Allen and Wu toil in 100-minute frame ‘embarrassment’, Higgins leads Murphy
Wu Yize and Mark Allen’s semi-final is poised at seven frames all after their afternoon session ended with a bizarre frame – the longest in the World Snooker Championship’s Crucible era – clocking in at just over 100 minutes,Allen began the afternoon trailing 6-2 overnight to an opponent high on confidence and belief, but fought back in style, winning five frames in succession to edge 7-6 ahead,The session at the Crucible concluded with a remarkable 14th frame, with a cluster of eight reds jammed around the black ball on the edge of a corner pocket,It resulted in a lengthy stalemate, 55 minutes passing without a ball being potted,Allen led the frame 47-13 and so did not want a re-rack.
The referee, Marcel Eckardt, struggled to control the crowd after some spectators began slow clapping.But he seemed hesitant to act, and did so only after being prompted by the tournament director, Rob Spencer, who instructed Eckardt to tell the players they had three shots to resolve the situation or there would be a re-rack.Allen was forced to commit a foul by knocking the black into the pocket, which enabled Wu to move ahead in the frame, eventually winning it 88-66 after a lengthy safety exchange and an excellent escape to hit the pink ball from in behind the black.The gruelling frame was finally completed in one hour, 40 minutes and 21 seconds – the longest in history, and just eight minutes shorter than the Crucible’s quickest match.That came in 2020, when Ronnie O’Sullivan defeated Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10-1 in 108 minutes.
Steve Davis, six times the world champion, told BBC Sport: “In a nutshell, that frame is an embarrassment to snooker, and the referees and players’ association need to try to work out a way that never happens again.”The seven-time winner Stephen Hendry called for the German official to end the stalemate much earlier, saying: “The referee’s got to get involved here, in my opinion.This is the dark side of snooker.”Kyren Wilson, the 2024 champion, said: “I think Marcel Eckardt should’ve called that a lot earlier.That game was going nowhere, quite painful, but the fight and determination from Mark Allen is still incredible.
”The Northern Irishman had dug deep to win the first two frames of the afternoon, despite Wu making breaks of 32 and 51, and Allen needing snookers in the second.He followed that up with a tournament-best 145 break, then claimed another scrappy frame to go into the mid-session interval level at 6-6.Allen maintained his momentum after the interval to go ahead with a 121 break, his ninth century of the tournament taking him one clear of Zhao Xintong as the tournament’s top break-builder.Three further frames were expected, but the extraordinary attritional battle of the 14th frame meant the session ended at 7-7.John Higgins moved into a 13-11 lead over Shaun Murphy as their tight tussle continued on Friday evening.
They went into the session tied at 8-8 and little separated them in an entertaining battle.Murphy started the evening session with a break of 60 to clinch the opening frame but Higgins replied with a run of 55.Some mistakes in the following frame resulted in a close scoreline before Higgins took advantage and potted the brown, blue and pink in quick succession to take a one-frame lead.But Murphy responded with a commanding display to win the next, hitting a comfortable 82 break to draw level again at 10-10 at the mid-session interval.After the restart, Higgins looked to have allowed Murphy back in, but the Scot’s early break of 63 underpinned the frame as he potted the pink to win.
Murphy again levelled with one visit to the table, hitting a 105 break to become the fifth player to reach 100 century breaks at the Crucible.Higgins then took control towards the end of the session, winning back-to-back frames including a 101 break in the final one to hold a slender overnight advantage.
Spirit Airlines ceases operations and US transportation secretary announces measures to help passengers
The US secretary of transportation, Sean Duffy, has announced a series of measures to help Spirit Airlines passengers following the low-cost airline’s collapse early on Saturday after running out of cash and the failure of rescue talks with the Trump administration.Duffy said that larger US airlines, including United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest, had agreed to cap ticket prices specifically for Spirit customers who need to rebook canceled flights, subject to a Spirit flight confirmation number and proof of payment.American Airlines and Delta Air Lines would also offer reduced fares on high-volume Spirit routes, and ultra-low-cost carrier Allegiant has committed to freezing fares across routes that overlap with the failed carrier. A third airline, Frontier, would offer a 50% base-fare reduction to affected travelers, it was announced.Duffy also said in a statement on X that most major US carriers will extend travel pass benefits and spare seats to Spirit pilots, flight attendants and other employees who need to return home after being stranded by the company’s collapse
Less financial stability, smaller social safety nets: inside the gen Z investing boom
Apps, AI tools and shaky job prospects are pushing gen Z into markets earlier, blending caution with risk-takingAmbrico Ranginui first heard of cryptocurrencies when he was 12 years old. By the time he was 16, he had saved enough from birthday gifts and his allowance to invest.“Growing up in a single mum household, it made me quite a determined person to get ahead,” Ranginui said. “I wanted to find new avenues to make money and crypto was so fascinating at the time.”He’s part of a new boom of gen Z investors who have jumped into markets more enthusiastically than previous generations, and are putting money into everything from safe-haven bonds to AI startups, earlier than ever before
Parents already have controls over smartphones – they should use them | Letters
A crucial facility seems to be missing from the coverage of smartphones in schools – and outside (I was wrong about the danger of smartphones in schools. It’s far, far worse than I thought, 22 April). Parental controls, which both Apple and Android have, enable downtimes to be set to ensure phones don’t work in school. They can also set downtimes for outside school and block inappropriate apps.We use these for our 14-year-old daughter to keep her safe and manage the addictive effects of phone use
‘Awkward and humiliating’: UK job hunters share frustration with AI interviews
Nearly half (47%) of UK job seekers have had an AI interview, research from the hiring platform Greenhouse has found.In its survey of 2,950 active job seekers, including 1,132 UK-based workers, with additional respondents from the US, Germany, Australia and Ireland, it found that 30% of UK candidates had walked away from a hiring process because it included an AI interview.We asked people about their experiences of AI interviews. The responses included those who found it “awkward” and “humiliating”. Others spoke of wanting a human element in the interviews, and said they were not sure if their interview had even been reviewed
Miami Grand Prix: main race qualifying after Norris wins sprint race – live
Things have got worse for Audi. Bortoleto was disqualified for an air intake problem and they can’t get to the bottom of what caused it. As a result, Bortoleto’s mechanics have been helping getting Hülkenberg’s car ready – and it looks as if he will make it. And the cars are coming out.Martin “Deep Throat” Brundle is at the mic now
Olly Stone shines for Notts, Surrey’s Sibley hits century: county cricket, day two – as it happened
Nottinghamshire’s Olly Stone, whose fragile body has broken with heartbreaking regularity, blew away Leicestershire in their East Midlands derby. His bowling, fierce and with chopstick-sharp accuracy, torpedoed stumps and tortured batters. Figures of five-for-41 were his best for Notts, a first five-wicket haul since 2019. Earlier, Ben Green had finished with seven for 112 as Notts’ innings ended on 490.At Taunton, Somerset’s innings subsided much as Yorkshire’s had
‘I am invoking Martha’s rule’: how a woman saved her father from near death in hospital
Martha’s rule may have saved more than 500 lives in England since 2024
Solicitors report late flood of no-fault evictions before ban in England
Austerity to blame for the fall in healthy life expectancy | Letters
Why routine cancer tests have age limits | Brief letters
UK researchers develop tool to identify people most at risk of obesity-related diseases