Wenbo – A Nation Awaits
Liang Wenbo will carry the hopes of the most populous nation in the world this weekend as he tries to win his first ranking tournament.
It is almost five years since Ding Junhui won the China Open in front of his home crowd and Liang stayed on course with a five-frames-to-three win over the defending champion, Ricky Walden.
Walden was the heavier scorer making two century breaks, but Wenbo was steady before the interval to lead 3-1, and won a crucial fifth after the world number 20, missed a straight forward pink when he look set to reduce Wenbo’s lead.
After Walden had won two frames to get within one, Liang remained calm, and took full advantage of his match-winning chance when it came.
The 22-year-old Chinese player will now face Shaun Murphy for a place in Sunday’s final, after the 2005 world champion progressed without dropping a frame against Ireland’s Ken Doherty.
Remarkably, Murphy has lost just one frame on his way to the semi-final.
In the other half of the draw, the match of the round lived up to its billing as world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan went head-to-head with China’s number one, Ding Junhui.
Ding took the first frame before The Rocket moved into gear taking the next three before the interval.
His lead was extended to 4-1 before Ding rallied with two frame winning efforts.
O’Sullivan closed out the match in the next though, to line up a tasty semi-final clash with current world champion, John Higgins.
Higgins won a fairly scrappy encounter with Wales’ Ryan Day. The five-frames-to-one score line pretty much summed up a bad day at the office for Ryan.
