is a good shot. A delicate little cannon on the pink and he is

perfectly on that red. How does he feel? Is he going for the single

red or for the delicate little cannon? It looks like the cannon.

He has not judged it. He is leading 12 -8. It just shows you that even

with a four frame advantage, Ali Carter is now starting to feel the

tension. We have always said that the frame at that wins you the

match it is sometimes the hardest to win. Yes, if you are a regular

tournament winner, the top players seemed to be able to go ahead and

clinch the match out. At the moment, Ali Carter is just feeling that

And to keep your hopes alive, you need to make the most of this

opportunity. Suddenly there is a bounce in Jamie's step. He was

sitting with his head in his hands a few minutes ago. The highs and

the lows of the Crucible Theatre. We have seen it all in the last

couple of minutes. We are looking at a young player that has made

seven centuries for his debut at the Crucible. And he made 13 prior

to the tournament in the whole It is not a straightforward

clearance because of the green near Nice positional shot. Quick glance

at the score board will tell him that he needs up to and including

And the pink is in a slightly awkward position. He has got to

negotiate the pink so that he does not snooker himself on that blue

The pink to keep his hopes alive. This has been a tremendous effort,

just into slightly what we call a blind pocket. You can see the

object ball, but not the pocket. But it is right in the centre of

the pocket! Ali Carter will be kicking himself. How many chances

did he need to win that frame? Jamie's hopes are still alive. We

have seen it done before. Perhaps Jamie Jones is starting a comeback.

-- comeback. Ali Carter is at the table, trailing, and getting a bit

But he has got nicely on the blue. It could have landed bet on the

blue. I don't know if he feels he needs to play a cannon, because of

the middle one of those four red's goes, but you could play a cannon

on the red to the right of the pink. That is what he has played, but it

has not worked out right. He is on He needs a good safety. Jamie Jones

is only looking for one more red and a colour. Kissing the blue does

not help Ali Carter's course. did rush that. He was so

disappointed with the position. Why he wanted to go all the way around

the angles there, I will never know. He had an escape up behind the

colours. They shake of the head tells you that he rushed into that.

He is 59 points in front. There's still a possible 59 on the table.

If he pots the pink, he wins the frame, no doubt. If he tries to pot

the pink in the middle, he could knock the blue off the cushion. He

needs to pot this. No heroics, just He missed the pink but he has got

the snooker the snookerhe blue. If Ali Carter does not get this safe, it

He concedes Ali Carter. All of a sudden, from Jamie Jones, head in

hands looking as though he is out of the tournament, he is back in

of the tournament, he is back in it! 12-10. It is getting very tired.

Jamie Jones is two frames behind. There is a safety battle going on

We have seen some unbelievable things happening here, but this is

ballcue ball was definitely in the pocket.

How it is managed to stay there, well, I'll never know. You have got

He did not think he could play the swerve shot. You need a lot of

action on the cue ball to swerve it in and it would go near the pink

It was not that long ago that we were saying that he was 32 in front

with 43 remaining. He is now only 13 points ahead. He could not going

twice across the table or once across. He is trying the swerve

shot and he has almost hit the red. If he does not hit it, the referee

has to keep calling a miss no What a difference that has made.

Ali Carter was 32 points ahead. Now the lead is only 13 points. This

red is on. There is a chance you could roll it in and nudged the

Jamie Jones... When they cue ball hung in the jaws, but what a chance

now he has to get to 12-11. We have had a few frames where Jamie has

been sitting in his chair with his head in his hands. Now he is back

bouncing around the table, and he Oh, no! Just pure tension there. He

suddenly realised, I've got another frame here, and he has covered the

potting angle on the red. Settle down now, please. I don't remember

seeing a frame like this at the He'll be disappointed he didn't

have the chance to go for the pot, frame and match winning chance.

Only five points in this. Anybody's APPLAUSE.

What a shot! He comes up smiling. He can't believe what's happening

out there. That was some pot, I can That is just a sensational pot. So

brave, so, so brave, and he deserves everything he gets from

Can he held himself together? We had seen to read he missed. A quick

I told you what, there was nothing easy. He wanted the green. Brown

The blue to go 15 points in front with 13 points remaining on the

table. Ali Carter cannot believe this, and I've got to be honest

with you, neither can I. I've never seen anything like this in my life.

He might be smiling but underneath he'll be squirming. How was this

match still going on? Yet another remarkable performance

from Jamie Jones on his Crucible debut. The next frame, Carter at

Just looking after this red. The other reds might be covering each

other slightly. The cut will go in the middle pocket, the left middle

pocket. He'd like to try to knock a This is the complete reverse to his

match with Judd Trump, coming back with Judd, and now he is seeing

Jamie Jones doing the same to him. There is the cannon, and it's

worked out. He has opened the redds up. You have to get them open

Can he held himself together? We've said that a few times. We know what

can happen but the chance is there. He has had better chances than this

But, with the black available into both corners, the pink on its spot

and at least one colour in the pocket, there will hopefully be a

better opportunity than this for a 20-point lead, and five reds in the

Open - that will be more than I don't blame him for having a

little wander around the table just to settle himself down. Much better

doing that than rushing into the shot. We've seen so many marvellous

shots played in the World Championship but now, as you say,

it's all about holding yourself together. Trusting your technique

and pushing that cue through Just getting his little extension

out there. He had a look up at the crowd. The fuels his friends are up

there. Now looking at the monitor - - a few of his friends are up there.

Now looking at the monitor. That's OK. He can just stun past the pink,

and he should be OK. He doesn't want to cannon the pink, just slip

past it. He has got the red in the middle pocket but the pink, he can

play a delicate stone shot and he will have a choice of reds. He's

gone further up the table. Are those two red balls not available

in to the right corner? 35 in front. Evidently not, and a little bit

tight, that. That's why he played for the other blue spot. Getting

Obviously the green or the brown is It was the brown. Puts him 40

points in front, 67 remaining. Still needing really three of these

reds, depending what colour he takes. We've said that before.

is giving himself time, just wandering around the table so he

Jamie in the background under his towel. He will get one more chance.

I think he feared the worst when we saw him with his head down for a

few frames and he has come bouncing back but he might not get the

He is almost there. This red, one more colour, and once again, just

that little wonder about, making That's it.

He'll be feeling a lot better now, Ali Carter. But, boy, has he had to

fight for this victory. Jamie Jones has given us some excitement here

this evening. I've enjoyed every shot these boys have played. High

drama, and maybe one shot away from having a chance to level at 12-12,

but you've got to hand it to Ali. There must have been a few demons

in his head but he has got over the line somehow. That White drifted

off when he was meant to land on Ali Carter led 12 -8 and looked

comfortable but what a fight back by this young man. He's been a

breath of fresh air this year. He gets a standing ovation as he

leaves the arena, but well done, Ali Carter, you've reached the

Ali Carter, you've reached the semifinal for the second time in

three years. I had the chance to win 13 -8 and I couldn't get over

the line, so to speak, and suddenly everything starts going wrong, you

know? Held himself together in the last frame, made a 75 break. I

think it was a good achievement. I can carry a hell of a lot through

to next season and be very confident in my ability next season.

A win this is the winner, 13-11. I'm happy and glad to get through

to another semifinal. So this is the line-up for the 2012 World

We are down to the one table set-up, the heart beating faster, the

nerves a little more frayed, and the temperature inside the Crucible

going a few degrees higher. The semifinal starts at 1pm on BBC Two