Luca Brecel completed the biggest comeback in Crucible history as he broke Si Jiahui’s heart to claim the most remarkable victory and book his spot in a first World Snooker Championship final.
Brecel’s hopes were dead and buried when he trailed 14-5 in the race to 17 during the third session of their semi-final on Friday evening but won the final five frames of the day to give himself a sniff at 14-10 behind. He then reeled off six straight frames on Saturday afternoon to move within one of victory and, although Si then showed incredible resilience to finally break his losing run, the Belgian star sealed a thrilling 17-15 win.
The quickfire, swashbuckling nature of that match between two young snooker stars was in complete contrast to the other semi-final, where Mark Selby and Mark Allen battled away. Stephen Hendry criticised the pair for casting a "dark cloud" over the Crucible as Friday’s session was forced to end after they completed only five of the scheduled eight frames due to running out of time.
Saturday’s morning session continued to be a scrap, with Allen winning three of the final four frames to stay within one of Selby at 11-10 behind before a remarkable Saturday evening where Selby appeared to be cruising to victory at 16-10 before a furious Allen comeback made it 16-15. However, Selby dug deep and finally won the one frame he needed, with the match finishing 17-15 at 12.47am and setting up a mouthwatering Brecel vs Selby final.
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