Xiao Guodong continued his extraordinary run at the Champion of Champions tournament in Bolton as he beat defending champion Mark Allen 6-3 to book his place in the final.
The 35-year-old, who had qualified by virtue of winning his first ranking title at the Wuhan Open last month, claimed his third notable scalp in two days having eliminated both Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby on Thursday.
Xiao threaten to run away with the match in the early stages as he coasted into a 3-1 lead, but he faltered in the next, allowing the Antrim man to seize his chance and eventually claw back to level.
The Chinese player regained his lead and recovered a 40-point advantage in the next to move within one frame of victory.
Despite failing to capitalise on an initial break of 40, Allen spurned his own chance on the colours and a brilliant transition from blue to pink sealed Xiao’s place in the final.
XIAO GUODONG IS A CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS FINALIST! 🤩
— Champion Of Champions (@ChampOfChamps) November 15, 2024
Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Selby and the defending champion Mark Allen have fallen to the Chinese superstar 🙌@GrosvenorSport #ChampofChamps pic.twitter.com/eNxTYD4CMW
Xiao, who will play either Neil Robertson or Mark Williams on Sunday, told ITV4: “I still can’t believe I did it.
“Now I can just enjoy tomorrow’s game and I don’t care if I play Mark or Neil because they’re both legendary players, so I will just enjoy it.”
It marked another superb display from Xiao, who had fought back after losing the first three frames without scoring a point against O’Sullivan in his opening group match on Thursday.
He then fell 4-1 behind to Selby before recovering and riding his luck with a fluke on the yellow to clinch victory in the decider and set up his last-four clash against Allen.
