Allen advances at the China Open

Northern Ireland's Mark Allen came from 4-2 down to beat Stephen Hendry 5-4 and set up a semi-final with fellow young gun Ding Junhui at the China Open in Beijing on Friday.

Seven-time world champion Hendry looked set for a place in the semi-finals after the Scot used all his experience to move to within a frame of victory over his 24-year-old opponent in a generally scrappy affair.

However, left-hander Allen hit back to win three frames in succession, sealing victory with a break of 77 in the decider, his highest of the match.

Hendry had produced a break of 126 to level the match in the second frame, but subsequently managed a high of just 36 as Allen gradually found his touch.

Allen's win set the scene for a last-four meeting between two of snooker's most promising young talents with local hopeful Ding having turned 23 on Thursday.

‘At 4-2 down I still believed I could win, and I held myself together well to win the last three frames,’ Allen told www.worldsnooker.com.

‘I can take a lot of confidence from today's result, although I will need to improve in the next round.

‘To play Ding in China is the sort of game we practise for. There will be a big crowd and good atmosphere, and with two young, attacking players it should be entertaining.’

Ding delighted the home support with a 5-2 win over defending champion Peter Ebdon.

Ding stormed into a 4-0 lead with breaks of 93, 121 and 92, but former world champion Ebdon typically dug deep to win the next two frames with runs of 70 and 49.

However, Ding held his nerve to win the seventh frame 81-0.

In the afternoon's quarter-finals, Mark Williams and Ali Carter progressed with comfortable 5-1 victories against Marco Fu and Mark King respectively.

Former world champion Williams raced into a 3-0 lead against Fu, highlighted by a break of 116 in the third frame.

Hong Kong's Fu got on the scoreboard following a long fourth, but Williams closed out the encounter with back-to-back frames.

Williams will meet Carter in the semi-finals after the 30-year-old won the final four frames against King to seal his passage.

King made a break of 74 to level the match at 1-1, but his best effort thereafter was just 22 as Williams exploited his opponent's inconsistency to close out the match.