These are the results of the quarter-finals yesterday at the Crucible:

Dominic entered the arena wearing a long fur coat and a hat… apparently a tribute to Alex Higgins. I know that Jason Francis started the Seniors tour because of Alex, who he wanted to help but I also know he quickly had to give up on the man who couldn’t really play anymore. But Alex game wasn’t the main issue, it’s his behaviour that caused a lot of problems … as had been the case all his life. Alex certainly changed snooker forever but, in my eyes, he was a terrible person and reading his bios didn’t change my opinion, quite the opposite. Anyway … back to yesterday action … as you can see by the scores, Dominic played very well and, despite winning frame 2, Joe was never really in the match.

Neither Alfie nor Tony scored really heavily in their match. There was no break over 53 in the match, and 53 isn’t usually enough in itself to secure a frame. But … what a battle this was. They played all seven frames and every frame was close and hard-fought. Tony was gutted and, I guess, Alfie was more relieved than really happy.

Hassan Kerde and Charl Jonk probably served us the best match on the day. Both played well, especially considering that neither had played at the Crucible before this event. A very happy Hassan was interviewed after the match, accompanied by his wife. They are Muslims and she was fully covered, wearing a long dress, and a scarf that completely covered her hair … but she was with him on the floor, all smiles, filming his interview with a very state of the art smartphone … 😊

The last match of the day was a late, rather scrappy affair. Wayne made the only big break of the match, a 85 but lost by 4-2. Both can play better but it was late and they had to wait a long time before the table became available for them. Aaron has won this title before and, maybe, that helped him. Unlike Wayne, he isn’t in uncharted territory here at the Crucible.

Here are the images I took on the day…