Jayson Shaw overcame Fedor Gorst in a controversial clash to reach the Hanoi Open Pool Championship semi-finals in front of a packed audience in the Vietnamese capital.
Shaw reached his first major semi-final on the nineball scene since becoming the US Open champion six years ago, joining Ko Ping-Chung, Albin Ouschan and Sanjin Pehlivanovic at the penultimate hurdle.
US Open runner-up Gorst has received a tremendous reception throughout his two weeks in Vietnam, while Shaw was also popular as the pair were eventually matched at the halfway stage at five apiece.
Nevertheless, Shaw gained the ascendancy and gathered momentum as he claimed four racks in succession to move on the cusp of victory, although Gorst responded with a couple of break and runs and reduced the deficit to 9-8.
Gorst created an opportunity to force a deciding rack but a missed seven ball proved costly, with the vocal timekeeper appearing to distract him during his backswing and the American conceded with three balls still on the table.
Shaw progresses to face Sanjin Pehlivanovic in the last four after the Bosnian youngster reached his maiden major semi-final following empathic wins over Michael Feliciano and top seed Francisco Sanchez Ruiz.
Meanwhile, newly-crowned US Open champion Ko required an element of fortune to end the fairytale campaign of Kyle Amoroto, battling back from 8-3 behind against the Filipino youngster.
Amoroto was breaking well and put together a couple of racks to mount the pressure on his opponent, with a confident bank up the long rail on the one ball being a particular highlight, although Ko shifted the momentum as his comeback commenced.
A dry break from Ko allowed Amoroto back to the table but he ultimately felt the pressure and missed a relatively routine nine ball, allowing Ko to continue his onslaught and book his place in a second successive major semi-final.
Ko will encounter Albin Ouschan at the penultimate hurdle after the Austrian reached his first ranking semi-final since last year’s European Open, comfortably defeating David Alcaide 10-3 to progress and keep his Mosconi Cup hopes intact.
The Hanoi Open semi-finals and finals take place on Sunday afternoon in the Vietnamese capital alongside the inaugural Hanoi Junior Open final between AJ Manas of the Philippines and Taiwan’s Liao Hung-Yen.
