Both semi-finals at the 2025 World Snooker Championship commenced on Thursday in Sheffield.
The Crucible Theatre transformed into its most iconic setting – the single table setup – with a terrific atmosphere generated for the four remaining contenders.
Ronnie O’Sullivan and Zhao Xintong were the first out in the afternoon session for their initial eight frames of a potential 33-frame affair.
They each mixed fine play with unexpected misses, and the 4-4 outcome at the end of their opening exchange was probably a fair reflection on how things went.
Zhao took advantage of a slow start from his esteemed opponent, making breaks of 60 and 62 to establish an early two-frame buffer.
But a careless positional shot in the third frame let O’Sullivan in to settle with a run of 64, and the Rocket duly won the following two frames to take the lead.
Zhao won the scrappiest frame of the match to tie the scores at 3-3 before an 82 contribution from O’Sullivan restored his advantage.
The seven-time world champion had an opportunity to extend that lead into the second session but broke down, allowing Zhao back in to restore parity through an 86 clearance.
For the full 2025 World Snooker Championship draw, results, and schedule, click here.
The second semi-final between Judd Trump and Mark Williams commenced during the evening session of play.
Trump is widely considered the heavy favourite for glory from here, but the world number one struggled to reproduce his top form.
It was perhaps worrying then for the others still in the draw that he was able to still win the session despite being below par.
Williams, who had breaks of 73 and 116, led 1-0 and 3-2, but the Welshman ended the night with a two-frame deficit to overturn.
Trump could only muster a single half-century contribution in the first seven frames but showed his battling qualities to win four of them.
The 2019 champion then raised his level right at the end to compile a timely century break – his 105th of a prolific campaign – to establish a 5-3 advantage.
O’Sullivan and Zhao will play two more more sessions on Friday morning and evening, with Trump and Williams returning for the afternoon session.
Among them, only the Chinese competitor is featuring at this late stage of the prestigious competition for the first time in his career.
The other three boast a wealth of experience at the Crucible, and this actually represents a record-extending 14th World Snooker Championship semi-final for O’Sullivan.
In today’s quiz, let’s test your knowledge on all of the previous last-four lineups at the Crucible since the tournament moved to Sheffield in 1977.
The question is, can you match the four semi-finalists with the correct year?
Click here if you can’t see the quiz (sporcle website)
Featured photo credit: WST
