BLACKBURN and Darwen individual snooker champion Jonny Hannan came through one of the best matches the area has seen to take his place in this year’s semi finals.

Opponent Mick Ball will be wondering how he lost after playing so well. The first frame showed little of what was to follow with both players making a tentative start.

Hannan was a little subdued as Ball scrapped his way to a 1-0 lead. Frame 2 was all Hannan, an opening run of 33 ended with a quality safety shot and when Ball left a red the champ pounced with a fantastic 88 clearance. Frame 3 and a loose safety from Hannan left Ball with a mid range red which he dispatched with ease.

It was Hannan’s turn to sit and watch as Ball cleared the lot with a great run of 75 to restore his lead. Frame 4 and Ball was in control and looking good when a missed brown ended his break on 34. Hannan was in full flow by now and didn’t hang about as he potted the lot with another good break, this time 50. Frame 5 was again all Hannan as yet another break of 52 gave him the lead for the first time in the match.

The next was more of the same, Hannan got in first but missed a relatively easy black on 33. Ball hit back straight away with a run of 46 before Hannan responded with 20 odd to leave himself on the blue for frame and match. The blue jawed and appeared to have gone safe but Ball conjured up a magnificent pot to land plumb on the pink. Inexplicably Ball missed but was relieved to see pink roll safe.

Hannan seemed to be controlling the safety exchange until an outrageous fluke pink from Ball.

Confidence high Ball slammed the black at 100 mph but missed it by some margin. The black ran safe and a frustrated Hannan took on an ambitious double that wobbled to leave Ball the simplest of tap ins to level the match at 3-3. Understandably the decider was a nervy affair with the players exchanging 20 plus breaks early on. It was still close when they got down to the colours, just one point in it on the yellow. Hannan got the first clear cut chance and potted yellow and green but left himself awkward on the brown. A beautiful safety snookered Ball but he hit it well to leave Hannan a teaser along the baulk cushion. The youngster didn’t falter potting the brown confidently to land perfect on the blue, pink duly followed and Hannan had survived the toughest match of his life.

Hannan’s semi final opponent will be Darwen’s Alfonso Bellusci who had a much easier time of it, disposing of CIU champion Ricky Hardman 4-0 in his quarter final. The match was a story of what might have been for Hardman as he missed crucial balls after looking to be in control of things. Frame one saw him do all the hard work only to miss frame ball pink and let Bellusci in to nick it. More of the same followed with the Darwen man feeding off the Hardman misses to establish a 2-0 lead. Frame three was another scrappy one, both players having plenty of chances but seemingly unable to deliver the telling shots. It was another steal for Bellusci to leave Hardman staring at the whitewash. Frame four was a little better, an opening run of 39 from Bellusci putting him in control. It was Hardman who battled his way back into the frame and needed pink and black to win his first frame. Pink was potted well to leave a straightforward black off the spot. A massive twitch from Hardman left the black in the jaws of the pocket for Bellusci and the whitewash was complete.

The semi final line up is:

Andy Lancaster v Graeme Hargreaves

Jonny Hannan v Alf Bellusci.

The semi finals and final will be played at Longshaw SSC courtesy of sponsors Sovereign Snooker Services who will once again be providing the match table.