O’Sullivan and Selby make smooth progress

Selby claims frame he needed against McManus, O’Sullivan too hot for Murphy

Mark Selby shakes hands with Alan McManus after  their quarter-final in Sheffield. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA Wire
Mark Selby shakes hands with Alan McManus after their quarter-final in Sheffield. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA Wire

Mark Selby breezed through to the semi-finals of the Dafabet World Championship after claiming the one remaining frame he needed against Alan McManus on Wednesday morning.

Selby came into the session with a commanding 12-4 lead and veteran McManus won the opening frame with a break of 69 to extend the contest.

The Scot was among the balls again early in the 18th frame before losing position on 20, opening the door for Selby.

A missed red to the middle from the 2007 finalist allowed McManus back to the table. He could not take advantage, though, and Selby closed out a 13-5 win to advance to a semi-final against either Judd Trump or Neil Robertson.

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“I think it was four years ago since I was in the semi-final before so it seems like forever with so many tournaments now during the season,” Selby said.

“I’m looking forward to it and can’t wait to get out there.”

On the other table, reigning champion Ronnie O’Sullivan claimed seven of the eight frames in the morning to defeat Shaun Murphy 13-3 with a session to spare.

Murphy had claimed the first two frames on Tuesday but O’Sullivan won the rest to establish a 6-2 overnight lead and he added the opening two on Wednesday morning to stretch his advantage.

Murphy, the 2005 champion, got a frame back in the 11th but O’Sullivan followed that with a break of 118 to take a 9-3 lead into the mid-session interval.

The restart was delayed for a short while due to a problem with the scoreboard and when play resumed O’Sullivan made a break of 59 before giving Murphy a glimmer of hope.

Murphy looked to be heading for a rare frame success but missed a routine pink and O’Sullivan gratefully took the opportunity to extend his lead further.

A missed green off the spot in the next frame summed up Murphy’s performance as five-time champion O’Sullivan again capitalised, closing out a comprehensive victory with the minimum of fuss.