Champion of Champions 2021 LIVE updates – Mark Selby faces Yan Bingtao in exciting group final

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He's been by far the better player tonight, Selby's equal in safety and better in the balls. His composure in every situation is sensational, and that, allied to his tactical brain and cue-ball control means he's going to be a very big player in our game, for a very long time. His semi will be on Saturday, against either O'Sullivan, Bingham, Higgins or Ding, who play tomorrow. None will relish meeting him, and rightly so.

Yan seals the match with a plant, and this has been a tremendous performance - just today, he's beaten both of the finalists from last year's world championships. Not bad - oh, and he's 21. Can't believe e';s not stood on a sticky dancefloor, strawpedoing Smirnoff Ices, what a loser.

Surely not! Yan runs out of position off the green, but again finds a quality safety by way of consolation, and though he then misses the red that Mark leaves - tension in sight of the line? - another good cue ball minimises the damage. And you know what? Mark has no answer, leaving him one to right corner which clatters right into the leather, and sat in his seat, Mark looks peaky.

Gosh, this absolute game. Mark flukes a plant - he holds up his hand, which I'm sure Yan finds very comforting. But just as he looks ensconced at the table, a poor positional shot means he's got to take one long to the green pocket, he jawses it, leaves it, and that will surely be the match.

Mark is in big trouble. He leaves Yan one, the black goes to both pockets, and Stephen notes that he does a lot of solo practise, which he thinks is good because you get so used to being at the table. He certainly plays like he's comfy out there, in his bubble just doing what he does. But on 38, he cracks home a blue but with screw, so when he splats the pack, he leaves nothing, playing back up to baulk and allowing Mark back to the table when he must've feared he was over.

Yan makes the 113th ton of his career, and he's only 21. On top of which, the 140 he registers is the highest break of the competition so far, and a brilliant response to Mark's brilliant run in the previous frame. He's one away!

I know I keep saying this, but Yan's so calm in the balls. If he plays a bad shot, he just moves on and redeems it (or doesn't), but most of the time he plays the right shot.

Another protracted safety battle begins the frame, but the reds are open, so when Yan botches a safety, he looks in big trouble. But somehow, he leaves nothing, then moments later eases a starter to left corner and there are points available - lots of them.

Mark Selby, what a boss. A total clearance of 132, his second of the day, and the deficit is back to one.

Mark calmly reduces his arrears; he's now played about five hours today. I'm tired, and I'm just watching.

Mark goes into the pack twice and both splits work nicely for him - this is a framewinning opportunity now. What a competitor!

Yan misses a long red and that's all Mark needs to get himself away, depositing an excellent starter before potting balls about the black spot.

A protracted chase for the last red ensues, Yan matching Mark safety for safety, snooker for snooker, escape for escape, until Mark leaves it over the middle and immediately concedes.

Mark misses a tough black, so is back to needing a snooker, and it, the pink, brown and green are on cushions. This might take a while.

Mark breaks his potting drought, gets the black back on its spot, and this would be a phenomenal steal if he can pull it off.

This is one of the reasons Yan is so good: he doesn't linger on the disappointment but plays a quality safety, pinning the white against the green, and when Mark can't respond in kind, he gets back to accumulating. But what's this?! Somehow, he pots the red to left corner, and the white curves round into left middle! In the 36 years I've been watching this game, I've never seen that before! Without the foul, the red was frame ball, but those that are left are on the cushions, so it's hard to see Mark catching up - he's not potted a ball for 32 minutes of play now.

Or not. A very poor shot from Yan - "a shocker" says Stephen - sees him fail to yank the white back far enough to get on the pink and he's disgusted with himself. Back to baulk it is.

No he can't. He misses a red to the green pocket, the only ball he can leave, and he nearly does, but his old friend the pink blocks off Mark's route to it. So mark returns to baulk, and in comms, Stephen says he needs to play more attacking safety, opening the pack. And what he definitely doesn't need to do is what he does next, a loose shot leaving the white in the middle of the table. I think that'll cost him the frame.

Well, it's Yan who get in first, prodding to left corner with the rest, and very quickly it becomes apparent that there's a sizeable contribution to be had at this visit. The black's up in baulk, but the pink is in its place because there's a red on its spot, so Yan can keep pecking away.

A run of 78 puts Yan back in front. If he can take the next frame too, then we can start talking about a swing, but in a match like this, a one-frame advantage doesn't mean much at this stage.

When reporting the activities of both these boys, I often find it hard to describe what they do, because it's all so standard. And I mean that as a compliment: they methodically remove balls, playing the correct shots and never panicking. It's not poetic, which paradoxically makes it poetic.

Frame five begins with another safety exchange, dominated by Mark's length, which is impeccable. But Yan is no mug and does brilliantly to match him, eventually rattling a long one into the jaws of left corner ... which scuttles into the opposite pocket! With the black available, there's hay to be made.

A run of 78 seals if for Mark, and we go into the interval with both players playing pre-tty pre-tty well.

Yyyyyyupppp. Mark gets in immediately, picking away at stray reds then, on 38, slapping home a black and screwing into the pack. The split isn't great, but it's good enough; he bridges awkwardly to get rid of the next ball, and they should all be easier from here on in.

Easy does it. These two are very well-matched, and I'd not be at all surprised to see this go all the way.

Mark claws his way back into the frame, then misses a red to left middle, directing it into the far knuckle, from where it bounces nicely to left corner. Yan sends it down, and you'd bet the house on him clinching the frame from here - the other two reds are available and all the colours bar the black are on their spots.

Hello! Yan gambles and clatters home a starter in uncharacteristic fashion, then moseys his way down to the black spot. But when he looks set, he pots two reds at once, one to right corner and one to right middle, which isn't what he wanted - he's a picker, and will now have to go into the pack sooner than he'd have wanted. But he manages a terrific blue then a terrific red and finally digs in off the green. He plays it well, but the only ball available is into the yellow pocket; he glides it home, and is now back where he needs to be. He's manufactured this into a really good chance, because when it comes to it, he backs himself to sink difficult pressure pots. Kudos. But then he misses an easy red, and that's going to cost him! This game!

Mark runs out of position on 68, then Yan pots the red he missed, left over the pocket, but also knocks the black into the green pocket, so concedes.

Mark is in the match now. He's so calm at the table - not unlike Yan, rather Yan is not unlike him - and this looks like a frame-winning contribution. Perhaps not at this visit, because there are five reds on cushions, but the chances of Yan pitting them all, with high enough value colours, are slim.

Mark wins the battle. Yan clips a red endeavouring to return to baulk, leaves a starter to right middle, and Mark begins bagging balls.

Mark punishes home a fine long red then, unlike Yan, decides to crack the pack as soon as possible, off the green ... only to sink the pink. But the white sticks in among the cluster, so we're soon back playing safety.

He does not.

Yan misses a red he should sink so Mark returns to the table needing a snooker and quickly develops the black. But of the remaining four reds, one is on one side cushion and two are stuck together near the other, so it'll take a strong effort to win the frame even if he gets his four-pointer.

Yan's still hot from this afternoon - he wasn't off the table much more than an hour - and he's quickly in. I wonder if Mark is feeling a bit lethargic after time in his hotel room. Anyhow, Yan's reticence to split packs hampers him in this run, and though he manufactures a plant, he can't keep things going after that, so Mark returns to the table and makes a mess of an easy red, sending it down but finishing on nowt. So he tries to play safe off the blue and misses, misses again and is warned, so plays a shot which allows Yan to get back underway. He should secure the frame from here.

"The granite derby," says Phil Studd.

Yan is in no hurry whatsoever, while Mark took a long time to get going this afternoon and can play tactics with the best of them. I can't wait to see how this unfolds.

After another dazzling afternoon, eyes down for what should be a riveting evening.

Join us again from 6.45pm for the Group 2 final.

He was comfortably the better player all afternoon against an out of sorts Shaun Murphy, but Yan really wiped his feet before crossing the line there. Going in-off with Shaun needing a snooker might have been enough to give any player the wobbles, but Yan composed himself superbly to snick in the black and secure his victory. He'll be back on the table in around an hour to face Mark Selby for a place in the last four.

Kyren Wilson admits he is keen to put the record straight at the Champion of Champions following his agonising 10-9 final defeat to Ronnie O'Sullivan in 2018.

Wilson recovered from trailing O'Sullivan 6-3 and 8-5 to lead 9-8 three years ago, but missed a key red in the penultimate frame before the six-times world champion closed with a 110 break to deny his opponent at the death.

Speaking after he hit breaks of 114, 112, 98, 55 and 113 in a 6-4 win over former winner Neil Robertson from 4-3 behind in the Group 4 final in Bolton, Wilson – who defeated Jordan Brown 4-2 earlier on Tuesday – admits he is out to put the record straight as he prepares to face Judd Trump in Friday's first semi-final.

"It came on TV when I was practising (O'Sullivan defeat)," said Wilson. "You learn from those moments. I certainly feel like I have. It will be nice to get back in that position and try to put it right."

Robertson had the consolation of becoming the fourth player in history to reach 800 centuries behind O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Trump by making a ton in his 4-2 win over Mark Williams earlier in the day.

Judd Trump admits he is desperate to add the Champion of Champions trophy to his burgeoning haul of snooker silverware.

The 2019 world champion has lifted 22 ranking titles and the Masters, but has yet to claim the coveted prize with defeats to Ronnie O'Sullivan (10-7) in 2014 and Neil Robertson (10-9) in 2019 narrowly denying him at the final hurdle.

Trump looks in the mood to go one better this week in the race for the £150,000 top prize in Bolton as he followed up a 4-1 win over world seniors champion David Lilley with a 6-0 whitewash of Ryan Day on Monday night that included breaks of 104, 67, 68, 52 and 61.

"This event is special because when you look down at all the winners, it is always the big names that have won this," said the world number two, who will face Group 4 winner Neil Robertson, Mark Williams, Kyren Wilson or Jordan Brown in the last four on Friday.

"I think Mark Allen produced a great standard in (winning) the last final, you've seen some great finals with Ronnie and the final with me and Neil was a good one.

"I need to top that this year and it is one I need to tick off the list.

"I'm trying to win every event on the calendar and this would be a real special one for me.

"I always enjoy coming to this event. It will be a dream of mine to win this event, but I can sit back, relax and know I'm coming back on Friday.

"I know if I play to my best, I'll win."