Day holds nerve to beat Ebdon
Ebdon failed to make it two ranking event titles in a row
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Sunday, 04, Feb 2007 10:00
Welshman Ryan Day held his nerve to beat Peter Ebdon 6-3 in the semi-final of the Malta Cup and will go on to meet Shaun Murphy in the final.
Day made a major error when, leading four frames to two and looking likely to add another frame to his scoreline, he missed a straightforward pink and fouled on the black ball.
That allowed Ebdon back into the frame; the former world champion secured another snooker and cleared the pink and black to reduce the deficit to 4-3.
After such a bad miss it seemed as if Day had let his lead dwindle and that Ebdon would have a psychological advantage heading into the final frames but the Welshman fought back well.
He made a break of 91 to secure the next frame and a 58 was good enough to claim the next, and with it the match. The world number 17 has never been beyond the quarter-finals of a ranking event.
Day will face another former world champion in the final after Shaun Murphy beat Ali Carter 6-3 in the other semi-final.
Murphy was always in control of the match after racing into a three frame lead with breaks of 111, 80 and 59.
Carter tried to make a comeback but the world number five was always able to keep his challenge at arms length. Further breaks of 115, 76 and 80 from Murphy proved enough to help him into the final.