World Snooker Championship 2026 recap - Wu Yize and Mark Allen level after scintillating penultimate semi-final session

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World Snooker Championship 2026 live comments and streaming details. TNT Sports brings you frame-by-frame updates as Mark Allen and Wu Yize battle for a place in the World Championship final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. The winner of the contest will face the victor of the other semi-final between Shaun Murphy and John Higgins.

'What has he done?!' - Allen blunder stuns commentators

Video credit: TNT Sports

Wu and Allen tied in semi-final battle

Wu Yize showed his best snooker making three centuries, but Mark Allen’s fantastic all-round play kept him in the semi-final, with the session ending at 11-apiece.

After yesterday's stodgy, if engrossing session - which saw a 100-minute frame - this showed both players at their best.

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Wu began with a 142 total clearance and, after dropping the next, won the following frame in one visit (76) and then made a 121 to go into the mid-session interval two in front.

After making an embarrassing foul early after returning to the table, Allen then made a superb 85 and 99 to draw the scores level once more at ten-apiece.

Wu responded with another total clearance, this time a 140.

'The crowd have had an absolute treat' - Wu makes 'spellbinding' century to edge ahead of Allen

Video credit: TNT Sports

But in a tense last, which showcased the pair’s safety game, Allen laid a number of gruesome snookers which led to him taking the crucial frame.

Wu and Allen return to the table at 1900 BST to play to a finish in the best of 33 encounter.

Wu 11-11 Allen

Allen pots the green and Wu offers his hand ending what may well be the session of the championship so far.

Wu 11-10 Allen (39-59)

Allen pots the pink so Wu now needs three snookers (or two on the blue).

Wu 11-10 Allen (39-57)

After a foul, Wu needs two snookers, or one on the blue if he pots the baulk colours.

Wu 11-10 Allen (39-57)

After potting the last two reds and colours, Wu needs a snooker but has been put in a snooker himself first of all.

Wu 11-10 Allen (39-54*)

Faced with another snooker and unsure how to play it safe, Wu slams a hit and hope into the reds, leaving both on. Allen can finish the frame now.

Wu 11-10 Allen (39-53)

Allen plays a fantastic safety leaving Wu with a snooker with the white touching the green. Wu gets out of it and leaves the reds safe though.

Wu 11-10 Allen (39*-53)

Wu had a touching ball on a red and was all-but lodged against the bottom cushion, so uses the jaws of the bottom-right pocket to hit the white up the table.

Wu 11-10 Allen (32*-53)

A clearance was always going to be difficult with two reds on the bottom cushion but Allen misses the third-last red and after a good red, Wu now has a chance to hit back.

Wu 11-10 Allen (31-40*)

Allen made life difficult for himself with another loose positional shot but he cuts in a narrow red and gets on the blue.

Wu 11-10 Allen (31-19*)

There have been some incredible shots in this match but also some awful ones. Wu didn't have an easy shot but looking to play the cue ball to the baulk ends, he deflects off a red sending the white straight into the left middle.

Wu 11-10 Allen (31-14)

This last frrame is not going to be easy. Allen fires a blue in but by the time it gets down to the pack it does not break them up. He tries to pot a red next to the pink into the right middle which never looked on.

Wu 11-10 Allen (31-0)

Wu gets himself in a little trouble and from within the pack a cut of a ball into the bottom-left pocket just stays out.

Wu 11-10 Allen (9*-0)

A high-class safety battle is won by Wu after he sets a snooker and Allen leaves him an easy red. He has the first chance to make a run at this last frame of the afternoon.

Wu 11-10 Allen (1*-0)

A plant from Wu gets him on the scoreboard first in the frame. He then plays a snooker behind the baulk colours.

Wu 11-10 Allen (0-0)

The last frame of the session is underway.

Wu 11-10 Allen

A break of 140 including a fantastic brown when he was very close to the object ball. It gets no better than this.

'The crowd have had an absolute treat' - Wu makes 'spellbinding' century to edge ahead of Allen

Video credit: TNT Sports

Wu 10-10 Allen (105*-0)

Wu's thrid century of the session. It would have led to some soul searching yesterday's play, but he has responded incredibly.

Wu 10-10 Allen (75*-0)

"Everything we expect of a semi-final and more." Not my words, those of Neal Foulds. So very true as we see the sixth frame-winning break of 70+ in this session.

Wu 10-10 Allen (47*-0)

Wu clipped a red in the pack which nudged a couple into unpottable positions. He has to manufacture a difficult plant and does just that.

Wu 10-10 Allen (17*-0)

He faced a tough red, bridging over the pack and cutting into the bottom-right pocket and now the table has opened up for him.

Wu 10-10 Allen (8*-0)

Wu responds in the best way to Allen's scoring rampage by rolling in a long red from the baulk end.

Wu 10-10 Allen

A clearance of 99 from Allen, including an exhibition shot pink to end a fantastic break.

Wu 10-9 Allen (0-72*)

Allen is getting reward for his positive play and has now brought the scores level.

Wu 10-9 Allen (0-37*)

Allen is fortunate to get on a red after inadvertently ricocheting off the green, when potting the brown, and landing in the pack.

Wu 10-9 Allen (0-27)

Allen breaks up the reds off the blue but does not leave himself an easy follow up. Though he pots red, he leaves himself with little option but to roll the white behind the yellow ball.

Wu 10-9 Allen (0-8*)

Wu tries to go around the pack and land on the red below it, but ends up leaving it on for Allen. Who looks in the mood for another big break.

Wu 10-9 Allen

Allen misses out on a century missing a tough brown, but a fine 85 keeps him in the match, just as Wu looked like he may pull away.

Wu 10-8 Allen (9-68*)

Maybe Allen needed that disappointment and embarrassment earlier in the frame to fire him up. He has now taken the frame with a fantastic break.

Wu 10-8 Allen (9-16*)

Clean cueing from Allen as he sinks a red from the full length of the table, and. landing on the blue, he has a table which is begging to be cleared up.

Wu 10-8 Allen (9-10)

Allen fires in a plant into the bottom-left pocket. A shot played with a bit of anger it seemed. This will only be added to as he is, very unluckily, not on the black.

Wu 10-8 Allen (9-9)

Allen shakes his head as, in breaking up the reds, he lodges the cue ball against a couple of reds and has to play to the baulk end.

Wu 10-8 Allen (9-1*)

What a game! Allen incredibly hits the brown on the way to a safety shot off the pack, but then Wu leaves a red in the bottom-left jaws.

Wu 10-8 Allen (5*-0)

Wu found a plant in the pack from the baulk end but could not get on a red off the brown so plays a safety.

Wu 10-8 Allen

Wu walks off for the mid-session interval with a two-frame lead after his second century, a 121 to go with his earlier 142.

Wu 9-8 Allen (103*-14)

Another fantastic century from Wu. There is a potential 121 on the table.

Wu 9-8 Allen (40*-14)

It was not an easy table to navigate but Wu has turned it into a frame-winning opportunity, the Chinese star is back in the form he showed in the opening session.

Wu 9-8 Allen (1*-14)

Allen misses a long pot and then Wu gets on the board putting a red into the bottom-right pocket with the a brillaint rest shot.

Wu 9-8 Allen (0-14)

Allen misses an easy long red and is fortunate not to leave an easy shot on for Wu.

Wu 9-8 Allen (0-7*)

Wu's safety leaves a red over the bottom-right pocket allowing Allen to make an easy start as he looks to level up again.

Wu 9-8 Allen

It looked certain Wu would secure a second century in the first three frames but he misses a red with the rest so the break ends at 76. The way things are going we might go the whole session in less playing time than yesterday's 100-minute frame.

Wu 8-8 Allen (40*-0)

A black thought about not dropping for a while, but eventually did go into the bottom-right pocket and the table looks pretty inviting to win the frame in this visit.

Wu 8-8 Allen (5*-0)

Wu pots a good long red to start a break in the 17th frame.

Wu 8-8 Allen

The break ends at 56 but it is enough for Allen to level the arrears. Two frames in just over half an hour though. It is a different game from yesterday.

Wu 8-7 Allen (14-61*)

All the remaining reds look eminently pottable and Allen needs just a couple more to secure the frame.

Wu 8-7 Allen (14-22*)

Wu just misses a long pot and leaves Allen a chance to get started again.

Wu 8-7 Allen (14-21)

Allen not as his best so far. He missed a very easy red into the middle by some margin, just hitting the near jaw.

Wu 8-7 Allen (14-1*)

Wu went for a difficult red, obscured by the black, when he had other options. Our man Neal Foulds is sure it wasn't on. Allen then misses a pot into the bottom-right pocket and it then rolls into the adjacent pocket.

Wu 8-7 Allen (9*-0)

With no easy safety on Allen twice misses going into the pack off two cushions - and the second time he leaves Wu a straight-forward pot into the right middle.

Wu 8-7 Allen

A perfect break of 142 and there are Wuuuuu chants around the Crucible amidst the applause as he takes his seat.

Wu 7-7 Allen (100*-0)

He has a century, his first of the match, and there is a possible 142 on the table.

Wu 7-7 Allen (76*-0)

The frame is secured now and it looks certain to be a century break too.

Wu 7-7 Allen (52*-0)

This is the kind of frame Wu wants. He made just one half-century in the last session, but he has one immediately here, finding his groove, and looks like winning the frame in one visit.

Wu 7-7 Allen (8*-0)

Allen just missed a tough long pot but could not get the cue ball back to the baulk end. Wu slots home the mid-range red and gets on the black.

The players are in the arena

We are now set to get back underway.

Higgins edges ahead of Murphy in other semi

The other semi-final looks at being just as close and they will play to a finish in Saturday's middle session from 2.30pm. After being level at 4-4 and 8-8 after the first two sessions, but made breaks of 70 and 101 in the final two frames to take a lead going into the final segment of the game.

Hello and Welcome

Thanks for joining our coverage of the penultimate session between Mark Allen and Wu Yize, tantalisingly poised after the unique arm wrestle of a second session which saw the Ulsterman reel back a 6-2 deficit.