Wu Yize showcased exceptional form as he surged to a commanding 6-2 lead against Mark Allen in the opening session of their World Snooker Championship semi-final at the Crucible Theatre. The 22-year-old Chinese sensation, competing in his first Crucible semi-final, delivered a clinical performance by winning the last four frames of the evening session.
Power Outage Disrupts Play
The evening session was briefly interrupted by a power outage that lasted approximately 15 minutes. During the blackout, the BBC's television and online broadcast went off air, and the screens above the table displayed no signal. The World Snooker Tour issued a statement on X, formerly Twitter, saying: 'Broadcast has been paused at the Halo World Championship due to a technical issue, we are working towards resolving this.' Once power was restored, the players resumed to complete the final frame before the mid-session interval.
Wu's Dominant Performance
Wu, who had earlier defeated former champion Mark Selby and qualifier Hossein Vafaei, started strongly by winning the opening frame with a well-crafted break of 77, aided by a fortuitous double. Allen responded with a break of 59 in the second frame but missed a crucial cut on the black, allowing Wu to capitalise and snatch the frame with another half-century. The Northern Irishman, appearing in his second semi-final in four years, hit back with a break of 91 to secure the third frame before the unexpected interruption, then levelled the match at 2-2.
In the fifth frame, Wu threatened a maximum 147 break but missed the eighth black. However, he composed himself to take the frame with colours down to the pink. Further polished runs of 78 and 64 propelled Wu to a 5-2 lead. Although Allen fought back in the final frame of the session after a 45-minute drought without potting a ball, Wu again seized his opportunities to close out the frame 91-42.
Higgins Fights Back to Level with Murphy
In Thursday's afternoon session, four-time champion John Higgins demonstrated his resilience by battling back from a 3-1 deficit to level his semi-final against Shaun Murphy at 4-4. Murphy, the 2005 champion aiming to end a 21-year wait for a second world title, started brightly with breaks of 42 and 68 to take the opener 110-1. Higgins, playing his 100th match at the Crucible, showed no signs of fatigue from his late-night victory over Neil Robertson as he capitalised on Murphy's errors to win the second frame 65-27.
Murphy regained control with a 69 break in a tense third frame before a stunning century in the fourth gave him a 3-1 lead at the interval. After the break, a lengthy safety battle ensued, with Higgins emerging victorious to reduce the deficit. The Scot then levelled the match at 3-3 after a missed pink by Murphy allowed Higgins to win 63-41. Murphy edged ahead again in frame seven with a smart break of 34, but Higgins responded with a 50 break to pull level once more, ensuring the session ended all square at 4-4.
