Hossein Vafaei has vowed there will be no repeat of his kamikaze Crucible break when he faces Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-final of the UK Snooker Championship in York on Saturday.
The Iranian player sealed the rematch of the grudge clash that took place at the World Championship last April by beating Chinese Zhang Anda 6-4; O’Sullivan defeated Zhou Yuelong, who determined the final frame in the eliminations, with 122 points.
Vafaei says he has no regrets about his wild start at the Crucible, when he smashed balls and saw O’Sullivan erase a clinical 78; this was a response to the perceived disrespect shown by O’Sullivan during the match. He made a similar shot at the German Masters 18 months ago.
The pair walked off the stage arm in arm after the underdogs’ 13-2 defeat, despite O’Sullivan claiming before the game that he wanted to “shut” his mouth and that the England player should retire because he was “not good for the game”. .
“The past is in the past,” Vafaei insisted Friday. “I’ve been waiting 18 months to do this. I know it’s a little crazy, but I did it. Everything has karma.
“But I just want to respect my hero and have a good friendship with him. Life is short. “I wish him good health and I love him.”
Vafaei, who has scored six centuries in the last two rounds, heads into the rematch as a form player after an unfocused O’Sullivan nearly took a 4-1 lead against China’s world number 26.
O’Sullivan, who had the upper hand in similar conditions against Robert Milkins in the previous round, showed his frustration by missing a number of easy chances before shooting when it mattered, with a final frame lead of 122 to the pink.
The 47-year-old player is also determined to hold no ill will towards Vafaei, whom he considered a friend before the incident that disturbed the Iranian during the German Masters qualifiers.
“I didn’t feel disrespected by Vafaei leaving, not at all,” said O’Sullivan, whose win was his 100th quarter-final win in the tournament since making his debut as a 16-year-old in 1992.
“I’ve done worse, much worse. I like Hüseyin, he is a fiery character. He doesn’t accept any nonsense. This is his character. I love this in one. He is his own person.”
O’Sullivan looked set for a relaxed afternoon; Zhou, who appeared paralyzed by his nerves, looked a shadow of the player who had replaced both Neil Robertson and John Higgins in previous rounds.
The Chinese player also looked intent on gifting O’Sullivan a fourth and eventually managed to get a frame on the board.
But from a 4-1 advantage O’Sullivan lost his concentration dramatically, missing a series of easy shots that allowed Zhou to level twice, but found just enough to keep his hopes of a record-equalling eighth UK title almost alive.
O’Sullivan, who continues to downplay his hopes of lifting the trophy on the 30th anniversary of his first success, said: “I was just waiting for something to happen and it did and I played well.”
“I couldn’t make 20, balls were missing everywhere and he seemed to be gaining confidence. “If I can’t find a form somewhere, I will be beaten here.”
Vafaei was pushed almost to his limits in a high-quality clash with in-form Chinese player Zhang Anda, who had outpointed world champion Luca Brecel in the previous round.
Twice Vafaei regained Zhang’s early advantage with century breaks, then came from 4-3 down to post a thumping finish with successive breaks of 106 and 56 to confirm the first triple crown semi-final of his career.
Judd Trump continued to defy the flu epidemic that left many members of the BBC and Eurosport commentary team in York behind as he beat Mark Selby 6-3 to reach his second England semi-final in nine years.
Breaks of 100 and 93 took Trump to a 4-0 lead before Selby mounted his usual fightback and went 5-1 to 5-3 ahead of Trump, who has been battling illness since his first-round win over Pang Junxu. declined. .
“I’m still struggling,” Trump said. “I was happy to get through but I felt a bit bad there and was moving around a bit.
“You want to be able to give it your all in a tournament like this, but it’s just about getting through it because you’re not going to feel like that happens in every tournament.”
Mark Williams and Ding Junhui created a slice of snooker history in the eighth frame of their quarter-final, with the aggregate score of 101-94 in Williams’ favor beating the previous record of 192 by three points.
This brought the closely contested lead to 4-4 for Williams, who dominated a long period of safety play and committed repeated fouls against the colors in a frame that lasted more than an hour.