FERGAL Quinn’s fine run at the WSF World Amateur Snooker Championship in Morocco has ended at the semi-final stage.
The 24-year-old from Coalisland, who was a 4-3 quarter-final winner over Austria’s Florain Nuessle on Friday morning, lost 4-2 to China’s Yang Gao in the evening session.
Gao, beaten finalist last year, was quick out of the blocks in the best-of-seven contest, with a break of 80 giving him the first frame. He then added the second before Quinn got on the board by winning frame three on the pink.
The young Chinese prospect restored his two-frame advantage but Quinn produced a fine clearance of 90 to get it back to 3-2.
Frame six looked like going Quinn’s way as well as he built a 44-point lead with only three reds remaining, but Gao pulled out a fantastic clearance of 45 to win the frame by a single point on the black, and with it the match.
Meanwhile, at the Machineseeker German Masters in Berlin, Aaron Hill’s great week ended in disappointing fashion as he lost 5-0 to China’s Xiao Guodong in the quarter-final.
The 22-year-old from Cork had beaten Mark Williams, Jimmy Robertson and Tom Ford to reach the last eight of a ranking event for the second time in his career.
