UK Snooker Championship: Qualifier Ricky closes in on a first UK final (From York Press)
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UK Snooker Championship: Qualifier Ricky Walden closes in on a first UK final
9:41am Friday 9th December 2011 in Snooker
Mark Allen, centre, and Marco Fu, right, share a lighter moment, during their quarter-final clash in the UK Championship at the Barbican in York, watched by referee Eirian Williams
QUALIFIER Ricky Walden is just one game away from the UK Championship final after he knocked out practice partner Shaun Murphy.
The 29-year-old, whose finest moment came when he won the Shanghai Masters three years ago, saw off the Magician 6-3 as the quarter-finals came to a close.
The first four frames were shared with a 70 break from Walden in the opener and 84 from Murphy in the second the highlights.
Walden took the first two after the break, with 67 and 55, and it was Murphy who was cracking under the pressure.
He had the chance to reduce the deficit in the next but missed a crucial green, allowing Walden, who has now knocked out two former world champions, to take a 5-2 lead.
Murphy managed to claw one back but Walden clinched the match in the ninth frame with a cool 71.
He will face Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen, who beat Hong Kong’s Marco Fu 6-5 in a match which went to a deciding frame late last night.
Fu didn’t pot a ball until the third frame as Allen went two up thanks to some clever safety play.
The Hong Kong player was deserted by his long potting early on but, after Allen missed an easy chance in the third, Fu finally got on the board with a 73 break.
A 68 in the fourth, helped by a delicate swerve shot to pot a red into the middle and a fluked black which bounced off the right corner pocket and swept back into the left, suddenly had Fu level – in a match Allen had otherwise controlled.
Allen responded in a dramatic fifth, where he doubled a re-spotted black after both players hit 63 breaks, and he went two frames up with 51 in the next. But Fu did not give up and fought back to take the next three, helped by a magnificent 131.
Back came Allen, a courageous 66 drawing him level at 5-5 and taking the last-eight match to a shootout.
And when an attempted double by Fu failed to find the target, the North-ern Irishman nailed a difficult long red on his way to clinching victory.
