The semi-final of the Snooker World Championship between Wu Yize and Mark Allen is not over yet, but it is already one for the history books.
In the 14th frame, the Chinese equalized 7:7 in the longest frame in the history of the Crucible Theater – after an hour and 40 minutes. The previous record was one hour and 25 minutes from the game between Yan Bingtao and Mark Selby in 2022.
But what had happened? A seemingly hopeless stalemate at the bottom right pocket, with the black ball obscured by a tight cluster of red balls, brought the frame to the brink of collapse. Neither Wu nor Allen wanted to make a mistake and played the Whites conservatively into the crowd and out of there again and again.
As a result, no ball was sunk for over 50 minutes. The audience in the Crucible Theater didn’t like that at all. After many spectators initially laughed at the bizarre rally, the mood gradually turned into discontent. A spectator called for a restart.
The German referee Marcel Eckardt repeatedly warned the audience to calm down – and finally announced the prospect of a restart. Wu agreed, but Allen, who was 30 points ahead at the time and visibly unnerved, refused. Shortly afterwards, the Englishman lost his nerve: he accidentally punched the black ball and ultimately, after a hard fight, leveled the score for Wu after 100 minutes. The match continues on Saturday (12 p.m./Eurosport).
