Match Reports from the 888.com World Championship
Fearless Selby rolls on
Shaun Murphy 16 – 17 Mark Selby
Qualifier Mark Selby showed extraordinary resilience to overhaul Shaun Murphy and get through to his first world final in the deciding frame.
Murphy led on three separate occasions in the final session, but each time the man from Leicester was equal to the task. He won the last three frames to put his good friend out of the tournament.
The match resumed at 8-8 on Saturday morning with a mixed third session. The first frame was poor as both players struggled. It ran to over 50 minutes, and contained an absurd 52 points in fouls.
Selby took it, and he went 10-8 up with a century in the next. The next two frames were shared, but Murphy had more of the play after the interval.
Breaks of 76 and 62 got him level at 11-11, but Selby responded with a 129 to inch ahead again. The final frame of a disjointed session went to a below par Murphy, who would have been delighted to draw the session 4-4.
The man from Rotherham came out fighting on Saturday night in the final installment, opening with a century.
Selby reacted by posting a ton of his own to make it 13-13, as the players continued to be locked together. The score ticked on to 14-14 when Murphy made what looked to be his decisive move.
With the third century in five frames, and the seventh of the match, Murphy made it 15-14. He led in the next but Selby came back and looked set to pinch it when he ran out of position on the final blue.
He decided to take it on down the side cushion, but left it over the pocket. A relieved Murphy clenched his fist as he sank it to go one up with three to play at 16-14.
The match looked over, but yet again Selby showed an unbelievable will to win by staging a comeback.
He took the next two frames to level the match and send it into a decider. His break of 64 showed astonishing composure for someone in the biggest match of his life.
Murphy, who got to the semis thanks to a remarkable comeback of his own, was devastated.
“I thought the key to the match was when I was 5-1 up, I had my foot on his throat and I don’t know what happened but he got out of the session 5-3. I think those couple of frames that I lost there have come back to haunt me.
“I was expecting him [Mark] to show some signs towards the end of maybe beginning to wobble, but he didn’t. From 16-14 up I don’t really feel that I have put a foot wrong.”
Selby said he believed the missed blue in the 30th frame had cost him the match: “I thought I had blown my chance,” he said.
“In the final frame I thought to myself if I get one chance I’m just going to go for it 100 per cent. I might never have the chance of getting to the final again, so when it came up I just grabbed it by the throat and I came out the winner.”
The result means he now faces John Higgins for the right to be crowned 2007 World
Champion. The pair played each other in the first round last year, a match Selby won 10-4.
Higgins will start as the bookies favourite, but after putting out four top 16 players to get to the final, two of whom were former champions, it appears impossible to write off Mark Selby. Even if he loses, the 23-year-old is guaranteed a top 16 ranking for next season.
By David Pritchard
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