Bingham beats old foe Allen 5-3
Murphy too good for Selt
Stuart Bingham produced a sparkling display to win his grudge match with Mark Allen at the Australian Goldfields Open yesterday.
The pair’s war of words, which began at last season’s UK Championship, continued this week after both men easily won their second-round matches in Bendigo.
Allen twice led in the early stages yesterday, thanks to breaks of 45 in the first frame and 65 in the third, but a 66 from Bingham levelled matters at 2-2 at the mid-session interval.
He then stepped up a gear upon the resumption, moving 3-2 ahead with a 118 and adding a 112 immediately from Allen’s break-off shot in the next to move within one frame of victory.
Allen, who had questioned his opponent’s “bottle” as their bitter feud developed, will have been optimistic after cutting the deficit with a 66 but Bingham this time held his nerve and made a composed 96 to complete a 5-3 victory.
Bingham believed Allen’s words had given him extra motivation.
“It didn’t upset me, it just gave me more drive,” said Bingham.
“At the start of the match it showed how much I wanted to do well and that’s the worst I’ve played all week.
“But from 2-1 down I haven’t missed a ball and it has gone 65, 100, 100, 90. People say I have no bottle so there you go.
“Mark is a great snooker player and you don’t get to be in the top 16 for five years for anything. Snooker player wise he is up there with the best, but off the table it’s another thing.”
Matthew Selt’s giant-killing run was ended by Shaun Murphy, who triumphed by the same 5-3 scoreline to set up a last-four clash with Bingham.
The 26-year-old Selt had already beaten two players with multiple World Championships to their name in John Higgins and Stephen Hendry, but was always up against it after Murphy eased into a 3-0 lead despite a highest break of 54.
Selt responded with a 137, the tournament’s highest break to date, and added a 57 to cut the deficit to a single frame. But Murphy moved 4-2 up with a 72 and, after a pair of low-scoring frames, closed out victory with a run of 42.
Other quarter-finals: Williams vs Dale 5-4; Selby vs Doherty 3-5.