Snooker: Clark makes last four

GARY WILKINSON, the defending champion, was eliminated from the Coalite World Matchplay in Doncaster last night when he was defeated 9-7 by his stablemate, Martin Clark.

The victory takes the Sedgley- based Clark into a semi-final for the first time in his career after a run of seven quarter-final defeats.

'It's about time I broke through,' said Clark, who now meets the former champion, Steve Davis, on Thursday. 'It's doubly pleasing because Gary had beaten me in our two previous meetings. But I've never really worried about my record - it's other people who have been more concerned than me.'

However, the 24-year-old from the West Midlands nearly did not make it again. Resuming the evening session 5-3 up, Clark stretched his advantage to 8-4, including a colour clearance in frame 12 when 45-20 adrift.

But that was the signal for Wilkinson to stage a recovery, breaks of 60, 77 and 86 helping to reduce the deficit to 8-7.

'I was beginning to panic because at that stage Gary looked really fluent and I had never seen a ball,' Clark said.

But he calmed his jitters with a crucial break of 30 and Wilkinson finally conceded with three reds left on the table. 'I missed too many easy balls,' the 26-year-old from Kirkby-in-Ashfield said.

Davis secured his place in the last four on Sunday night with victory over Jimmy White. 'It's nice to beat someone like Jimmy over 17 frames when you are playing better but haven't won anything for almost a year,' Davis said.

COALITE WORLD MATCHPLAY (Doncaster): Quarter-final: M Clark (Eng) bt G Wilkinson (Eng) 9-7.