Haikou World Open day 6

Selby is through to another final this season, after beating
Marco Fu 6-4. Image: World Snooker

Mark Selby faces Shaun Murphy in the Haikou World Open final on Sunday after both players won their semi-finals 6-4 over Mark Allen and Marco Fu respectively.

A roaring start for Selby was the key to his success in the first of Saturday’s semi-finals as he took the first four frames to hold a comfortable lead at the interval. Fu hit back, winning four of the next five, with top runs of 70, 50 and 104, to close the gap to 5-4 but Selby ensured victory on the colours in the tenth frame.

Murphy meanwhile defeated defending champions Allen after also making a promising start, winning frames two, three and four to lead at the break. Allen won the fifth with a run of 66 but 2005 World Champion Murphy stretched his lead to 4-2 with a break of 67 in the next. The next two were shared but Allen closed to 5-4 with a 104 break in the ninth, but Murphy nicked the tenth on the final black to secure a spot in the final.

First to ten frames on Sunday will be crowned the new World Open Champion.