Northern Ireland Open: Masters champ Yan Bingtao to face John Higgins in Belfast semi-final
- Chinese No 14 seed romps past Mitchell Mann 5-0 to set up repeat of January’s Masters final
- Home favourite Mark Allen and Ricky Walden face off in other semi-final at Northern Ireland Open
Masters champion Yan Bingtao is into the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Open snooker tournament where he will play veteran John Higgins in a repeat of this year’s Masters final
Yan followed up victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan with a quarter-finals win over Mitchell Mann, taking the tie 5-0 to march into the last four in Belfast.
The 21-year-old is the highest ranked Chinese player in Belfast after world No 9 Ding Junhui decided to stay away – the only one of the top 16 to steer clear of the ranking event.
O’Sullivan praised Yan after his win over Mann. “The kid’s got something different,” he told Eurosport after the whitewash.
Scottish veteran Higgins, 46, beat David Gilbert 5-3 in their quarter-final, coming back from 2-0 down to set up a meeting with Yan.
The Chinese world No 15 beat Higgins 10-8 in the Masters final in Milton Keynes back in January to win his first Triple Crown event.