Mark Selby beats David Gilbert on final black to set up quarter-final clash with Jack Lisowski at British Open
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Updated 29/09/2023 at 05:20 GMT
Mark Williams joked about his form following his win over Ding Junhui, but he still had enough in the tank to book his place in the quarter-finals with a 4-2 success. Tom Ford has made stealthy progress at the British Open and he was too good for Scott Donaldson, while Hossein Vafaei was an impressive winner over Graeme Dott at Cheltenham racecourse.
Fire alarm halts play between Selby and Asif in International Championship qualifier
Mark Selby beat David Gilbert in a final-frame decider to reach the quarter-finals of the British Open.
It was not vintage snooker on display at the Centaur in Cheltenham, but there was no shortage of drama for a match that finished after midnight.
It boiled down to a battle on the final black, and in dramatic scenes at 00:38, Gilbert saw the white go in-off to hand Selby the win.
After impressively taking the opening frame, Selby was left in his chair after his opening break of the match in the second.
It was not a terrible break, as he got a good cue ball, but he left a tempter for Gilbert who crunched it into the bottom left. From there, Gilbert picked off a century break of 105 - albeit aided by a fluked red on 93.
Gilbert missed a long red at the start of the third similar to the one he potted in frame two, and Selby stepped in with 60 to edge back in front.
Selby had a host of chances to take the fourth and open up a two-frame cushion, but he failed to take them - the most notable when leaving the final pink in the jaws of the yellow pocket.
Gilbert knocked in the pink and navigated his way round the table to get on and sink the black.
Selby looked rattled by the miss on the pink and handed a chance to Gilbert in the fifth, and a break of 70 took him into the lead for the first time in the match
It was Gilbert’s turn to hand out a gift in the sixth. The pockets on the tables were playing tight, but not enough to excuse Gilbert for leaving a black in the jaws.
After looking out of sorts, Selby came to life with a break of 83 to set up a decider.
The patchy play of the opening six frames suggested the decider would be a crawl to the winning line. As the clock ticked past midnight, there were six points separating the pair with Selby 37-31 to the good.
After a lengthy safety exchange, Selby fashioned a chance after Gilbert missed an attempted flick off the yellow and left a free ball.
Selby played a series of brilliant pots to set up match-ball pink, but he missed it with the rest.
With only the black on the table after Gilbert had knocked in the pink, it boiled down to a safety battle.
Gilbert was left a tempter of a fine cut, but failed to make it and he could only watch with a shocked look on his face as the white dropped into the bottom left to hand Selby the win.
Selby will take on Jack Lisowski following his battling 4-2 win over Fergal O’Brien.
Mark Williams overcame a sluggish start to beat Ding Junhui.
Ding made a bright start, knocking in breaks of 66 and 123 to open up a two-frame lead.
China’s Ding was much the better player in the early exchanges, but errors crept into his game and they allowed Williams the opportunity to grow into the match.
Williams was well short of his best, but he closed out the match with runs of 50 and 99 to reach the last eight where he will meet Fan Zhengyi who was a 4-1 winner of Haoling Ma.
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