O'Sullivan To Face Ding In Semis

Ronnie O'Sullivan continued his quest to win a fourth title of the season as he beat Gary Wilson 5-1 to reach the semi-finals of the Spreadex World Grand Prix, setting up a clash with Ding Junhui.

In a repeat of last month's UK Championship final, which the Rocket won 10-7, O'Sullivan and Ding will go head to head in Leicester at 7pm on Saturday evening. The winner will meet Judd Trump or Cao Yupeng in Sunday's final. Limited tickets are still available - for details click here. 

World number one O'Sullivan is in one of his best ever streaks, having won 12 consecutive matches, landing that UK title in York as well as last week's Masters in London. He also claimed the silverware at the Shanghai Masters in September, so if he takes the top prize on Sunday it will be four trophies within as many months for the 48-year-old.

Scottish Open champion Wilson started strongly today as a 44 clearance - including a clever shot on the final pink to dislodge the black from a side cushion - gave him the opening frame. But the Wallsend cueman scored just two points in the next three frames as O'Sullivan rattled in breaks of 68, 129 and 78. Wilson led by 36 points on the last red in frame five, but failed to escape from a difficult snooker, and O'Sullivan later cleared the colours for 4-1. The seven-time Crucible king wrapped it up in the sixth with runs of 54 and 58.

"Gary didn't get any run of the ball today, all the little nudges and kisses went my way," O'Sullivan told ITV. "I haven't played well since I won the world title in 2022, it is worrying because since I had my arm injury I have not cued well. Technically I must be one of the worst players on the tour, but it's not just down to technical ability, otherwise Neil Robertson would win every tournament.

"There are other parts of the game I am blessed with that I don't even recognise I am good at. I think I'm a good all-round player, my bad game is still a high standard - it must be because I have won tournaments without being at my best. That's probably my greatest asset. I play the right shot at the right time, get aggressive when I need to, and defensive when I have to."

Ding secured his progress with a 5-2 success against Zhang Anda. World number 11 Ding didn't appear in a single ranking semi-final in 2020 or 2021, but has now reached five in the last 22 months having enjoyed an upturn in form over that period. The 36-year-old from China is showing signs of the game that has won him 14 ranking titles, most recently the 2019 UK Championship.

After losing the opening frame today, he took four in a row with top breaks of 102, 51 and 73. Zhang, who beat Ding in the quarter-finals on his way to winning the International Championship in November, pulled one back with a 101, before his opponent sealed victory in frame seven with a break of 74.

Ding said: "I watched Zhang's game with Mark Allen and I didn't think he was playing as well as he was two months ago. I tried to control the game today, played good safety and scored points when I got chances. I was happy for Zhang to win a title and to bring life into his snooker career.  

"When I was young I wanted to win every tournament once! So it would be a dream to win this one, and the others I have never won. I will need to play well against Ronnie and to concentrate. He has a lot of experience. I have to be strong."