Selby takes charge

Mark Selby is on course to become only the third qualifier to reach the 888.com World Championship final after opening up an 11-9 lead against Shaun Murphy.

The 23-year-old won three of the four frames before the mid-session interval in the best-of-33 contest in Sheffield.

Only Terry Griffiths in 1979 and Murphy himself two years ago have managed to reach the final after coming through the qualifying rounds for the Crucible Theatre.

But Selby shows no signs of being overawed or of being fatigued as he strives to set up a meeting with either Stephen Maguire or John Higgins on Sunday and Monday.

The first frame of the session was a marathon affair spanning 52 minutes and 27 seconds before Selby eventually emerged triumphant.

It was the second longest of the tournament after the 57mins and 55secs taken up by Higgins and Michael Holt in their first-round meeting.

Selby showed he has the patience to deal with such an ordeal and was unfazed even when conceding 21 points in fouls after being snookered behind the green.

He showed the other side to his game in frame 18 when he made a 112 break. It made him the leading century-maker of the past fortnight with eight – one more than Maguire.

It means 997 World Championship tons have now been registered at the Crucible Theatre and the 1,000 mark is almost certain to be reached within the next three days.

Murphy may not hit the panic button just yet having already shown his ability to come back against all odds in the quarter-final when defeating Matthew Stevens 13-12 after being 12-7 down.

He registered his first frame of the day with runs of 51 and 36 to cut the deficit to 10-9.

But Selby moved two frames clear again after another drawn-out affair encompassing 45 minutes, with the help of an opening 31.

Maguire needs to win only three of the remaining nine frames of his semi-final encounter with Higgins after opening up a 14-10 lead.

He triumphed in six of the eight frames during the third session yesterday evening against the 1998 champion.

A 131 clearance plus four other half-century breaks allowed Maguire to dominate proceedings.

Higgins managed his own clearance of 134 but the ’wizard of Wishaw’ was generally second best.

Maguire is striving to become the fifth Scot to win snooker’s most coveted prize after Walter Donaldson, Stephen Hendry, Higgins and Graeme Dott.

He won the 2004 UK Championship but, until now, has largely struggled since.