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Ssb - fantastic four
So the one table stage of the Betfred.com World Championship is here and, to trot out the old cliche, this is where the Crucible comes into its own.
Here's another fact that bears repetition: the players have so far won 36 frames apiece. They still need to win another 35 to become champion.
It's a fascinating line-up featuring two great former champions and two young pretenders to the throne.
Judd Trump carried on in the same merciless style he has displayed all through the tournament as he put Graeme Dott to the sword yesterday.
Dott made a good point when he said the test for Trump will be what happens if he has a bad session, how he handles something going against him.
But of course there's no guarantee that he will. Whatever happens, he's been a breath of fresh (h)air and has built up a fanbase who have loved his entertaining brand of snooker.
I thought Ding showed real fighting qualities yesterday against Mark Selby. Ding played the better safety during the second session and stopped Selby going on the attack.
Selby came back at him last night but could not finish the job and suggestions that Ding can't handle the Crucible pressure must surely now be a thing of the past.
He beat Trump in the qualifiers of the 2005 UK Championship, a tournament he went on to win, but Trump has now come of age so this could be close.
Trump is the youngest Crucible semi-finalist since Ronnie O'Sullivan, 20, reached that stage in 1996.
Mark Williams is now guaranteed to be world no.1 at the start of next season, returning to top spot after a gap of seven years.
He has played superbly so far but I still reckon he can go up a couple of gears if required.
The Welshman beat John Higgins in the Crucible semi-finals in 1999 and 2000, as I posted about here.
Higgins hasn't played at the very top of his game but produced a much better performance last night to see off O'Sullivan.
Much has been made of the fluke he got in the last frame - and he was lucky - but he was let off the hook in the afternoon.
O'Sullivan simply missed too many and made unforced errors. He said afterwards that he played like an amateur. He didn't. He is still good enough to beat 95% of the players.
The problem is the other 5%. O'Sullivan has lost some of the fear factor as his game has failed to fire. The example of Williams, though, tells him that he can get it back if he wants to.
So the stage is set for the denouement of this great event featuring a fantastic foursome. Ding v Trump, Williams v Higgins: the title is still wide open.
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Here's another fact that bears repetition: the players have so far won 36 frames apiece. They still need to win another 35 to become champion.
It's a fascinating line-up featuring two great former champions and two young pretenders to the throne.
Judd Trump carried on in the same merciless style he has displayed all through the tournament as he put Graeme Dott to the sword yesterday.
Dott made a good point when he said the test for Trump will be what happens if he has a bad session, how he handles something going against him.
But of course there's no guarantee that he will. Whatever happens, he's been a breath of fresh (h)air and has built up a fanbase who have loved his entertaining brand of snooker.
I thought Ding showed real fighting qualities yesterday against Mark Selby. Ding played the better safety during the second session and stopped Selby going on the attack.
Selby came back at him last night but could not finish the job and suggestions that Ding can't handle the Crucible pressure must surely now be a thing of the past.
He beat Trump in the qualifiers of the 2005 UK Championship, a tournament he went on to win, but Trump has now come of age so this could be close.
Trump is the youngest Crucible semi-finalist since Ronnie O'Sullivan, 20, reached that stage in 1996.
Mark Williams is now guaranteed to be world no.1 at the start of next season, returning to top spot after a gap of seven years.
He has played superbly so far but I still reckon he can go up a couple of gears if required.
The Welshman beat John Higgins in the Crucible semi-finals in 1999 and 2000, as I posted about here.
Higgins hasn't played at the very top of his game but produced a much better performance last night to see off O'Sullivan.
Much has been made of the fluke he got in the last frame - and he was lucky - but he was let off the hook in the afternoon.
O'Sullivan simply missed too many and made unforced errors. He said afterwards that he played like an amateur. He didn't. He is still good enough to beat 95% of the players.
The problem is the other 5%. O'Sullivan has lost some of the fear factor as his game has failed to fire. The example of Williams, though, tells him that he can get it back if he wants to.
So the stage is set for the denouement of this great event featuring a fantastic foursome. Ding v Trump, Williams v Higgins: the title is still wide open.
More...