Welsh Open: Higgins beats Allen to break a two-year final drought, and Luca upsets O'Donnell

On the morning of February 17, Beijing time, the 2024 Snooker Wales Open ended the fifth day of the competition to determine the top four places. Higgins advanced to the semi-finals, while Luka was upset.

1. Higgins beat Allen 5-2 and Slessor beat Dale 5-3

In the quarterfinals, the strong showdown between the two TOP16 was staged first, with Wizard Higgins facing off against Little Steel Cannon Allen. Higgins hit a single shot of 62 and 131 to break the 100-0 platform, and started the game 2-0. After Allen pulled back a city, in the 4th game, Allen grabbed Higgins' mistake and scored 58 points in a single stroke to complete the super score, Higgins worked hard to do snooker to no avail, and the two sides fought to 2 draws.

After a short break, the wizard shot two consecutive 70+ shots, 4-2 to match point. In the 7th game, Higgins established an advantage with a 40+ shot, and then played many times, winning 3 games in a row and defeating Allen 5-2.

This is the fourth time this season that the Wizards have reached the semifinals of a ranking tournament, having lost all three of their previous three times. Higgins' last ranking final was at the 2022 Tour Championship two years ago. However, Wales is also a blessed land for Higgins, with the Wizards winning 5 titles and 92 victories in the history of the Welsh Open.

This was followed by a match between Slessor and Astros veteran Dyer. The two players are next to each other in the world rankings, with Dale No. 49 and Slessor No. 50. After Dale won the first game, Slessor hit a shot to break 100, plus 3 strokes of 50+, and finally defeated Dale 5-3 to advance.

This is Slessor's third appearance in the semi-finals of a ranking tournament, and the semi-finals are also Slessor's current best career ranking tournament results.

2. O'Donnell beat Luka 5-3 and Gary Wilson swept Wheat

The two games in the early hours of the morning were played at the same time. World champion Luca takes on Martin O'Donnell, who returned to his profession last year through the lower-division Tour Q-tour after being relegated from the 2021/22 season and is now ranked 76th in the world.

In the first four games, O'Donnell hit two shots of 60+, Luca hit two shots of 70+, and the two sides fought to a 2 draw. After a short break, Luka added another 70+ in the 5th game to lead 3-2. Then O'Donnell blasted a shot to break the 100-clear platform and the battle was tied at 3. In the 7th game, the two each missed a one-shot chance to win, and O'Donnell got on the second hand and reached the match point 4-3 first. In the 8th game, Lukka missed another chance to win, and after O'Donnell took over and scored 54 points in a single stroke, he failed to withstand the pressure of winning, lost the super score pink ball, and then lost the super bonus ball that was not difficult. However, Luca also failed to seize the opportunity to reverse the game and fell to the final black ball. O'Donnell scored the black ball in the end, knocking out the world champion 5-3.

O'Donnell had a pretty good performance in this game, with fewer turnovers. This is O'Donnell's first regular-season ranking semi-final (the previous one was a single-game limited-time match). It's a pity that Luka was full of confidence before and felt that he played the World Championships, but in the end he was helpless to get out.

In the other game, Brother Wilson shot 3 70+ shots and swept McGill 5-0.

3. Draw and schedule

The semi-finals begin tonight.

9pm: Slessor v O'Donnell. The two have played each other 3 times before, with Slessor winning 2-1. This match is a rare opportunity for both sides to reach the final.

3 a.m. the next day: Higgins v Wilson. The two have played each other 7 times before, with Higgins winning 6-1 and definitely having the upper hand. In 11 games of 6 or more matches, only one meeting, in the 2018 Welsh Open semi-finals, Higgins won 6-2 and finally won the championship. However, it is somewhat doubtful whether Lao Zhang can continue to maintain his condition now.