It was not a joyride for Selby at the Montien Riverside Hotel as he was stretched to the limit by fellow English professional Barry Hawkins before scrapping through to Saturday's final with a 7-6 victory.
Earlier, the Thai title campaign had come to a screeching halt on Friday night as star Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm, Thepchaiya Un-nooh, Passakorn Suwannawat and young Noppon Saengkham all crashed out at the last 16 stage.
Selby was in great form in the morning as he trounced Joe Perry from England 7-3 and things were looking even rosier in the semifinal against Hawkins.
Hawkins had made his to the final after exacting a revenge on crowd's favourite Jimmy White of England for his loss in the SangSom 6-red World Grand Prix 2009 title showdown. Hawkins won the quarter-final clash 7-5 on Monday morning.
The world No. 12 seemed heading for another romp with a massive 4-1 lead when Hawkins pinched the sixth on the black and a see-sawing battle ensued.
Selby quickly made amends by capturing the seventh, but was blanked by Hawkins in the following frame.
Hawkins was mostly restricted to his corner as he sat and saw Selby pot balls after balls to carry his advantage to 6-3.
With Selby needing just one more frame to win the encounter, Hawkins hit back and breaks of 58 and 70 helped him earn a 6-6 tie and force the match into the deciding frame.
Selby put his act together in the last frame and the first opportunity that came his way led to a match-winning break of 71.
In the other semifinal late on Friday night, Ricky Walden, winner of the SangSom 6-red International in 2008, was to take on Jamie Cope. Both the professional players are from England.
While Cope had a cosy time in scoring a 7-1 victory over Gerard Greene of Northern Ireland in the quarter-finals, Walden had to overcome a tough resistance from Michael Holt of England before claiming a 7-5 victory.
The best of 15 frames final will get underway at the same venue at 2 pm and will be beamed live nationwide by both Modern Nine and TrueSports 3 channels. |
