Inside an 'extraordinary' longest-ever Crucible frame of 100 minutes between Wu Yize and Mark Allen - 'Can't remember anything like this'

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Mark Allen and Wu Yize went an hour without potting a single ball in their World Championship semi-final as, in truly remarkable scenes, they played out the longest frame in Crucible history.

'My goodness' - Wu makes escape from Allen's 'perfect shot' to lay snooker

Video credit: TNT Sports

Wu arrived for Friday afternoon’s second session with a commanding 6-2 advantage, but Allen ate away at it and won five on the spin to lead 7-6.

The 10th frame, which went Allen’s way, lasted an hour, but that was quick-fire stuff compared to what went on in the 14th stanza.

Allen worked his way into a handy lead, but the frame turned scrappy when the black landed in the jaws of the right corner with reds close by.

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With both players unwilling to offer up a chance to the other, more reds became grouped on top of the black. After 55 minutes of play, eight reds sat on top of the black.

On commentary for TNT Sports, Neal Founds said: "It looks to me right now as if this will never end, ever. I suppose it will have to at some point."

Reds were pushed closer and closer to the black, but the high-value ball showed no signs of dropping.

An hour without a pot: Re-live remarkable longest Crucible frame between Wu and Allen

Video credit: TNT Sports

Foulds and his fellow commentator Phil Studd talked about the prospect of a re-rack, but with Allen holding a 30-point advantage, that would not have been welcomed by the man from Northern Ireland.

A member of the audience called hopefully for a re-rack, only for referee Marcel Eckardt to make clear that he would be in charge of those decisions.

Ironic cheers came from the audience as Wu rolled the cue ball towards the reds, which Eckardt asked to stop. Those calls fell on deaf ears, as the crowd inside the Crucible continued to have their fun.

"Extraordinary business," Foulds said. "I have seen a lot of snooker over the years, but I can’t remember anything like this, particularly here."

With almost an hour on the clock, Eckardt and Allen had a discussion about the state of play - seemingly working out if it would be the final frame of the afternoon.

The stalemate continued, as Eckardt summoned both players to say he would call a re-rack if the situation was not resolved.

An unhappy Allen pleaded his case, but was forced to gamble, and he touched a red slowly and dropped in the black to end the stalemate.

'A tactical move' - Allen ends stalemate by potting black

Video credit: TNT Sports

Foulds suggested Allen made a tactical "gamble" to keep the frame from being restarted, and it opened up the table as Wu somehow picked off a break of 41 to get himself back in it.

Wu got himself in a strong position, but failed to close it out and a further period of safety ensued - which took the time beyond the 85 minutes and 22 seconds it took Mark Selby and Yan Bingtao to play out a frame in 2022.

With three colours remaining on the table, Allen required two snookers to tie, but elected to play on. As would come as no surprise, a further twist ensued.

Wu inexplicably played the blue at pace attempting to pot it, but it careered round the table and knocked in the black - to bring Allen within one snooker.

Amazingly, Allen pulled off a stunning shot to drop the white behind the black with the pink in open play.

It was described as a contender for shot of the championship, but Wu was equal to it as he made the escape and a short while later, the Chinese sensation potted the pink to end the drama and stop the clock in a new Crucible record for a frame of 100 minutes and 19 seconds.

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