Welsh Open 2012 (Day 6) - Selby to meet Ding in final

Selby in the final

Mark Selby beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-2 in order to grab the last place left in this year's Welsh Open tournament final. 

The man from Leicester is meeting Ding Junhui next who beat Shaun Murphy in the previous semi-final by the same 6-2 scoreline.

Mark Selby managed to do the impossible and regain the form he needed in order to win. We saw it during the quarter-finals match he had with Stephen Maguire and we saw it in the semi-final he played against O'Sullivan. Although he started the competition not in a very blooming form, his cue action has improved as well as his way of bottling with pressure.

The snooker fight had a pretty nervy start, which was to be expected considering these two players’ history and what was at stake, but Selby managed to break the ice with an 84, while O'Sullivan responded with an 80 to level the scoreline at 1-1.

As the mid-session interval was kicking off, the lads were all squared up at two apiece, Selby using runs of 34 and 28 to win the third frame and O'Sullivan a set of 26 and 28 to cash the next one. Some pretty scrappy stuff was happening on the green baize from Newport.

Not a good day for the Rocket

After the 15-minute break the Jester put his nose in front once more, this time with a top break of 57 with the only difference that his opponent didn't manage to do the same.

And so after a 45 and a 24 Selby was extending his lead at 4-2, while runs of 21 and 23 were putting him just one frame away from victory.

A few minutes later and after a series of 22 and 21 Mark Selby was closing the deal with an overshadowed O'Sullivan at 6-2. 

So after six days of hard work the time has come to play one more match - the final. Ding Junhui and Mark Selby are starting their first session at 1pm, the second one kicking off at 7pm. First to cash nine frames is going to be declared the new Welsh Open champion.

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