Snooker: Allen ousts Hendry to reach last four

Northern Ireland's Mark Allen came from 4-2 down to beat Stephen Hendry 5-4 and set up a semi-final with fellow young gun Ding Junhui at the China Open in Beijing.

Hendry, a seven-time world champion, looked set to secure a place in the semi-finals after calling on all his experience to move to within a frame of victory over his opponent in what was often a scrappy affair.

However, the left-handed Allen, 24, stormed back to win three frames in succession, sealing victory with a break of 77 in the decider, his highest of the match.

Hendry had produced a break of 126 to level the match in the second frame, but subsequently managed a high of just 36 as Allen gradually found his touch.

Allen's triumph sets the scene for a last-four meeting between two of the sport's most promising young talents, with local favourite Ding having turned 23 only yesterday.

"At 4-2 down I still believed I could win, and I held myself together well to win the last three frames," Allen said. "I can take a lot of confidence from today's result, although I will need to improve in the next round. To play Ding in China is just the sort of game we practise for. There will be a big crowd, and with two young, attacking players it should be entertaining."

Ding delighted the home support with a 5-2 win over Peter Ebdon, the defending champion. Ding raced into a 4-0 lead with breaks of 93, 121 and 92, but the former world champion typically dug deep to win the next two frames with runs of 70 and 49. However, Ding held his nerve to win the seventh frame 81-0.

In the other quarter-finals, Mark Williams and Ali Carter progressed with comfortable 5-1 victories against Marco Fu and Mark King respectively.

Former world champion Williams eased his way into a 3-0 lead against Fu, with the highlight being a break of 116 in the third frame. Hong Kong's Fu finally got on the scoreboard following a long fourth, but the classy Williams closed out the encounter with back-to-back frames.

Williams will meet Carter in the semi-finals after the 30-year-old won the final four frames against King to seal his passage. King fashioned a fine break of 74 to level the match at 1-1, but his best effort thereafter was a mere 22 as Carter exploited his opponent's inconsistency to close out the match without a further hitch.