The Masters 2023: Jack Lisowski outbattles Hossein Vafaei to secure semi-final spot at Alexandra Palace

A Masters famine is threatening to turn into an Alexandra Palace feast for Jack Lisowski as he beat Hossein Vafaei 6-4 to reach the semi-finals.

Lisowski is one of the finest talents in the game, and with the help of Peter Ebdon he is threatening to finally realise it.

A win at one of snooker’s grandest venues can do wonders for confidence, and Lisowski built on his victory over Higgins by ending Masters debutant Vafaei’s challenge at the second hurdle.

He is still to win a title, but Lisowski is now two victories from doing so – but he will have to get past Mark Williams on Saturday before getting the chance to take a look at the final hurdle.

Lisowski carried on the form he showed against Higgins into the opener with Vafaei, as he raced through a break of 96 to get in front.

He followed that with a 76 to suggest he was ready to make short work of Vafaei.

Lisowski’s talent is not in question, but he has enlisted the help of Ebdon to help eradicate the mistakes and make the right shot choices.

Ebdon is a fan of pen and paper and was likely scribbling furiously during the third frame as Lisowski made a couple of bizarre shot choices.

They did not prove costly, but he missed a tough pot to right middle and a 68 from Vafaei got the Iranian on the board.

The pen probably got a workout in the fourth, as a wild shot from Lisowski let Vafaei in and he took full advantage with a 143 to match Mark Williams’ tournament-high break.

After being kept cold, he did not pot a ball for two frames, Vafaei went into the interval in the ascendancy and returned in the same form.

As in the third and fourth, it was a Lisowski error that let him in and he cashed in to move ahead for the first time in the match.

Lisowski required a response and he produced it in the sixth, seizing on a poor safety from Vafaei to knock in a 67 and level the match.

After six frames of entertaining, flowing snooker, both appeared to realise what was at stake as errors crept in and the London fans were treated to the first scappy frame.

A wild, fluked plant handed control to Vafaei, but he did not fancy the yellow that followed and it stayed on the table – allowing Lisowski to step in with a break of 41 to edge back in front.

The eighth see-sawed, as Vafaei got in only to miss a simple black to hand Lisowski the chance to counter.

It looked set to be a telling counter after he knocked in a tough final red, but he did not drop ideally on the brown and it caught the knuckle of the left middle and stayed up.

Vafaei was right behind the line of the shot and leapt from his seat before it had even hit the knuckle. He mopped up the colours to draw level again.

A weakness in Vafaei’s impressive, attacking game is his cue-ball control. He got in first in the ninth, but could never keep a tight rein on the white and he missed a tough red.

Lisowski got in and worked what looked a telling 47-point lead with balls welded to cushions. But he played a poor choice of shot on the final red which developed the brown and gave the upper hand in the safety exchange to Vafaei.

Vafaei laid a snooker which yielded eight points and he worked his way back into the frame with three balls on the table, but the Iranian played an awful shot on the blue and Lisowski dropped it in to fall over the line and into a 5-4 lead.

Getting over the winning line was never going to be easy, but Lisowski showed tremendous steel to take his second bite and he closed it out with a superb 74 to move within two victories of a first tournament win – on one of the biggest stages in the sport.

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