Hamilton hits out at cameraman after defeat

ANTHONY HAMILTON turned his angry attentions to a cameraman after his giant-killing run at the Shanghai Masters came to an end.

Hamilton perished 5-2 to fellow Englishman Mark King in the quarter-finals after surprise wins over Stephen Maguire and Ronnie O’Sullivan in the earlier rounds.

But he did not go quietly, and railed against the man behind one of the television cameras after going out.

Hamilton said: “The cameraman was moving on every shot, all the way through the match.

“It was hard to concentrate and it did my head in. I’m still angry about it now.

“Whenever I was down on the shot he was in line with me and his arms were moving around. He had an attitude problem.

“I complained three times about it but it didn’t make any difference. Then they changed one of the cameramen but it was the wrong one.

“Once your concentration is gone it’s difficult to get it back. I know it was the same for both players but I let it get to me.”

King faces another all-English clash when he takes on Mark Selby, who came from 4-2 behind to beat Shaun Murphy 5-4, completing his fightback with a break of 117 in the deciding frame.

“Shaun played better than me for three quarters of the match and he probably should have won,” said Selby.

Joking, beaten Murphy said: “Sometimes I think about taking up brain surgery because it must be easier than snooker.”

The other semi-final at the Bank of Communication-sponsored tournament promises to be a thriller between Neil Robertson and Mark Williams, whose presence along with King mean three of the four remaining contenders are left-handers.

Australian Robertson knocked out reigning Crucible king John Higgins with a 5-2 success.

“I’m steadily improving as the tournament goes on, and that’s generally what I’ve done when I’ve won tournaments before,” said Robertson.

“I’m just going to go out and have fun tomorrow because that’s what the game is all about.”

Higgins was full of praise for his conqueror, saying: “Neil played as well as I’ve seen him since he won the world title. I tried my best but I wasn’t good enough.”

Williams has dropped just one frame in three matches so far, yesterday posting a 5-0 win over his fellow Welshman and good friend Matthew Stevens which included a break of 129.

Williams said: “It’s not often you win matches 5-0, and I’ve won two this week so I must have had a lot of luck.