World Snooker Championship 2023: Mark Selby fends off Mark Allen fightback to set up Crucible final with Luca Brecel
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Updated 30/04/2023 at 00:00 GMT
It was not always pretty, but that will not bother Mark Selby one iota as he booked his passage to the final of the 2023 World Snooker Championship with a hard-fought win over Mark Allen in the semi-final. Selby led by one frame going into the concluding session, and ran through five on the spin to break the back of the contest and eventually got over the line 17-15.
‘Ridiculous’ – Foulds says Selby pot was ‘a mile away’ & ‘had no right to go in’
Mark Selby withstood a fightback from Mark Allen to book his place in a sixth World Championship final.
In a war of attrition that ebbed and flowed - rather slowly at times - for four sessions, Selby took control and moved to the brink of victory at 16-10.
The huge deficit appeared to free up Allen, who picked off frames as Selby began to falter.
Crossing the winning line was not easy for Selby, as Allen made him work hard, but he got the job done in the 32nd frame to set up a final with Luca Brecel knowing he could be two days away from a fifth world crown.
Both players were guilty of misses with the rest in the opening frame of the evening. Allen’s failure to knock in the black proved the most costly, as Selby picked off the balls required to extend his lead to two frames.
An Allen safety caught the knuckle of the right middle to hand Selby a chance in the 23rd, but he did not look fully settled and had to run for the long grass when failing to get position from a red to pink.
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Selby demonstrates exceptional cue power during Allen match
For all that Selby looked jittery, his opponent looked off colour. After working his way back into the frame, Allen played his best shot of the session to lay an excellent snooker.
Selby failed to make the escape and it handed Allen a shot at the penultimate red, but he did not get close to potting it and Selby stepped in to wrap up the frame.
The four-time world champion has built an enviable Crucible career on the back of punishing his opponents’ mistakes. You got the impression he sensed Allen was off colour, and he took the 24th to open up a four-frame lead. It was a frame that turned scrappy fairly early on, but Allen never appeared in it at any stage as Selby won a string of safety exchanges before closing the door.
Selby produced his most fluent passage of play of the evening when taking the 25th with a break of 57 to extend his advantage to five frames.
There were few positives in the 25th for Allen, although he did at least pot a ball after a 66-minute run without making a contribution.
Allen found a long red at the start of the 26th to show there was still life in his cueing arm, but he was unable to find position. He was handed a second chance, but it was a fiendish, straight pot from distance.
Allen increased the tariff level by playing cushion-first in a bid to get position on a colour. The pot did not drop, and Selby picked off a break of 103 to get within one of the winning line.
After being starved of chances, Allen crafted an opening in the 27th. He made his highest break of the evening to that point, but 43 was not enough to kill the frame off. The UK Championship winner got a second bite when Selby failed with a red to right middle, and did enough to get his first frame of the evening.
Selby had a chance to close out the match in the 28th, but broke down when dropping out of position on 39. Allen won the safety exchange and picked off a couple of nice pots to take the frame and extend the match.
For the first time in the session Allen began to play with a bit of freedom and he crunched in a long red to get up and running in the 29th. He ran out of position on 45 and missed a tough red with the rest to hand a chance to Selby, but he could only make 20 and Allen got back in to cut the gap to three frames.
Allen’s revival put Selby under pressure and he went over half an hour without potting a ball as the 30th turned scrappy.
Selby snapped his spell without potting a ball when Allen left the yellow in the jaws of the left middle, but he missed a tough brown and Allen picked off the colours to make it four frames on the spin.
As the clock ticked past midnight, It was Allen’s turn to feel the pressure as the realisation of being back in the contest dawned.
The 31st boiled down to a battle on the colours, and Allen got a huge slice of luck on the yellow. He did not have a whole pocket to aim at, but got it badly wrong. It was so bad, the yellow hit the green that was next to the pocket and somehow dropped. He steeled himself to clear the colours and get within one frame of Selby.
Selby looked a little stunned when waiting to start the 32nd, so it was to his immense credit that he regrouped to kick off the frame with a break of 64.
The split on a cluster of four reds did not work out, but he ran for cover with a healthy advantage and got in again a short while later to wrap up a match that lasted over 13 and a half hours.
Selby takes narrow lead over Allen into final session
A myriad of errors defined Mark Allen and Mark Selby's penultimate session of their World Championship semi-final as the world No. 2 took a one-frame, 11-10, advantage at the Crucible.
Selby had won four consecutive frames to take a 7-6 lead from Allen in their earlier session.
The first frame of this session saw a bit of luck for Selby, who hit a red into the jaws of one corner pocket before it somehow ran along the side to drop into the other corner pocket.
Before the 39-year-old took the frame, there was a brief scare as he missed an easy red.
His luck continued, though, as his opponent opted to go to the same pocket for a poor safety leaving Selby to extend his lead.
The next frame saw Selby yet again miss a red, allowing Allen some time at the table. It was short-lived, though, after he poorly hit a red to the bottom left, giving Selby the chance to hit a long brown and land a well-placed red above the black. With a break of 112, he extended his lead to make it 9-6.
Allen managed to take his first frame of the session after Selby opted to attempt a difficult shot along the bottom cushion, with the red only staying in the jaws. The misstep paved the way for the world No. 3 to cut the deficit back to two.
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'Goodness me!' - Allen has thousand-yard stare after wild Selby fluke
The final frame before the break saw Selby finish with a 53, as Allen once again started poorly, giving his opponent the chance to pot his way to a 10-7 lead.
After the mid-session interval, Allen missed an easy pink into the bottom right, gifting yet another chance for Selby to pull away, but after missing a simple green, Allen was able to hit a black to take the frame, punching the air in the process.
Allen looked to build some momentum, leading the next frame early on, but he missed a final red off the black.
Selby then proceeded to one-up him by messing up a safety, sending the red into the black full ball that drifted over the bottom left. Allen eventually picked up Selby's over-hit shot, leaving the pink in the jaws of the bottom left and taking the frame to make it 10-9.
More errors in the next frame saw the two go back and forth at the table until Selby left several reds on the table for Allen. The 37-year-old managed to pot one of them, but straight away he missed the black and folded the frame.
The last frame of the session saw Allen play some solid shots to take it with a break of 92 to reduce the deficit to just one frame.
The final session will take place at 19:00 UK time, and the winner will meet either meet Luca Brecel or Si Jiahui in the Crucible final in Sheffield.
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