 O'Sullivan came from 3-2 down to beat Marco Fu |
World champion Graeme Dott says he will have to be at his best to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals of the China Open. Dott overcame fellow Scot John Higgins 5-2 in the quarter-finals in Beijing, while O'Sullivan won three straight frames to beat Marco Fu 5-3.
Last April, Dott beat O'Sullivan 17-11 in the semi-finals of the World Championship in Sheffield.
"When I beat him, it was probably the best I've ever played," said Dott.
The Scot was also on top form on Friday, making breaks of 97, 106 and 102 as he beat his close friend Higgins, who is a two-time winner of this event.
"I didn't miss a ball against John; I played really well. Tomorrow should be a class match," added Dott.
O'Sullivan made half century breaks in all but one of his frames against Fu, his highest break being 110.
 | The luck is definitely on my side this week |
But the former world number one did not gain control of the match until Fu missed a crucial pink in the sixth frame.
This allowed O'Sullivan to clear up before going on to take the final two frames.
In Friday's evening session, England's Jamie Cope stunned former world champion Shaun Murphy with a 5-0 whitewash.
Stoke-based Cope rattled in a 145 - the highest break of the tournament so far - in the fourth frame.
"I just didn't miss a ball," he said afterwards. "I'd love to win this tournament, I'm playing well enough."
He will face Barry Hawkins in the second semi-final, the Dartford-based player edging out former world champion Ken Doherty 5-4 in a final-frame decider.
"The luck is definitely on my side this week in China," admitted Hawkins, who came back from 60-0 down in the final frame.
"The first hurdle for me is to beat Jamie, but I'd love to get to my first final. I need the ranking points, so hopefully I can go all the way."
Friday's quarter-final results:
Barry Hawkins (Eng) 5-4 Ken Doherty (Ire)
8-86 (59) 89-0 (73) 141-0 (137) 30-67 (61) 0-84 (52) 75-44 29-70 79-2 75-65 (56)
Jamie Cope (Eng) 5-0 Shaun Murphy (Eng)
85-45 85-9 81-0 (76) 145-0 (145) 80-16
Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng) 5-3 Marco Fu (HK)
0-100 (100) 126-0 (110) 0-103 (64) 80-33 (62) 37-84 (84) 69-57 (63)
98-0 (87) 138-0 (79, 55)
John Higgins (Sco) 2-5 Graeme Dott (Sco)
80-43 (80) 79-0 (79) 12-66 37-84 (84) 0-97 (97) 0-106 (106) 30-102 (102)
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