Gloucester's Robert Milkins aiming to break semi-final hoodoo in International Championships snooker
| Posted: October 30, 2014
ROBERT Milkins will bid to end his semi-final hoodoo to reach his first ranking event final when he faces Ricky Walden in the semi-finals of snooker’s International Championships in Chengdu, China today.
Gloucester’s Milkins, 38, has lost four times in the last four, at the 2005 Irish Masters, 2012 World Open and the Wuxi Classic and Australian Goldfields Open in 2013, but is determined to end that run in his best-of-17 frame contest against Walden, and stay in contention for the £125,000 winners’ cheque, the biggest prize on offer outside the UK.
"I've got to break my losing streak in semi-finals now. I have to forget about the fact that it's a semi and just try to play my game. It will be a long match so there's time to settle down. Hopefully I'll come out on top,” said Milkins on the World Snooker website after his 6-5 quarter-final win over Hong Kong’s Marco Fu.
He has never beaten Walden in the their three previous meetings, the highest profile of which was at the 2012 World Championships when Milkins, having beaten Neil Robertson in the first round, trailed 9-3 before hitting back to 11-10 behind, eventually losing 13-11.
A high quality contest saw the first six frames shared, Milkins making breaks of 60, 56 and 52 while Fu knocked in 51, 94 and 134.
Hong Kong's Fu, who lost in the final last year, edged ahead with a run of 74, before Milkins nicked the eighth frame then made a 59 to lead 5-4.
Fu's 61 helped force the decider, but it went the way of Milkins thanks to a clinical 70, and Milkins said: "I was very pleased with the last frame, to win it with a good break.
"It was a good match all the way through, and always close. Marco has played brilliant snooker against me many times. He never gives in and keeps trying until the last ball.
Walden beat Jamie Burnett 6-1 in his quarter-final, and had three century-plus breaks.
Milkins is guaranteed a £30,000 payday having reached the last four, and his run has also provisionally moved him up to 16th in the world rankings ahead of the second-biggest event on the calendar, the UK Championships in York, starting on November 25.
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