Ronnie O’Sullivan reaches another Crucible semi-final after seeing off Si Jiahui

By Mark Staniforth, PA

Ronnie O’Sullivan repelled a stirring fightback from Si Jiahui to set up a mouthwatering semi-final against Zhao Xintong at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.

The seven-time champion twice saw his 22-year-old opponent pull back to within two frames, but held his nerve and a break to black of 76 confirmed his 14th appearance in the Crucible’s last four.

Si, a shock semi-finalist on his debut two years ago, showed few signs of repeating that form in the early stages and O’Sullivan was barely forced to break sweat as he took the first frame of the second session to ease into a 7-2 lead.

O’Sullivan, playing his first tournament since he dumped his cue in a bin after crashing out of the Championship League in January, had impressed in patches in his wins over Ali Carter and Pang Junxu in the earlier rounds, and Si did not appear to be the man to test his limits.

But after starting the final session four frames adrift at 10-6, Si’s fluency showed signs of returning, and with O’Sullivan’s game becoming increasingly scattered with errors, the underdog won three from four to reach the interval just two behind at 11-9.

Si had a big chance to make it 11-10 but missed a yellow and a vintage run of 36 from O’Sullivan took him one frame away from victory.

Still playing fluently, Si got in first in the 22nd frame and fashioned a 43-point lead, before a miss on the brown served up a chance which O’Sullivan seized to confirm his clash against rising star Zhao.

The 28-year-old completed his serene progress to the last four as he took the one frame he required to complete an emphatic 13-5 win over Chris Wakelin.