Brilliant Selby Books Ding Showdown
Mark Selby produced a fantastic display to secure a place in tomorrow’s International Championship final in Daqing.
It will be the second consecutive event in China that the world number one has faced off against the home country’s top star Ding Junhui. Selby will be looking to avenge the 10-6 defeat he suffered at the hands of Ding at the Shanghai Masters.
Selby’s semi-final clash was a meeting of the World Champions, as he faced off against 2015 Crucible winner Stuart Bingham. The 40-year-old was also his opponent in the Shanghai Masters semi-final, where he edged to a 6-5 win. This time it was a more one sided scoreline.
It was Bingham who got off to the quicker start. A brilliant contribution of 127 helped him into a 2-0 lead. However, Bingham would only manage to win one more of the next ten frames.
Selby hit back to go ahead for the first time, thanks to runs of 66, 68 and 103. Bingham responded with a run of 101 to level but that proved to be the last time he would get on the scoreboard.
World Champion Selby took six frames in a row to storm to victory. Two of which came before the interval courtesy of runs of 76 and 63.
When they returned for the evening session, the world number one made short work of the world number two. He crafted back to back century breaks of 100 and 125 in the tenth and eleventh frames as he swept to a 9-3 win.
“I just seemed to find my game. Every time I got a chance I punished Stuart,” said Selby. “The last two games is the best I’ve played all week. I’ll do well to play better than that, but if I can maintain that form it would be fantastic. It’s always nice to play Ding, but to play him in his home country is always a big match.”
Afterwards Bingham admitted he was beaten by the better player on the day.
“That’s why he is world number one and World Champion. He played unbelievably today,” said the 40-year-old. “I think I made only two or three mistakes in the last couple of frames. He dominated me and you have to hold your hands up and say well played.”