Graeme Dott stunned Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-3 in their quarter-final at the Coral World Grand Prix at Cheltenham Racecourse on Thursday night.
Staged in The Centaur venue at the track, a place that will be rocking with racegoers at the world famous Cheltenham Festival next month, it was the outsider of two that prevailed here as punters’ pal O’Sullivan crashed out at the third last flight.
😲 Graeme Dott has beaten Ronnie O'Sullivan for the first time in nine years!
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) February 6, 2020
🏴👏 The Scotsman advances to the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix. Who saw this coming?pic.twitter.com/9zhDBDpyw2
The Rocket actually started in his customary front-running role, going 1-0 up thanks to a tight 76-51 scoreline in the first frame, but Dott roared back by taking three frames on the spin.
Breaks of 60 and 70 helped him forge the 3-1 advantage, but O’Sullivan dug deep to get back into contention and a break of 102 levelled things at 3-3 in the sixth frame.
The crowd sensed their favourite would get up the hill from there, but it was Dott that flew home to land the spoils, with breaks of 52 and 91 sealing the 5-3 victory.
"I made a good break in the second frame and that settled me down, I played really well after that," said 2006 Crucible king Dott.
"My game is good, there are still parts of it that I’m not happy with, but it was fine tonight. Tom Ford is a great player and a good mate of mine as well so it’s nice that one of us will be in the final. It should be an open, attacking match."
💬 "I'm a certainty to win it then!"
— World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) February 6, 2020
Beating Ronnie O'Sullivan should be a good omen for Dott, as he did just that on his way to the 2006 World Championship title and in the China Open the following year.
But first, he'll have to get past his good friend, Tom Ford. pic.twitter.com/A4iHX9gtti
O’Sullivan said: "Graeme played well, he deserved his victory, he was much the better player. I’ve got no complaints, I did well to get three frames. It’s hard to analyse my own performance, it doesn’t matter how I played, I just didn’t get the result. I always felt I was second best."
In the night’s other quarter-final Tom Ford beat Gary Wilson 5-2.
It was all square after the first four frames but Ford forged clear thereafter, breaks of 84 and 54 helping him to a 4-2 lead before he sealed the victory in the seventh frame.
"Working with the mind coach has been great for me," said 36-year-old Ford. "I have been able to forget about things which happen in previous frames and stop winding myself up. That has shown in my results. I’ll have to up my game in the semi-final. There’s a reason why Graeme is there – he obviously played well to beat Ronnie."
