Just three months into his professional career, promising rookie Liu Hongyu reached his first ranking event semi-final with a 5-2 victory over China’s greatest ever player Ding Junhui at the BetVictor English Open.
Liu, 19, becomes only the fifth rookie since 2011 to reach a ranking event semi-final, and he is just two wins away from becoming the first player to win a ranking title during his debut season since Terry Griffiths at the 1979 World Championship.
Already this week in Brentwood, Liu has knocked out Shaun Murphy, Joe O’Connor, Chris Wakelin and Mark Williams, before getting the better of an out-of-sorts Ding. His next match will be another Chinese derby against Zhang Anda, who followed up yesterday’s defeat of Ronnie O’Sullivan by edging out Zhou Yuelong 5-4.
World number 89 Liu, from Taishan in China’s Guangdong province, turned pro earlier this year after winning the Asia-Pacific Championship, and has quickly made the transition to the highest level.
In a scrappy opening to tonight’s match he took the first three frames with a top break of 52. Liu had a chance to go 4-0 ahead but missed the last red to a centre pocket when he trailed 33-61 in frame four, and 14-time ranking event winner Ding reduced the deficit.
After the interval, Liu extended his lead to 4-1, then Ding pulled one back. In the seventh, Ding led 57-1, but twice missed frame ball – the blue to a baulk corner and then a tough red to a top corner. The second mistake proved costly as Liu made an excellent 57 clearance for victory.
“I’m very excited and very glad to be able to beat Ding,” said the teenager. “I didn’t expect to make it this far. I’ll try my best to get used to the arena tomorrow and play my own game. I felt nervous entering the arena, after all this is my first time playing in front of so many spectators. When I got these emotions under control I felt fine. After the first three frames I felt less nervous. In the last frame I felt confident to close the match in one visit.
“I thought I had chances to do well this season, but never thought it would come so soon. I can’t pinpoint what’s so different but it’s quite unique, the atmosphere was compact. All those roars from the spectators, I enjoyed it.”
Zhang and Zhou’s contest was higher quality as it included two centuries and six more breaks over 50. World number 57 Zhang took a 3-0 advantage with runs of 73 and 90. Zhou battled back to 3-3 with 61 and 102, and later made it 4-4 with a 106. Early in the decider, Zhang potted a long red then trapped his opponent in a tough snooker, and from the chance that followed he held his nerve in a smooth break of 80.
“I used all my mental strength to stay in the match because Zhou was excellent tonight,” said 31-year-old Zhang. “He was more than capable of winning frames in one visit. I don’t know how I got through the deciding frame but I fancied my chance to close out the match.
“This will be my first semi-final so I have no idea what is it going to be like tomorrow. Liu is from the same province as me so we have met in regional tournaments back home. He has beaten me before so I know how good a player he is.”
Zhang and Liu will both contest their first ranking event semi-final on Saturday at 7pm, with the winner going through to Sunday’s final to face an opponent with vastly more experience – John Higgins or Judd Trump.
