Shanghai Masters 2011 Day 6 - Williams and Selby Meet in the Final Again

Two players out of four will meet in the final tomorrow. The winners today are Mark Selby and Mark Williams. They are going to repeat the final of German Masters in Berlin in February tomorrow. :)

Williams and Selby in final of German Masters in Berlin this year

Selby and King played in last year's quarter-finals in Shanghai and Selby won 5-2. However King beaten Selby on this year's Masters when Selby was the defending champion. This time Selby even had an effortless win 6-0 over King. Selby won the first four frames with 60, 53, 49. King had a really good chance to pull one back in the following frame.  Selby missed at 49 and King got 64 in a break. Unfortunately, he snookered himself on the final yellow and cueball was off when he was trying to hit it. Selby cleared the table to lead 5-0. Eventually Selby won the last one with 71. 

Selby and King

"Mark struggled and didn't capitalise on his chances, otherwise it could have been a different story.'' Selby reached the final for the first time though he had four appearances in semi-finals in the past 5 years of the tournament. "Whether I play Mark Williams or Neil Robertson tomorrow, it's going to be a tough game. I'll just try to enjoy it and give it my best." King believed his lost was due to his poor sleep last night: "I had chances in most of the frames and if I could have just got one on the board it would have settled me down.''


Mark Williams joined Selby in the final tomorrow by edging out Neil Robertson 6-5. The match started with Williams taking the scrappy first frame before Robertson levels 1-1 with 72. Williams then hit the only century in the match, 100 and followed by 52 in the next frame to lead 3-1 before mid session. The dramatic part came in the fifth frame. Williams received 39 foul points while Robertson received 38 foul points due to high-quality snookers. Robertson was the one who took the fifty minutes frame to trail 2-3.

Williams and Robertson

Williams extends his advantage to 4-2 with 47 and 30. Robertson came from the back with 74 to overtake Williams's 58 to win the next frame. Robertson found his confidence after the frame. He caught mistakes of Williams to level 4-4. Robertson took the lead for the first time in the match 5-4 before Williams had an amazing clearance to force a decider. The two players had an intense decider with numbers of misses. Robertson cannot obtain the three snookers that he needed to win the match. Williams had a tough win 6-5 in four-hour match.

Racing for the number one spot

Last big meeting between Selby and Williams was the German Masters this year. Williams won that wonderful final by 9-7. Selby cameback to level 7-7 from 4-7 down but Williams stopped his further action. I have a high expectation for tomorrow's final. Selby must have enough rest compare to Williams. Williams has better preparation for tough battle as he came through tonight's match. It is really hard to tip who is going to win the title as two Marks are running for the number one spot for the next cut-off point. Williams must win this one to keep his hope remain at number one alive. If not, Selby will become the new world number one. Look forward to tomorrow's final.

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