The 47-year-old also insists that he has no animosity towards Vafaei, whom he saw as a

The 47-year-old also insists that he has no animosity towards Vafaei, whom he saw as a

After crushing the reds in his first break-off against the seven-time world champion at the Crucible eight months ago, Hossein Vafaei will take on Ronnie O’Sullivan once more in Saturday’s UK Snooker Championship semi-finals.

When Hossein Vafaei plays Ronnie O’Sullivan on Saturday in the UK Snooker Championship semi-finals in York, he has sworn that his careless Crucible break-off will never happen again.

In the last frame decider, O’Sullivan pulled off a 122-break to defeat qualifier Zhou Yuelong, while the Iranian completed a replay of the bitter encounter that shook the April World Championship by defeating Zhang Anda of China 6-4.

Vafaei claims he has no regrets about his explosive start at the Crucible, where he hit balls from his first break-off and watched O’Sullivan hammer home a clinical 78. Vafaei claimed O’Sullivan had treated him disrespectfully when O’Sullivan had made a similar shot in a match at the German Masters eighteen months prior.

The two had left the stage together following the underdog’s 13-2 humiliation, despite the fact that he had also declared prior to the game that he wanted to “shut” O’Sullivan’s mouth and that the Englishman should retire because he was “not good for the game”.

“What was once was is now,” Vafaei stated on Friday. “I’d been putting that off for eighteen months. Although I realise it was a little ridiculous, I did it. There is karma in everything.

But all I want is to be kind and show my hero some respect. Life is far too brief. I love him and I hope he stays healthy.”

 

With six centuries in the last two rounds, Vafaei is the more experienced player going into their rematch with O’Sullivan, who nearly lost a 4-1 lead against the Chinese world No. 26 due to inattention.

Before making a crucial error and winning the final frame to pink of 122, O’Sullivan, who had prevailed in identical circumstances against Robert Milkins in the previous round, expressed his dissatisfaction.

The 47-year-old is also adamant that he has no animosity against Vafaei, whom he thought of as a friend before the incident that irritated the Iranian at the German Masters qualifying.

Vafaei’s break-off didn’t offend me in the slightest, “said O’Sullivan, whose victory in the quarterfinals marked his 100th appearance in the competition since his debut in 1992 at the age of 16.

“I’ve performed far worse. Hossein is a fiery persona that I appreciate. He is not amused by foolishness. That is the nature of him. It’s something I appreciate in a person. He is an individual in his own right.”

In a thrilling match, Vafaei was nearly pushed to the edge by Zhang Anda, a Chinese player in form who had defeated world champion Luca Brecel in the previous round.

Vafaei twice overcame Zhang’s early lead with century breaks, and after falling behind 4-3, he produced a dramatic climax with breaks of 106 and 56 to seal his first-ever triple crown semi-final.

After defeating Mark Selby 6-3, Judd Trump advanced to his second UK semi-final in nine years, continuing to fight a flu attack.

Before Selby began his regular comeback, going from a 5-1 deficit to a 5-3 lead before Trump, who has been battling illness since before his first-round victory over Pang Junxu, broke 100 and 93.

I’m still having trouble,” Trump remarked. “I’m relieved that I made it through, but I was just feeling really bad and sort of going through the motions.”

“You want to be able to give it everything in a tournament like this, but it’s just about having to grind it out because you’re not going to be feeling like this is every single tournament.”

The eighth frame of Mark Williams and Ding Junhui’s quarterfinal served up a slice of snooker history, with Williams’ cumulative score of 101-94 breaking the previous record of 192 by three points.

The three-time UK champion Ding overcame Williams with a 105 clearance in the championship match, advancing him to the round of four where he will face Trump on Saturday night.