Mark Selby remained on course to become only the fourth player to win back-to-back Crucible crowns as he beat Ding Junhui 17-15 in a superb semi-final at the Betfred World Championship.

Selby will now face John Higgins over 35 frames on Sunday and Monday for the famous trophy and £375,000 top prize. It’s a repeat of the 2007 final which Higgins won 18-13.

Whoever wins this time will smash the record for the most prize money earned in a single season, currently held by Stephen Hendry who banked £740,000 in 1994-95. Victory for Selby would bring him to £932,000 and he is also aiming to win his fifth ranking title of the season which would match the record set by Hendry and Ding.

Having lifted snooker’s most famous trophy in 2014 and 2016, Leicester’s 33-year-old Selby is battling for his third world title and looking to become the only player other than Hendry, Steve Davis and Ronnie O’Sullivan to win it in consecutive years in Sheffield.

He has already won the Paul Hunter Classic, International Championship, UK Championship and China Open this season and has been world number one for 115 consecutive weeks. Selby, in short, is the dominant player in the most competitive era snooker has ever seen. However he will face a fierce test against Higgins, who has the all-round game to match Selby in every department.

The tournament finishes in disappointment for Ding, who scored one of the best wins of his career when he beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals, but lost to Selby in a close content, just as he did in last year’s final, which finished 18-14. The Chinese star will have to wait another year to fulfil his dream to become the first Asian player to capture the trophy.

An enthralling semi-final was locked at 12-12 going into the concluding session and it was Selby who made the first move with breaks of 74 and 96 to go 14-12 ahead.

Ding made a 52 in winning the next and had a clear chance in frame 28 but missed a red to a top corner when trailing 34-41. Selby eventually took the frame on the colours to lead 15-13 at the interval.

In frame 29, Ding led 42-11 when he was unlucky not to split a cluster of reds in potting the pink. Selby made 42 then trapped his opponent in a snooker on the yellow which yielded the chance to go 16-13 ahead.

Ding hit back to take the next two frames with a top run of 73 to close to 16-15. And he had two scoring chances early in frame 32 but scored just nine points, missing a red and then a blue to a centre pocket. His second error proved his last shot as Selby made a flawless 72.

Elsewhere, John Higgins is through to the Betfred World Championship final after completing a 17-8 demolition of Barry Hawkins.

The last four victory sets up a repeat of the 2007 world final between the illustrious Scot and the now world number one Mark Selby. Ten years ago it was a 23-year-old Selby who assumed the role of underdog, as Higgins won a hard fought second of his four world titles to date. Now it is the Scot who will be looking to upset the odds when he takes on the defending champion.

Tomorrow’s final has an intriguing subplot to it. Whoever wins the title will beat Stephen Hendry’s record of most prize money accumulated in a single season.

A dominant session this morning from the 41-year-old, who will become the oldest world finalist since Ray Reardon in 1982, all but secured his place in tomorrow’s showpiece match. He needed just one frame coming into this evening, holding a 16-8 advantage.

When the players emerged this evening they were greeted by a rapturous reception. However, Higgins was in no mood for wasting time. He compiled a fine century run of 120 to get over the line and book his meeting with Selby.

Higgins said: “I’m delighted to get through, I can’t believe I’ve played like that and beat Barry 17-8. He will be bitterly disappointed with the way he played, he just didn’t turn up. I can’t believe he has played like that because I expected him to turn up and put in a performance. Thankfully for me he didn’t.

A disappointed Hawkins was left frustrated that he didn’t put up more of a fight in his bid to reach a second world final.

“I had loads of opportunities. You don’t find many days where John plays like that and I didn’t capitalise. I was trying and trying, digging in as much as I could. I’ve had a great season and got to another semi-final, I can’t be too upset.”