Continuing his giant-killing act, unseeded Neil Robertson of Australia packed off defending champion and fifth seeded Ding Junhui of China 8-6 for a place in the final of the IBSF World under-21 snooker championship in Taupo, New Zealand, on Monday.
In the best of 21-frame final on Tuesday, Robertson, who had ousted top seed Pankaj Advani of India last night, will take on sixth seeded Liu Song of China, who shocked second seeded Mark Allen of Northern Ireland 8-5 in the other semi-final.
Robertson, the 21-year old professional from Melbourne, trailed the 16-year old Junhui almost through the match until the 12th frame which he took on a break of 87.
Robertson then snatched the next two to book his spot in the final. The Aussie had breaks of 54, 111, 70, 100 and 87.
In the other semi-final, Song turned back a 0-2 deficit to prevail over Allen who, after beginning the match with a 100 break in the first frame, could not sustain the momentum once the Chinese warmed up to the task.
Leading 4-3 at the end of the first session, Song opened with a 97 break and then took four frames on the trot with runs of 66 and 80, to shut out the Irishman.
The results (semi-finals):
Neil Robertson (Australia) bt Ding Junhui (China) 8-6 (1-82, 63-48, 47-73, 64-44, 0-69, 49-72, 111-9, 1-55, 77-0, 104-0, 47-83, 87-21, 79-44, 58-14).
Liu Song (China) bt Mark Allen (N Ireland) 8-5 (7-101, 41-88, 113-14, 83-48, 62-16, 60-35, 43-68, 135-0, 36-68, 1-91, 72-20, 88-7, 99-30).
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