Selby and Ronnie sets up UK Championship Title Clash

Mark Selby reached the final of the UK Championship with a 6-2 defeat of Shaun Murphy to remain on course to become only the sixth player to win snooker’s two biggest ranking titles in the same year.

Leicester’s Selby outplayed his close friend Murphy in York and, having conquered the Crucible in May, is just one win away from following Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Parrott, John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan as the only players to win the World and UK titles in the same year.

On Sunday he will face either Ronnie O’Sullivan or Marco Fu, with first to ten frames to take the trophy and £170,000 top prize. Victory would also make Selby the sixth player to win all three Triple Crown events on multiple occasions, following Davis, Hendry, Higgins, O’Sullivan and Mark Williams.

Murphy took the opening frame today with a break of 99 before world number one Selby hit back with 55 and 83 to take the next two. Frame four came down to the colours and Selby got the better of a safety battle on the green before clearing to the pink to lead 3-1 at the interval.

The next two frames were shared, then Selby crucially won the seventh with a colours clearance to lead 5-2. A run of 51 put him in charge of the next frame, and although he missed a red to a top corner with the winning line close, he got another chance after a weak safety from Murphy on the penultimate red. This time Selby made no mistake as he reached his third UK final in five year, having beaten Murphy in the 2012 final then lost to Neil Robertson in 2013.

Ronnie O’Sullivan survived a huge scare to book his place in a sixth UK Championship final with a 6-5 win against Marco Fu at the Barbican Centre this evening.

The ‘Rocket’ will be looking to maintain his 100% record in UK finals when he plays world number one Mark Selby tomorrow and if he can win the title will equal Steve Davis’ record of six UK crowns. First to ten frames will take the £170,000 top prize.

O’Sullivan will also be aiming for his 29th career ranking title which would put him ahead of Davis and John Higgins, though still well behind Stephen Hendry’s record of 36.

The first two frames of the match were shared, before O’Sullivan took a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval with breaks of 76 and 54. Fu hit back with a century break after the interval, before O’Sullivan responded with 58 for 4-2.

Back though came Fu, capitalising on uncharacteristic misses from the world number eight with breaks of 85 and 59, before he stole the ninth frame on the black to move to within a frame of his reaching second UK Championship final  and first since 2008.

A strong safety shot on the final red looked to have set up a match-clinching chance for Fu, but a missed green with the rest would ultimately prove costly. O’Sullivan cleared the table for 5-5 then dominated the decider with a stunning break of 130 to seal victory.