Welcome win for ‘skint’ Hamilton

Putting friendship to one side for the evening, Anthony Hamilton finished with a flourish to book his place in the last four of the Welsh Open at the Newport Centre tonight.

Hamilton beat close pal Ian McCulloch 5-2, coming good in the second half of the contest to reach the semi-finals of a world-ranking event for only the fourth time in 15 years as a professional and for the first time since the 2002 China Open.