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Hawkins Ends Selby's Slam Dream, Perry Stuns Ding


Barry Hawkins knocked World and UK Champion Mark Selby out of the Dafabet Masters, winning 6-3 to reach the semi-finals at Alexandra Palace.
Selby had come to London with the chance to become only the fifth player – after Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and Mark Williams – to hold all three Triple Crown titles simultaneously.
But that dream is now over as the world number one was outplayed by 11th seed Hawkins. London’s 37-year-old Hawkins, who reached the final last year before losing 10-1 to Ronnie O’Sullivan, goes through to the last four to face Joe Perry on Saturday.
The opening frame today lasted 41 minutes and Hawkins won it after getting the better of safety battles on the yellow and green. Selby levelled with a break of 76 before Hawkins took the next two frames with 63 and 60 to lead 3-1 at the interval.
Selby came from 62-0 down to win frame five with an excellent 71 clearance, only for Hawkins to regain the momentum by dominating the sixth for 4-2. A run of 101 from Selby saw him halve his deficit, but he didn’t score a point in frame eight as Hawkins took it with 49 and 36.
Hawkins led 60-38 in the ninth when he missed a tricky pot on the last red along a side cushion. Selby had a chance to clear but missed the brown to a baulk corner. And a loose safety from Selby proved his final shot as Hawkins cleared for victory.
Joe Perry scored a tremendous 6-1 win over Ding Junhui to reach the semi-finals of the Dafabet Masters for the first time.
World number nine Perry came into this week in poor form having failed to go beyond the last 16 of any tournament since October. But he has produced some excellent snooker in beating both Ding and Stuart Bingham by 6-1 scorelines.
The 42-year-old from Chatteris, who had only once before reached the quarter-finals of the Masters, now faces Barry Hawkins on Saturday evening for a place in the final and is already guaranteed a £50,000 pay day. Victory over Hawkins would put him into the final of Triple Crown event for the first time.
It was a lacklustre display from China’s Ding who made too many unforced errors as his usually-accurate potting radar went awry. Perry took the first four frames with a top break of just 55.
The Englishman extended his lead after the interval, making a 63 in frame five, before Ding finally showed some resistance as a superb long red set up a run of 54 which helped him make it 5-1. But when he missed a red to a corner pocket early in the seventh frame, he could only sit and watch as Perry finished in style with a break of 127.