Mark Selby to play Ding Junhui in Welsh Open final
Mark Selby is the top man who has yet to fully prove it to some.
He is ranked the No.1 player in the world but without one of the major trophies to back up such a ranking. But he will play for a third ranking title of his career after beating Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-2 in the semi-finals of the Welsh Open in Newport.
Selby, who beat O'Sullivan 9-8 to win his first ranking title here in 2008, won the last four frames of the match, to set up a best-of-17 final with Ding Junhui, and the “Jester from Leicester” will be aiming for a second ranking title of the season having won the Shanghai Masters last September.
He will go into the final with the lift that comes from beating a player like O’Sullivan who came to the match in prime form. O'Sullivan had won his last eight matches, winning the German Masters title two weeks ago, but did not reach that level of form against an opponent he admits he does not enjoy playing.
A 20-minute safety spell for the opening frame was not O’Sullivan’s style, which Selby won with a break of 84. O'Sullivan replied with an 80 to level and then lost third frame when he missed a short-range last red along the top cushion when leading 50-34. Selby cleared the table but O'Sullivan came back again to win the fourth frame.
In the next O'Sullivan led 54-6 when he missed a tricky red to a centre pocket. Selby made 57 then played safe on the blue, and when O'Sullivan played a poor safety Selby knocked in blue and pink to win it. Selby took the sixth frame with a long pot on the last red and Selby never looked back.
"It was a strange game, we started off well but then in the third frame I missed a red and after that everything went scrappy," Selby said to worldsnooker.com. "I had a bit of run of the ball and played decent safety. I did what I had to do. The third frame was important because if he'd gone 2-1 up he could have reeled off a few frames."
Asked if he had been annoyed by O'Sullivan's suggestion that he plays slowly, Selby replied: "I don't take criticism on board because everyone has their own opinion. I'm not the type of person to feel as if there's extra spice to a match. To beat Ronnie in any tournament is a great achievement and to get to a final means a lot to me.”
Reaching his first ranking final for nearly two years will doubtless mean a lot to Ding after he beat Shaun Murphy 6-2 in the other semi-final. The 24-year-old will be seeking his fifth ranking title having won his last at the 2009 UK Championship.
Paul Wheeler
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