Williams and Selby Make Mark in Germany
The German Mark was given a new meaning on Saturday as Williams and Selby moved into the final of the first world ranking event held on German soil at Berlin’s Tempodrom.
Welshman Williams was first to book his place in the final with victory over Hong Kong’s Marco Fu after earlier seeing off the challenge of Joe Perry.
Selby followed with wins against China’s Ding Junhui in the morning’s quarter-final and 2006 world champion Graeme Dott in their evening semi final.
Perry took the opening frame with a break of 100 before the double world champion responded with a century (122) of his own to level at 1-1.
Further runs of 46, 62 and 65 gave Williams a commanding lead which he converted into victory in the sixth frame.
Against Fu, the Welshman dropped the opening frame but took control by winning the next three to lead at the mid-session interval with a bout of his trademark consistent scoring.
When they resumed, it was Asia’s number two who made the running. Breaks of 42 and 66 helped level the scores at 3-3.
With his back against the wall, the Welshman came out ‘punching’ and delivered some heavy blows with breaks of 88 and 71 putting him within one frame of victory without his opponent troubling the scorers.
In frame nine, Fu was once again prevented from scoring as Williams needed just two scoring opportunities to book his final slot.
Selby also lost the opening frame to a century against Ding as the Chinese number one opened with a 118 break.
Selby managed to get into the match by winning a scrappy second and stole the third on the black after Ding had made a break of 62.
A break of 69 in the next sent the Englishman into the mid-session interval with a two-frame advantage.
When they returned, Ding looked on course to reduce the deficit to just one but a mistake on a break of 50 allowed the Leicester-man in to clear the colours and move further ahead.
Ding had the first opportunity in frame six, but when he missed on 19, there was to be no second chance as Selby sealed the win with a break of 60.
Dott made breaks of 83, 75 and 66 to lead by three-frames-to-one at the half way stage.
Selby drew level at 3-3 only for the Scot to edge ahead in frame 7 with a break of 71.
With both players playing their second big match of the day, it was Selby who appeared to have the greater stamina, with Dott faltering towards the end.
A string of steady scoring visits took Selby into his first major final of the season.
