Dott wins to book semi-final spot

SHEFFIELD: Former world champion Graeme Dott became the first player to book a place in the World Snooker Championship semi-finals, after coming back from 12-10 down, to edge his battle with Mark Allen in the deciding 25th frame.

World number 28 Dott now has the chance of a third Crucible final appearance having been runner-up to Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2004 before beating Peter Ebdon to lift snooker’s biggest prize two years later. Resuming at 8-8 overnight, Dott won the opening two frames of the concluding session with breaks of 65 and 54 before Allen hit back to draw level at 10-10 going into the interval. Allen reached last year’s semi-finals in Sheffield and looked set to return when he claimed the next two frames to move to within one of victory.

Dott responded with a break of 115, drew level in the next frame before clinching the decider with a break of 41. Allen, though, remains in contention for the tournament’s prize, thanks to his 146 in his second-round win over Mark Davis.Meanwhile, Neil Robertson was on the brink of a place in the semi-finals as the Australian led 12-4 in his quarter-final against six-time champion Steve Davis.