A tense deciding frame at the Newport Centre came down to the last few balls, and Lee had a chance to clear up after fluking the last red when swerving out of a snooker. He trailed by 13 points but the balls were at his mercy until the phone went off in the crowd just as he tried to pot an easy green. He missed his target by several inches and China’s Ding was able to pot green and brown for victory.

“The phone went off just as I was on my back-swing and I couldn’t stop,” raged Lee. “That’s the first time it has happened to me at such an important moment in all the years I’ve been playing. I am fuming. We both had plenty of chances in the last frame but we both played awful.”

A gracious Ding, who goes forward to a semi-final with Shaun Murphy tomorrow at 1pm, said: “It was unacceptable. He was very unlucky and otherwise he could have won the match.”

Earlier, Lee led 2-0 before Ding came back to 2-2 with breaks of 66 and 85. Ding won two of the next three frames before Lee compiled breaks of 42 and 41 to make it 4-4. But it was Ding who had the last laugh as he reached his first ranking semi-final of the season.

Mark Selby stole two frames from unpromising positions in a 5-3 victory over Stephen Maguire.

World No 1 Selby produced his best performance in a televised event in recent months to set up an intriguing match against Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Newport Centre tomorrow at 7pm.

At times in the match he looked second best to in-form Maguire, but Selby’s exceptional safety play and gritty attitude, as well as a couple of vital clearances, saw him home.

The first four frames were shared, Maguire’s best break an 81 in the second and Selby’s a 110 in the fourth. Glasgow’s Maguire dominated frame five to take the lead, and looked to be going 4-2 up until he missed a tricky thin pink with the rest on 45. He later missed a tough long red and Selby made a brilliant 57 clearance to level at 3-3.

A run of 71 put Leicester’s Selby 4-3 ahead but the match looked to be heading for a decider when Maguire led 60-0 in frame eight, with most of the last five reds close to cushions. But shrewd Selby clawed his way into the frame with a run of 24, then played a brilliant shot to pot the penultimate red and move the yellow off a cushion. He went on to clear the table and book his last four place.

“I’m really happy because it was a tough match and I had to raise my game,” said Shanghai Masters champion Selby. “A couple of years ago I used to make that type of clearance quite often and it was good to show I can still do it. I should have gone out against Sam Baird in the first round so I’m just happy to still be in the tournament.

“Ronnie is the man in form and on a good run so I will have to play well again to give him a game. My game doesn’t suit him but not everyone is a natural like him and I just have to play my own game.”

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After going 29 months without winning a ranking event, O’Sullivan is now chasing back-to-back victories and has followed up his German Masters triumph with a flying start in South Wales. He took just 63 minutes to see off World No 2 Williams and set up a quarter-final meeting with Judd Trump or Stuart Bingham tomorrow at 1.30pm (tickets still on sale – call 01633 656757).

In a blistering start to the match, O’Sullivan made a break of 125 to win the first frame before Williams responded with a 133. Cwm cueman Williams was among the balls first in frame three but could only make 21 and his opponent rattled in a 96 to go 2-1 ahead.

Williams had a clear chance to level the match in the fourth frame but missed a red with the rest leading 49-23, allowing O’Sullivan to clear up with 45. Once again there were chances for Williams in the fifth, but he only managed 28 points from four scoring opportunities, and O’Sullivan finally punished him with a run of 56.

“Mark has been very consistent over the past year, but we all have bad days,” said O’Sullivan. “I’m just trying to go out and concentrate and give it my best shot, and I’m enjoying competing. (Psychiatrist) Steve Peters has really helped me because without him I probably wouldn’t be playing.

“I wasn’t worried (before Germany) about dropping out of the top 16. No one wants to drop out, but it would have been a challenge to have to qualify for the World Championship and I was looking forward to it in some respects. I never felt as if I should be ranked 17th or 18th and I had to be patient and wait for the form to come.”

O’Sullivan revealed in Berlin that he is suffering from glandular fever, and he added today: “I went for a 20 minute walk this morning because over the last three or four weeks I have felt my body getting stiffer. But then I had to go back to bed and rest for two hours. The doctors have told me to be careful and monitor myself. I’m trying not to stress myself. I need to rest, but if I rest too much I’ll be down to 100th in the world.”

Stephen Maguire, who lost to O’Sullivan in the Berlin final, made it a bad day for the Welsh as he beat Matthew Stevens 4-2. The Scot won the first frame with a break of 47 then added the second after a poor safety from Stevens on the final green. A run of 84 saw Stevens pull one back before Maguire went 3-1 up with a 111.

Back came Stevens with a 66 to win frame five, and he had a chance to force a decider but missed a difficult last red along the side cushion in the sixth, stretching and playing it left handed rather than using the rest. He left it in the jaws and a grateful Maguire cleared up to win.

“I know Matthew doesn’t like using the rest and it was a tough shot on that red – I was relieved when he missed it,” said Maguire, who was runner-up to John Higgins here last year. “On my way down to Newport I was thinking that I just wanted to get through the first two matches, then you’re back to best of nines. I’m hoping for a good weekend now.”

Mark Allen scored his second 4-0 win over a a former World Champion, following up his whitewash of Ken Doherty by beating Stephen Hendry. A break of 81 gave Allen the first frame, and he took the second with a 36 clearance after Hendry missed several chances. The third followed a similar pattern, with Hendry well below the form he showed in beating Neil Robertson. Ulsterman Allen sealed victory in the next with a 68.

Source: http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/NewsArticles/0,,13165~2613374,00.html