:01:36. > :01:39.Our first semi-final started this afternoon. They only seem to meet
:01:40. > :01:44.these days on the grandest occasions. Their last three have all
:01:45. > :01:52.been finals, most notably right here 12 months ago. Since then the
:01:53. > :01:59.Shanghai Masters Ding Junhui claimed. But then he was swamped by
:02:00. > :02:04.Mark Selby. Now, they cross cues again under the Crucible's
:02:05. > :02:08.Spotlight. They got under way at One and ding Junhui has forced in front
:02:09. > :02:13.and we join them in the opening session. It's frame three being
:02:14. > :03:10.watched by Ken Doherty. Danny Willet here with his manager.
:03:11. > :03:14.Always lovely to see Danny about. He looks as thrilled as anyone when he
:03:15. > :03:43.put the green jacket on, Sergio Garcia. Wonderful moment.
:03:44. > :03:57.That is ok. He's got a red into the right corner pocket. That was his
:03:58. > :04:02.thousandth ball potted. He's 101 behind Ding Junhui but, as we said
:04:03. > :04:05.earlier, Ding Junhui's played a few more frames.
:04:06. > :04:58.Potting this red, he'll open the part of the black into both pockets.
:04:59. > :06:18.Prime position now on the red. That's below the pack of reds, open
:06:19. > :06:28.into the same pocket where the black has gone. He wants to get on that
:06:29. > :06:32.red. If he leaves it at a nice angle, which he has done, he can pot
:06:33. > :06:44.this red now and bring some more reds into play from the pack.
:06:45. > :07:07.Wonderful shot. That's the way to play or break build. Neckache red to
:07:08. > :07:21.the edge of the cluster goes and it has. It's been played inch perfect.
:07:22. > :07:37.Another 25 points required. He'll be at the snooker required stage.
:07:38. > :07:43.Played the red to the right middle. Nice angle. Stung down for the black
:07:44. > :07:48.once again. I don't know whether he can roll it through and play for the
:07:49. > :07:54.pink. He's playing this other one here. He'll be running into another
:07:55. > :07:58.red. He's got to be careful where the cue ball finishes. Watch the
:07:59. > :08:05.middle pocket. Played it confidently. Hitting that red, as he
:08:06. > :08:08.did, sent it back to the same end that the cue ball was travelling.
:08:09. > :08:38.Looks very straight on this blue. Under-screwed slightly. Shouldn't
:08:39. > :08:42.cause a problem. It's perfect. Blue will put him 63 points in front.
:08:43. > :09:15.Still 75 remaining. Excellent stuff. This blue to go 69
:09:16. > :09:41.points in front with just 67 remaining.
:09:42. > :10:07.Yellow. Three blues, six blacks and now a pink.
:10:08. > :10:34.We could see Mark make a century here. He's played it well.
:10:35. > :10:44.Hasn't been out of position once. The way they're potting, you don't
:10:45. > :10:54.expect them to miss easy balls. It's all about controlling the cue ball.
:10:55. > :10:58.Already made four centuries. He gets on this red, you can see number five
:10:59. > :11:19.coming up. Red for the century. Oh, just a
:11:20. > :11:26.fraction off! Well, he can't be too disappointed. That break was
:11:27. > :11:30.exemplary. A treat for four frames. All square. Two apiece. That was the
:11:31. > :11:35.champion's response to having gone behind in any match for the first
:11:36. > :11:40.time in the Championship. After the interval, Ding took two of the next
:11:41. > :11:41.three to lead 4-3 as we head into what was their last frame of the
:11:42. > :11:54.opening session. Back we go. Well, would you believe that. That's
:11:55. > :12:17.amazing. Never expected him to miss the big
:12:18. > :12:32.target. Hit the pink and leave this red on.
:12:33. > :12:42.He's going to have to sit there now and wonder how many points that
:12:43. > :12:51.mistake's cost him. Straight into them. Straight into them. Nicely on
:12:52. > :12:55.one to the right corner. That was very positive. And boy did he play
:12:56. > :13:06.that well. Yes, didn't want to hit the pink that time, wanted to hit
:13:07. > :13:14.the red to the left of the pink. Played it to perfection.
:13:15. > :13:18.The pink and blue available. And of course the black is available into
:13:19. > :13:30.the right corner pocket. Could free up the black into both
:13:31. > :14:05.corner pockets. He's played it. He's played it. Yes.
:14:06. > :14:20.That's the beauty of break-building, you give yourselves options.
:14:21. > :14:28.His cue ball control is just that little bit better than Mark Selby in
:14:29. > :15:10.these opening exchanges. 48 points from that position to get
:15:11. > :15:12.to the snookers required stage and take a two-frame advantage into the
:15:13. > :15:23.second session tomorrow. Has the angle to go into the two
:15:24. > :15:30.reds. Right above the black. That is what he's looking at. I'm sure the
:15:31. > :15:41.top red of those two goes into this bottom right hand corner pocket.
:15:42. > :16:15.Just got a wonderful touch. Makes the breaks look so easy because of
:16:16. > :16:22.his position on the cue ball. When you watch where he puts the cue
:16:23. > :16:26.ball, it's no more than six or eight inches from the next ball.
:16:27. > :16:33.They say the best breaks are the ones where people say, well I could
:16:34. > :16:39.have potted that! Well, the reason is, because he keeps leaving himself
:16:40. > :16:46.inch perfect. Nice angles on every ball.
:16:47. > :16:57.This is a big frame. Two-frame advantage.
:16:58. > :17:12.A good afternoon afternoon's work. It all came from that split. He hit
:17:13. > :17:17.the blue, couldn't go into the pink, had to hit the red full ball. Just
:17:18. > :17:54.look at the reds that he opened up beautifully. Excellent shot.
:17:55. > :18:01.Just a little hampered by the pink. I think he only has to roll the red
:18:02. > :18:03.in to get position on the black. Didn't have to do too much with the
:18:04. > :18:29.cue ball. We were talking at the start of the
:18:30. > :18:35.match with Hazel in the commentary box about how he'd feel after
:18:36. > :18:40.beating Ronnie O'Sullivan and Gary Baldry, remember he used to go
:18:41. > :18:46.around with Ding Junhui a lot, in China it was always looked upon,
:18:47. > :18:51.could he beat Ronnie O'Sullivan and, you know, I mean we looked at the
:18:52. > :18:59.head-to-heads before he beat him yesterday and it was 10-2 to Ronnie.
:19:00. > :19:04.The fact he's now beat Ronnie has proven to everybody that he's
:19:05. > :19:07.capable of beating anyone in the game. I think he's taken that
:19:08. > :19:12.confidence into this. APPLAUSE.
:19:13. > :19:18.The applause tells you that he's past the point where Mark Selby
:19:19. > :19:22.needs snookers. Not only beating Ronnie but beating him at the World
:19:23. > :19:31.Championship as well, over the best of 25 frames. And Ronnie playing
:19:32. > :19:35.well. Let's not forget that. Yes. We were a little bit concerned, would
:19:36. > :19:52.he have a slight hangover from that win.
:19:53. > :20:03.There's another wonderful positional shot.
:20:04. > :20:08.It's had no effect on him. If anything it's given him that air of
:20:09. > :20:20.confidence. This is going to be a cracking semi-final. Ding's going to
:20:21. > :20:28.have the slight initiative. I'm sure Mark Selby will be coming back at
:20:29. > :20:30.him. I'm sure we are in for a great match with both players playing at
:20:31. > :20:58.the top of their game. Nine century breaks so far in the
:20:59. > :21:02.tournament. Three in each match. The only thing we've missed this
:21:03. > :21:19.afternoon is a century. Wonderful play by Ding Junhui.
:21:20. > :21:32.His 63rd century break of the tournament so far. Remember, 86 was
:21:33. > :21:38.the record. Lovely shot. He's not on the yellow. He's going to end on
:21:39. > :21:47.110. He'll be very pleased with his afternoon's work.
:21:48. > :21:51.He leads the defending champion. Mark Selby with a bit to think
:21:52. > :22:02.about. Didn't Ding Junhui do well? He sure did. That was Ding's tenth
:22:03. > :22:07.century of the Championship as you heard so far and it underscores his
:22:08. > :22:12.lead as well. He'll take a two-frame advantage into the second session at
:22:13. > :22:16.10am tomorrow. The defending champion joins us now, chasing the
:22:17. > :22:26.game a little bit Mark and had a problem with the tip of the cue.
:22:27. > :22:31.What is the latest? I managed to get a new tip on. Anything over distance
:22:32. > :22:36.six foot and beyond, I didn't have any confidence the get any reaction
:22:37. > :22:40.out of it. When playing safety shots, I felt as though there was no
:22:41. > :22:44.throw-off, no life left in the tip. I thought if I was to go on and win
:22:45. > :22:47.that match, the tip would get worse, so I thought I'm better making an
:22:48. > :22:51.early decision. Brand-new one or another one in the bag with you?
:22:52. > :22:55.Yes, brand-new one. I should have probably had an old one bedded in
:22:56. > :23:00.but I didn't so my friend put a brand-new one on and I've been
:23:01. > :23:04.playing a few hours with that tonight trying to get used to it.
:23:05. > :23:09.How long do you normally take to bed in a new tip? Normally not too bad.
:23:10. > :23:13.I'm not one of them after a few shots I take it off and put another
:23:14. > :23:17.on, I try and grin and bear it and play through it. A lot of the time
:23:18. > :23:20.with the new tip, it's when you are playing shots with slide. What we
:23:21. > :23:24.are playing on tomorrow, for instance, the throw-off is going to
:23:25. > :23:29.be different. So that is something I'll have to get used to. I'm more
:23:30. > :23:34.confident now in the tip than I was before. I was going to ask if this
:23:35. > :23:40.will help your confidence, rather than worrying about what it was
:23:41. > :23:46.before? At least now I know I can have the confidence playing with the
:23:47. > :23:53.shots. It's not an excuse why I'm 5-3 down, it's just a problem with
:23:54. > :23:57.the tip. Similar circumstances with the tip last time. Fingers crossed
:23:58. > :24:00.it will work again. We'll see in the morning. Thank you very much. Thank
:24:01. > :24:05.you. We are going to take you to the second semi-final which began this
:24:06. > :24:08.evening between John Higgins, the four-time champion and Barry Hawkins
:24:09. > :24:12.who's made a habit of reaching this final four in the last five years or
:24:13. > :24:17.so. If you were watching earlier on BBC Two, you will know that John
:24:18. > :24:23.Higgins took a 2-0 lead. It went 3-0 and, for all the world it looked
:24:24. > :24:32.like John was going to go in at the mid session interval four up.
:24:33. > :24:37.You don't start thinking about a century break until you have made
:24:38. > :24:48.enough to win the frame and he's not too far away from doing that. Just
:24:49. > :25:03.this red. Oh, missed it. Can you believe that. That was frame ball.
:25:04. > :25:12.All of a sudden, you miss an easy ball. He hasn't done that for ageing
:25:13. > :25:16.and that was a lapse in concentration there -- for ages.
:25:17. > :25:20.Still favourite for this frame but he should have been on his way to
:25:21. > :25:24.the dressing room now. Barry is looking at a plant here, rather than
:25:25. > :25:29.the one red that's loose. If he does get the plant, which it looks on,
:25:30. > :25:31.the one just below the pink, this will give him a chance to pinch this
:25:32. > :26:00.frame. 69 points behind. When you haven't made a break above
:26:01. > :26:06.20 in the opening three frames, to suggest you can try to clear up is
:26:07. > :26:12.hard to do. He knows now this would hurt John Higgins if he can do just
:26:13. > :26:14.that. Mind, we had a few oohs and Ahs from the crowd there, he wobbled
:26:15. > :26:30.that black there. And the fact that he didn't pot the
:26:31. > :26:42.black cleanly into the pocket has left him slightly hampered here.
:26:43. > :26:55.Good recovery. That was something John Parrot mentioned in the studio.
:26:56. > :26:59.Every time he gets in, he seems awkward. Still is now. Awkward on
:27:00. > :27:04.the black. I think the pink will pot. The one the bottom of the three
:27:05. > :27:11.does but still he can't get on the ball properly at the minute. Could
:27:12. > :27:17.work to his advantage because the red next to the pink is tied up.
:27:18. > :27:22.This, as long as he judges the cannon correctly, will free the pink
:27:23. > :27:37.and the red. He's got the pink but he's just
:27:38. > :27:42.running away. I think he can avoid the yellow, you know, and get back
:27:43. > :27:47.up to the reds. Another key shot coming up here. Playing ball will
:27:48. > :27:59.take him past the yellow when he pots this pink. This is the best of
:28:00. > :28:00.33 frames, but this could be a big miniturning point in this
:28:01. > :28:23.semi-final. John will be sitting there kicking
:28:24. > :28:27.himself thinking it was such an easy red for frame ball. Didn't have to
:28:28. > :28:31.get so close to the black, just make sure you pot the red. Now the work
:28:32. > :28:37.starts as far as Barry Hawkins is concerned. As Denis mentioned, being
:28:38. > :28:41.a left-hander is not too bad. He's got to get on that last red
:28:42. > :29:05.perfectly. Now, has it got the angle to get
:29:06. > :29:09.over and put the other white up? He'd love to get somewhere there
:29:10. > :29:22.being a left-hander. I think he can do that.
:29:23. > :29:29.If not the pink, certainly for the blue, it would be easier to get to
:29:30. > :29:42.the Iolo from the blue. -- yellow from the blue.
:29:43. > :29:53.What a frame this would be, to pinch.
:29:54. > :29:58.Yes, especially as he couldn't pot a ball in the opening three frames. A
:29:59. > :30:01.high break of only 20 before this frame. Can he pot this six remaining
:30:02. > :30:29.colours to pinch the frame? Not often you make a 69 break and
:30:30. > :30:39.lose a frame. That could happen here, how has he
:30:40. > :30:44.finished on the brown? Oh, it is awkward if he screws back, the white
:30:45. > :30:48.is going towards the middle pocket. It couldn't have finished any
:30:49. > :30:53.awkwarder there, just be careful of that middle pocket.
:30:54. > :31:07.So he stunned it in, which means he has got to go up and down the table.
:31:08. > :31:13.Well he is good with the rest, he will have to be here. What a roar
:31:14. > :31:21.from the crowd if he can pot these two colours.
:31:22. > :31:25.Such is the tension on the blue, you can see how he mis-hit that, he
:31:26. > :31:26.wanted to be two feet further left so he didn't need the rest, he will
:31:27. > :31:45.have to swing this round. Yes, that wasn't a bad shot, it was
:31:46. > :31:51.the bad shot on the blue. John Higgins will by a mazed he is coming
:31:52. > :31:56.back to the table with a chance to be 4-0 in front. What a strange
:31:57. > :32:01.frame this has been Dennis. After missing the red 245 John missed, the
:32:02. > :32:13.pink is not a gimme, a bit of pressure on this.
:32:14. > :32:27.John Higgins. He trails by four frames to nil.
:32:28. > :32:31.HAZEL IRVINE: It has been six years since John Higgins last finished in
:32:32. > :32:36.a Crucible semifinal and that score line marks a perfect return for him
:32:37. > :32:46.so far, Barry's highest break had only been 20, so could the Hawk find
:32:47. > :32:52.his feet after their interval? The English man owns a small lead going
:32:53. > :32:59.into frame five. He hasn't got a good cue ball.
:33:00. > :33:04.Not only has he not got a good cue ball, he pushed that red near the
:33:05. > :33:10.pocket. Black only available into one corner
:33:11. > :33:12.pocket. And he has played this beautifully.
:33:13. > :33:48.Very nicely controlled. Just got that white running loose a
:33:49. > :33:54.little bit at the minute. This time he is perfect on the blue,
:33:55. > :33:58.so Barry Hawkins should definitely win this frame from in position, he
:33:59. > :33:59.is 17 points in front. The three reds in open play will be more than
:34:00. > :34:36.enough to get frame on the board. It looks as if the mid-session
:34:37. > :34:41.interval is going to change things round because it came at the right
:34:42. > :34:43.time, because Barry should have pinched the fourth frame but he has
:34:44. > :35:04.plenty of time to forget about that. John was in first, but split the
:35:05. > :35:16.reds and didn't quite work out when he was on 30.
:35:17. > :36:10.He said Barry could do with the four frames left, he will be looking for
:36:11. > :36:55.three now he has won this one, of this little mini-session.
:36:56. > :37:00.Not bothered about playing for the black. He will be absolutely
:37:01. > :37:05.delighted he has got his first frame on the board but he still has a
:37:06. > :37:11.little way to go in this opening session. He still trailed John
:37:12. > :37:16.Higgins by four frames to one. HAZEL IRVINE: Hauss kips on the way. --
:37:17. > :37:19.Hawkin, the necks two frames were shared so 5-2 to Higgins as he
:37:20. > :37:29.rejoin the final frame of their evening. Higgins in the balls on a
:37:30. > :37:33.break of 24. He has to make sure he gets tops out
:37:34. > :37:42.of blue, he doesn't want to go into baulk to play position. He has
:37:43. > :37:47.played for the pin. I think the pink spot appears to be
:37:48. > :38:10.covered so he will lose the pink for a moment on to the green spot.
:38:11. > :38:31.Maybe that little flick on the red there made the pink available.
:38:32. > :38:46.Gone a little bit too far here. It is is a deft little touch to
:38:47. > :38:51.knock that red in but should have held better for the blue.
:38:52. > :39:00.Key shot coming up. He is going to use the reds as a stopper here for
:39:01. > :39:05.the white. And that is a little awkward. He is
:39:06. > :39:09.stuck on that red, he has a tricky one to the middle pocket. He is
:39:10. > :39:14.bridges over that red. -- bridging over that red. He played
:39:15. > :39:31.it well. It just stuck on that one red.
:39:32. > :39:46.Not in ideal position just yet. If he takes the blue up into the
:39:47. > :39:51.corner, it's the better shot for position, and that's his choice.
:39:52. > :40:02.No, nowhere near. You could tell he didn't really want to play that. You
:40:03. > :40:12.just sensed he didn't want to be taking that shot on.
:40:13. > :40:21.Still he has left a chance to get the black free into corners so this
:40:22. > :40:28.39 point lead shoulder sap rate very quickly from this position.
:40:29. > :40:31.-- shoulder sap rate. He will probably need the yellow but he
:40:32. > :40:44.would love to get right back into the frame at this visit.
:40:45. > :40:48.If Barry Hawkins can take this frame, he will sleep pretty well
:40:49. > :40:53.tonight, being 4-0 down, OK he got a chance when he won two in a row, he
:40:54. > :41:01.has had a let off and he is going to make John Higgins pay.
:41:02. > :41:14.5-3 down after being 4-0 down wouldn't be a bad result.
:41:15. > :41:19.John has to hope that Barry can slip up. He knows he should have opened
:41:20. > :42:14.up a four frame lead. You can clearly see he has four
:42:15. > :42:18.easier reds, afrn the one near the middle pocket is going to be the key
:42:19. > :42:33.ball in this last frame of this session.
:42:34. > :42:39.He would like to pot the two reds either side of the pink and near the
:42:40. > :42:44.red fear his hand to last, he will play the red now. He could have left
:42:45. > :42:45.a half ball red and moved that red off the cushion. As Dennis said,
:42:46. > :43:02.that is going to be the key ball. He is right back in to the frame
:43:03. > :43:16.now. What kind of lead he has before he has to play the last red.
:43:17. > :43:24.He mentioned the red near the middle pocket but the yellow is also going
:43:25. > :43:33.to play a big part in it. Almost tight on the side cushion. If he can
:43:34. > :43:38.get on the pink half ball here, he will move that red now, with him
:43:39. > :43:42.being left handed, makes the other red OK, so he will be playing the
:43:43. > :43:46.cannon on that red, so frame-winner if he gets it right, or you would
:43:47. > :44:00.think he would have every chance of winning the frame. That is OK.
:44:01. > :44:08.He has a nice angle on this red to bring the yellow into play.
:44:09. > :44:11.He would be unlucky to knock the yellow in the pocket. He will have
:44:12. > :44:13.to play it quite firm, to kiss it quite hard. He doesn't want the
:44:14. > :44:28.white to finish on the cushion. That is very clever. OK the yellow
:44:29. > :44:31.is in a lot better place. Although it is on the cushion, it's a lot
:44:32. > :44:50.better position than it was before. He has to get himself up reasonably
:44:51. > :45:02.close to this last red. And that looks just about perfect. OK, he
:45:03. > :45:05.will have to use the rest, but if it's straight, you would screw back
:45:06. > :45:09.to where the white is now, if he gets on the pink in that position,
:45:10. > :45:13.he can get up to the difficult yellow.
:45:14. > :45:27.That he did move from one cushion to another.
:45:28. > :45:34.Well, he is screwing up and that is not a bad thing either.
:45:35. > :45:45.Much easier to get to the yellow from the green, but can he stretch
:45:46. > :45:48.over? And reach that? He, obviously yellow is going to be tricky on the
:45:49. > :45:50.top cushion, he has to play to get on it and leave an angle on the
:45:51. > :45:55.yellow to get to the green. Needs a bounce.
:45:56. > :46:06.That might He needs the yellow, green and
:46:07. > :46:22.brown. To pinch this frame. You don't want to have to be hitting
:46:23. > :46:50.it too hard. This the biggest shot of the match
:46:51. > :46:53.tonight for Barry Hawkins. We have talked about it, if gets out
:46:54. > :47:21.5-3 he will feel delighted. A glance at the score board, he only
:47:22. > :47:24.needs the brown. It is a great frame. Makes things
:47:25. > :47:28.very interesting, ready for tomorrow.
:47:29. > :47:33.It has been a strange session, it really has.
:47:34. > :47:40.John Higgins did all the scoring in the opening four frames. Barry
:47:41. > :47:43.Hawkins mostly scoring in the next four frames.
:47:44. > :48:01.John Higgins will be taking a two frame lead overnight.
:48:02. > :48:07.HAZEL IRVINE: And they will be back for their second session after a
:48:08. > :48:10.good night sleep's at 2.30 in tomorrow afternoon's programme on
:48:11. > :48:14.BBC Two. It's a big day in the other semifinal with two sessions to play,
:48:15. > :48:18.morning and evening, and we will be ready to rock from 10.00 in the
:48:19. > :48:22.morning for that. Ding Junhui returns against Mark Selby, who will
:48:23. > :48:26.be back with a new tip on his cue, as he plays catch up for the first
:48:27. > :48:31.time in the Championship. Jason is on patrol for that, in the morning.
:48:32. > :48:34.But from me, and the evening team, thank you very much for your
:48:35. > :48:34.company, and we will catch you again tomorrow.
:48:35. > :49:03.Good night. You are not a fun person
:49:04. > :49:10.to share a trishaw with.