Yesterday’s UK Championship quarter-finals turned out to be quite exciting. The match between Ali Carter and Ding Junhui in particular was a true thriller.

Ding tried to repeat last year’s feat of a maximum break and almost made it, but failed after having potted 12 red balls. Carter on the other hand entered the “century of centuries” club when he made his 100th century break. Carter and Ding, with Carter leading most of the time, battled each other until the very last frame when Ding finally clinched the victory.

The match between Peter Lines and Stephen Maguire took a more expected turn. The afternoon session ended 6-2 and it looked as if Maguire was going to really outclass Lines. However, Lines managed to take three more frames and the match ended 9-5 in Maguire’s favour. Not too bad a result for a player who hasn’t been in the quarter-final of a ranking event since 1999.

So the world No.6 and No.7 on the latest updated provisional world rankings will meet in the semi-final on Friday. Knowing the capacity of these two players, there will be drama for sure. When Ding and Maguire met in the second round of this year’s Grand Prix at the beginning of October, Ding won 5-1.