Wattana Into Semis

Thai ace James Wattana fired on all cylinders in the Euro-Asia Masters Challenge 2007 in Hong Kong on  July 13 night to qualify for the semifinals of the lucrative tournament.

In his Group A matches, Wattana first edged legendary Stephen Hendry of the European team 2-1 and then blanked Chinese sensation Ding Junhui 2-0 to make it to the semifinals.

Wattana had won the same tournament in Hong Kong in 2003.

Meanwhile, reigning world champion John Higgins booked his place in the semifinals and in the process took a hand in ending Stephen Hendry and Ding Junhui's chances.

The Scot beat both countryman Hendry and the local favourite Ding by 2-0 to move through to the last four where he was joined from Group A by Wattana.

In the other section, Ireland's Ken Doherty dropped the first frame to Ronnie O'Sullivan before winning the next two. However Doherty then lost 2-1 to Marco Fu who clinched victory with a run of 123, the highest of the tournament so far.

And O'Sullivan took little time in getting back to his best as 'The Rocket' blasted past Supoj Saenla, beating the Asian champion 2-0 with breaks of 117, 40 and 95.

Earlier in the team event, England star Ronnie O'Sullivan clinched the final frame to give Europe a winning start in Hong Kong.

The European quartet of O'Sullivan, John Higgins, Ken Doherty and Stephen Hendry beat Asia 5-3 to take the Team Challenge event after 'The Rocket' held his nerve to roll in a 50 break to beat Marco Fu. The Asian team comprised Ding Junhui (China); James Wattana (Thailand), Marco Fu (Hong Kong) and Supoj Saenla (Thailand)

Group 1

John Higgins (Sco) 2 Stephen Hendry (Sco) 0 (58-34, 77(62)-7)

Ding Junhui (China) 0 James Wattana (Thai) 2 (48-65, 16-127(75))

Hendry 1 Wattana 2 (39-84, 65-36, 34-58(52))

Higgins 2 Ding 0 (65(45)-55, 55-16)

Group 2

Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng) 1 Ken Doherty (Ire) 2 (90-39, 22-81(46), 58(46)-75(46))

Doherty 1 Marco Fu (HK) 2 (70(52)-32, 7-88(48), 0-123(123))

O'Sullivan 2 Supoj Saenla (Thai) 0 (117(117)-0, 135(40,95)-0)

Team Event (frame scores): Marco Fu beat John Higgins 71(70)-7; James Wattana lost to Ken Doherty 42-86(61); Ding Junhui lost to Stephen Hendry 19-66(43); Supoj Saenla lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-99(68); Ding beat Higgins 56-39; Wattana beat Hendry 75(49)-38; Supoj lost to Doherty 31-65(41); Fu lost to O'Sullivan 8-80(50)