Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the Scottish Open semi-finals, while Lei Peifan made a remarkable comeback to win 6-5 after trailing 5-2.
Breaks of 73 and 97 helped Allen take a 3-0 lead in Edinburgh, but the 21-year-old from China won the next two frames to reduce his deficit to one.
The world number five looked to be on the verge of victory as he won the sixth and seventh frames, but a missed pink in the next proved crucial as his dogged opponent, ranked 84th, stormed back to win four frames in a row in a hard-fought contest. .
Lei Peifan has never reached the quarterfinals of a ranking tournament before and has lost his Tour card twice in his career, but he now finds himself in Sunday’s final against compatriot Wu Yize.
Wu Yize secured his place in the decider by overcoming a 4-2 deficit to defeat fellow Chinese player Xiao Guodong (6-4) in the remaining four games of the day.
Also 21, he will be taking part in the second ranking tournament final of his career after losing 9-7 to Neil Robertson in the deciding match of the English Open in September.
The win for the world No. 27 included a break of 115 in the ninth frame to get ahead for the first time in the match.
On Sunday, two young Chinese players will face each other in the best-of-three final, with the winner taking home £100,000 and the Stephen Hendry Trophy.
However, Allen is missing out on a golden opportunity to win a 12th ranking title and a second Scottish Open crown, having previously won the tournament in 2018.
The Antrim player was in superb form throughout the week at the Meadowbank Sports Centre, scoring consecutive centuries on his way to the last four places.
