Hawkins delighted to reach world snooker semis

England player defeats China’s Ding 13-7 at the Crucible.

SHEFFIELD: Ding Junhui’s hopes of becoming the first Chinese player to win the world snooker title are on hold for another year following a 13-7 quarter-final defeat by England’s Barry Hawkins at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre yesterday.

The match was still in the balance, with Hawkins only two frames in front at 9-7, when the best of 25-frame contest resumed. But Hawkins made short work of former UK and Masters champion Ding by reeling off the four frames he needed to claim his second major scalp of the tournament.

“It’s unbelievable,” Hawkins told the BBC. “I’m absolutely delighted to make it through to the one-table set-up and I’m pleased with how I held it together at the end.

“That was the biggest win for me and I’m just going to enjoy every moment. I have nothing to lose so we will see what happens,” added Hawkins, who is now set to play the winner of the match between Ricky Walden and Michael White in the semi-finals.

“I didn’t sleep great last night and I woke up early this morning due to the nerves, but I managed to take the first frame today and that settled me down.”

Hawkins had previously defeated world number one Mark Selby and Ding’s side of the draw also saw early exits for Australian former world champion Neil Robertson, Mark Allen and Stephen Maguire.

Six previous visits to the Crucible had resulted in Ding just once before going beyond the second round, when he lost to Judd Trump in the 2011 semi-finals.

But after defeating England’s Mark King to book a place in this year’s last eight, the Chinese cue man, who is based in the northern English city of Sheffield, said he felt more at home in the Crucible than in front of an adoring home crowd in China, where snooker is a fast-growing sport.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2013.