English Open Day 6

So we have now reached the semi-final stage of the English Open and first up was Mark Allen versus Mark Selby. The head to head before the match was 5-4 to Allen but really there was only a cigarette paper between these two snooker giants. The first frame was very protracted with both players displaying a safety master class rather than an attacking frame of snooker. After a lengthy safety battle that lasted the best part of fourth minutes, Selby eventually got going and won the first frame. Mark Allen responded to Selby’s early charge with a break of 71 to take the second frame after Selby failed to counterattack when he missed a relatively easy black. However before long, Selby had raced to a 3-1 lead and gave Allen something to think about. Selby took this lead thanks to breaks of 82 and 93 and what a good time to punish your opponent just before the interval. However an interval can go either way and unfortunately for Selby, Allen took advantage and brought the match level pegging back to 3-3. Leaving the match to a best of five, Allen pulled out all the stops and won four frames in a row to lead 5-3 Selby then pulled one frame back by winning the next frame on the black to trail 4-5. A missed double by Allen in the next must have left Allen as sick as a parrot because this was definitely a turning point in the match. As the red sprang out of the jaws of the middle pocket, Selby leaped out of his chair and went on to win the frame and bring the match down to a deciding frame. However as any final frame decider proves, only one player can be victorious and on this occasion it was Mark Selby. So Selby reached the final, beating Mark Allen but who would it be David Gilbert or Tom Ford that he faced?

In the second semi-final, Tom Ford was up against David Gilbert. Gilbert raved forward Yi a 3-1 advantage. Unlike the earlier match, this one got off to a flyer with Gilbert building up a 3-1 lead before the mid-session interval. The interval probably came at a good time for Tom Ford with Tom getting out of the blocks first after the break, allowing Ford to halve Gilbert’s lead and take the match score to 3-2. Ford then took the next to bring it back to 3-3. However Gilbert was not phased by the Ford surge and fired in a 134, 65 and 52 to take a two frames’ advantage over his opponent, 5-3. Ford at this point was floundering in Gilbert’s victory tide and Gilbert took the bull by the horns and took the next frame to take frame and match.

David Gilbert is now through to the final to play Mark Selby but worryingly for Gilbert this will be his fourth ranking final and he hasn’t won the last three. Selby would have picked up in this and seen this as a key vulnerability in his opponent’s game. I want to see Gilbert win because I am frankly sick of seeing him get so near but so far from potential silverware. Mark Selby will want to use this final as a means of starting a winning streak again but even what he would admit, a poor run in the last two seasons. Selby has dropped down the rankings and currently sits at fifth in the rankings having previously dominated the seedings with a long reign at number one, 2011-13 and 2014-15. There is essentially a lot at stake for both players but only one will kickstart their good luck.