Snooker Open 2020 - Mark Selby holds off Ricky Walden fightback to reach Scottish Open semi-finals

ByPete Sharland

Updated 11/12/2020 at 15:24 GMT

At times Mark Selby was at his fluent best but at others he had to sit and watch Ricky Walden dominate the table. Yet it was the defending champion who made it through with a 5-4 victory. Selby will now face Kyren Wilson or Jamie Jones in the 2020 Scottish Open semi-finals.

Three-time world champion Mark Selby held off a punchy fightback from Ricky Walden to progress to the final four of the 2020 Scottish Open.

Selby, the defending champion, came into the clash after dismantling Lyu Haotian 4-1 in the previous round. His opponent Walden hasn’t won a ranking event since 2014 but did dump out Mark Allen in his fourth-round match.

It was Walden who took a tense opening frame before Selby started to flex his muscles, knocking in breaks of 81 and 68 as he kept his opponent off the board.

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The Jester from Leicester then edged a very tense fourth frame before the mid-session interval.

After the break Walden hit his first half-century break of the match before Selby rolled in a mammoth 135 to move to within one of victory.

Mark Selby hits sparkling century against Ricky Walden

Walden dug in however, hitting breaks of 117 and 74 to force a decider.

However it was Selby’s class that shone through as he took the match with a break of 58.

Selby will now face the winner of the evening match between Kyren Wilson and Jamie Jones.

SCOTTISH OPEN QUARTER-FINALS

• Mark Selby 5-4 Ricky Walden
• Kyren Wilson v Jamie Jones
• Judd Trump v Li Hang
• Ronnie O'Sullivan v Ding Junhui

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