Ding Junhui cruises past Mark Allen on 2023 Tour Championship debut to reach semi-finals

Ding Junhui comprehensively beat an underwhelming Mark Allen 10-5 at the Bonus Arena in Hull to reach the Tour Championship semi-finals. In the first session, top seed Allen had done well to keep the deficit to just two frames, with two-half centuries scored.

Ad Ding meanwhile was much more fluent, with a century break of 116 in the third frame, and five more half-centuries, including a 92 with no reply in the seventh. Players ChampionshipO’Connor stuns Allen to reach Players Championship quarter-finals20/02/2023 AT 22:59 Allen was the favourite going into the match-up based on his bright start to the season with wins in the Northern Ireland Open, UK Championship and World Grand Prix, as well as making the final of the British Open.

Ding has been more inconsistent, and apart from losing to Allen in the final of the UK Championship his best performance was to win the Six-red World Championship earlier in the year. Ding led 5-3 after the opening session and another fluent big break of 91 after the interval, started with a smart red, made it a three-frame advantage in the first-to-10 match.

In the next frame at 46-37 in Ding’s favour there was a long stretch of safety play — with one moment requiring two minutes of consideration from the Chinese player as he failed to escape a snooker without a foul — which saw Ding struggle from a second position, giving away a number of fouls until Allen was able to restart 74-46 up with a free ball, only to miss an easy black. What shock Tour Championship line-up tells us ahead of Crucible chances 'Do I have a career in snooker any more?' Murphy reveals he was ready to quit Tour Championship — Latest scores, results, schedule, order of play Ding then manoeuvred the ball brilliantly