Ebdon Close To Final
Peter Ebdon upped his game considerably to lead Marco Fu 15-9 in the World Championship semi-final at the Crucible.
After a dire first session, the match has improved with Ebdon going from strength to strength.
Resuming 9-7 ahead, Ebdon made a brilliant 122 break in the opener and proceeded to take the next three.
Fu stopped the rot with two frames in a row, but Ebdon moved to within two frames of the final with a late surge.
Ebdon was in inspired form in the morning session, making two century breaks.
The pair were level at 4-4 after a mistake-ridden first session, the Englishman fired in breaks of 68 and 107 to go 6-4 ahead.
Fu hit back with a break of 60 but 2002 champion Ebdon went three in front with runs of 94 and 74. Fu edged the next on the black before Ebdon’s 101 made it 9-6 only for the Hong Kong player to sneak the last.
Friday morning’s play was in total contrast to the opening session on Thursday, and all of the eight frames saw breaks over 50.
It looked as if Ebdon would secure a comfortable 10-6 lead when he claimed a 67 in the final frame of the session but Fu hit back with a courageous 70 to win it on the black.
The opening day saw the match frequently bogged down in lengthy safety exchanges and missed pots.
The sixth frame lasted 52 minutes, the second longest of this year’s tournament, and one fan was heard to shout “Come on lads, it’s like watching paint dry” in the final frame.
In the other semi-final Graeme Dott took the battle to Ronnie O’Sullivan with a determined display to level his match at 8-8.
Resuming 5-3 behind, Dott won the first three frames before O’Sullivan took the next two to edge ahead.
Dott’s 66 break brought the scoreline back to 7-7, when O’Sullivan’s ongoing cue tip problems resurfaced.
After a 15-minute break, O’Sullivan knocked in a fine 124 break but Dott responded with a 74 in the last.
O’Sullivan has apparently used as many as 20 different tips at The Crucible since the tournament began, and the players temporarily departed the arena with two frames of the session left.
O’Sullivan had chances to win all four frames before the mid-session interval on Friday but failed to take them.
Dott recovered from a big deficit in the first and took the next with a 68.
His confidence visibly growing, the Scot also took the next as O’Sullivan struggled to find any rhythm.
But the two-time champion, who crushed Dott in the final two years ago after losing the opening five frames, showed his class to take the 12th and leave the best-of-33-frames match intriguingly poised.
Dott hit the ground running on Thursday, winning the first frame with a 121 break but O’Sullivan took two of the next three for a 2-2 interval scoreline.
O’Sullivan was on top when the players returned, taking three frames in a row without quite finding top gear.
A frustrated Dott surprisingly conceded the sixth and seventh when only two snookers were required and he was staring at a four-frame deficit when O’Sullivan got in among the balls in the last frame.
But the Pocket Dynamo dug deep when presented with a chance, making a crucial 70 to cut his deficit to 5-3.
