Selby Secures Shanghai Semi Spot
Mark Selby cruised past Mark King with a comfortable 5-1 win to reach the last four of the Shanghai Masters for the second time in three years.
Arguably the best player in the world today, Selby was slow to find his top gear but took a 3-1 interval lead after his opponent to capitalise on a series of chances.
When they resumed, it was different matter as the Leicester-ace produced back-to-back breaks of 105 and 106 to sound a warning to the other three players left in the season’s opening major ranking event.
In the semi-final, he will face another Essex-man, after Allister Carter recovered from 4-1 down to beat Wales’ Matthew Stevens on the final black.
Carter looked beaten on a number of occasions but managed to hold on and steal the win.
Earlier, Jamie’s Burnett and Cope boked their place in the last four with wins against Mark Davis and Graeme Dott respectively.
Burnett trailed the six-red world champion by four-frames-to-one but rallied and won a tense deciding frame and seal his first appearance in a ranking event semi.
Cope, gained revenge for defeat by Dott in the final of the 2007 China Open, winning four frames in a row after the Scot had led 2-1.
