Dott edges Allen thriller
Graeme Dott produced a stirring late fightback to clinch a dramatic 13-12 quarter-final victory over Mark Allen at the Crucible.
Last Updated: 28/04/10 2:04pm
Graeme Dott produced a stirring late fightback to clinch a dramatic 13-12 victory over Mark Allen that sees him progress to the semi-finals of the Betfred.com World Championship.
The 2006 champion, who has battled back from depression and a broken arm over the past couple of years, showed all of his trademark battling qualities as he turned around a 12-10 deficit to squeeze past his Northern Irish opponent.
As well as securing his place in the last four at the Crucible, the win also assures Dott of a return to the world's top-16 and thus automatic entry into snooker's ranking events.
Resuming at 8-8, the Scot had made the better start to the morning session as he took the opening two frames to pull two clear for the first time in the match.
An initial break of 65 in the first ultimately proved good enough and, after Allen broke down in the second, Dott stepped in with a 54 before finishing the frame at the second time of asking.
But Allen, who struggled with his long potting in the early exchanges, reduced the arrears with contributions of 45 and then a decisive 29 in the 19th frame.
They were all square once again heading to the mid-session interval as Allen prevailed in a scrappy 20th frame that made the score 10-10.
Turning point
The turning point of the match looked to have arrived in the next as, having built up a comfortable 64-0 lead, Dott allowed his rival back into the frame with a sloppy positional shot.
After a break of 30, Allen laid a snooker from which Dott left the final red on, and the Northern Irelander stepped in with a clearance of 35 to pinch the frame by a point.
With Dott still reeling, Allen claimed the next with breaks of 44 and 31 to move within one of victory at 12-10.
However, after leaving the arena to compose himself, the Scot kept his hopes alive in some style as he rattled in a break of 115, (his sixth century of the tournament), to close the gap back to one.
With the hard-fought contest having swung first one way then the other throughout, there was almost a sense of inevitability as Dott then scraped home in an untidy 24th frame to force a decider.
In it both players had chances, Allen missing an early red along the top cushion and Dott managing only 28 when left in the balls.
Rash escape
But the key moment came when Allen attempted a rash escape from a snooker behind the green that resulted in a foul on the pink and left the reds spread ideally for his opponent.
Dott duly stepped in with a calm break of 41 and punched the air in delight as he closed out a victory that earns him a semi-final against either Mark Selby or Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Afterwards he commented: "It was a great game. I said to Mark when the referee was setting up the balls at 12-each that I had thought it was going to go that way.
"The two of us both played really well and just hit each other constantly for two days.
"My temperament is pretty good and I never let it bother me, and I knew if I got a chance that I was playing well enough to take it.
"That was the match that gets me back into the top 16. If I'd lost that match 13-12 it would have been hard not being in the top 16. But I'm over the moon.
"I've got a lot of points, a lot of money and I'm in the semis, so I've got a chance to win it."
Carter bounces back
In the morning's other match, 2008 finalist Ali Carter hit back well to ensure his quarter-final with 2005 champion Shaun Murphy remains evenly-poised.
Murphy looked to be pulling away from his opponent as he took three of the opening four frames on offer to head to the interval with an 8-4 advantage.
But Carter responded with breaks of 87, 73 and 64 on the way to taking the remaining four frames of the session and the duo will resume this evening locked together at 8-8.