World Open snooker: Mark Selby secures Tour Championship spot after Hossein Vafaei defeat, but John Higgins faces sweat

Updated 23/03/2024 at 08:44 GMT

A dramatic day of quarter-final action at the World Open has left only one more place up for grabs at the 12-man Tour Championship in Manchester. Mark Selby was the 11th player to be confirmed as part of the elite field, but his fellow four-time world champion John Higgins must hope for a Judd Trump or Ding Junhui title success to secure the 12th and final spot in the coveted event.

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Mark Selby's spot at the prestigious Tour Championship in Manchester was confirmed on Friday without the four-time world champion playing a shot.

Hossein Vafaei's 5-0 defeat to Ding Junhui and Kyren Wilson's 5-2 loss to Judd Trump in the quarter-finals of the World Open in Yushan means Selby cannot be knocked out of the final qualifiers with the top 12 on the sport's one-year list making up the field.

A Vafaei run to the final and a title win for Wilson, Jackson Page or Elliot Slessor would have eliminated 11th placed Selby and John Higgins in 12th spot from the Tour Championship (1-7 April).

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Selby had lost 5-2 to Jackson Page in the last 16 of the World Open on Thursday, two days after Page completed a 5-3 win over Higgins in the last 64. Page continued his glorious run by reaching his first ranking semi-final with a 5-2 quarter-final win over Slessor.

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While Selby can start making his plans for his trip to Manchester Central, 2022 Tour Championship finalist Higgins faces a sweat over the weekend to see if he will be joining his fellow four-time Crucible winner.

A title triumph for Trump or Ding on Sunday will confirm Higgins' spot at the event, but a trophy success for Page or a rejuvenated two-time Tour champion Neil Robertson would see them earn the £170,000 first prize to overtake the Scotsman.

“My game is absolutely back to where it should be now and that is really exciting heading into the back end of the season," Robertson told reporters. "It is a blockbuster match tomorrow. If you can’t enjoy playing Ding in a semi-final in China then there’s something wrong.

“I’ve never been one to put myself under pressure to win events to qualify for things. I wouldn’t have achieved what I have in the game if I did.”

Trump and Ronnie O'Sullivan have been confirmed as the top two seeds for the Tour Championship, but the final seeding list will be announced on Sunday with Selby joining DIng, Zhang Anda, Mark Allen, Gary Wilson, Barry Hawkins, Mark Williams, Tom Ford and Ali Carter in the elite field.

The Tour Championship is the final event of the season before the 48th World Championship begins at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield (April 20-May 6).