Harold lets his potting do most of the talking

SNOOKER/Irish Masters: Dave Harold qualified for his first world ranking tournament semi-final since October 2000 yesterday by beating Quinten Hann of Australia 6-3 to reach the last four of the Eur 635,000 Citywest Irish Masters.

The contest dragged on for more than three and a half hours, but actually featured a lot of fluent scoring, including two century breaks from Harold. The first of these came in frame three, a clearance of 103, which made it 3-0 to the Englishman.

Hann looked frustrated by his failure to make any progress, but his increasing maturity was evident in the way he dug in to produce breaks of 66 and 93, reducing the deficit to 3-2.

Harold reasserted his authority by advancing to 5-2, and was on the brink of victory when he missed an easy red into the middle in frame eight, allowing Hann back in to clear to the pink and extend the match.

However, when Hann missed a straightforward red himself at the start of the next frame, Harold stepped in with a break of 117, the highest of the match, to earn a place in the last four.

"I had twitched a bit towards the end of my match against Ken Doherty earlier this week, and when I missed that red it looked like a case of 'here we go again'," said the 36-year-old. "It was a credit to me that I managed to finish the game off in one go in the next frame."

Hann suggested he had been hampered by Harold's "negative game". He had already surprised his opponent by proclaiming unequivocally before the match that he would win.

"I couldn't understand why he came out with that really," said Harold. "On our day, we can all beat each other."

Harold is now two matches away from delivering a 200 to 1 tournament success. His only previous title was a 500 to 1 triumph at the 1993 Asian Open, much to the delight of his brother, who had shown the foresight to place a £10 bet at the start of that tournament.

Ronnie O'Sullivan continues his bid for back-to-back ranking event victories today, when he plays Paul Hunter in the semi-finals. Only eight players, including Ken Doherty in 2001, have achieved this feat.

Quarter-finals: D Harold (Eng) beat Q Hann (Aus-14) 6-3 (68-21, 67-30, 121-0, 0-85, 8-109, 55-21, 74-0, 48-69,117-8)

TODAY'S PLAY: Semi-finals: (Best of 11 frames): 2.00pm P Hunter (Eng-9) v R O'Sullivan (Eng-2), 7.00pm D Harold (Eng) v S Davis (Eng) or J Higgins (Sco-4)