On day two of group five, Selby carried on from his perfect day one performance with two wins and a loss to Kyren Wilson, to finish up as the table leader at the end of the round robin stage. Defeat to Selby for Mark Davis in their final round robin game saw Davis miss out on the top spot after wins earlier in the day against Michael Holt and Graeme Dott got him up to four points from his games.
Victory for Kyren Wilson in his final group game with Michael Holt as well as the earlier win against the Jester saw him finish second in the group to play Mark Davis in the group semi-finals. Holt was able to take fourth spot by a frame of Graeme Dott aided by his only win of the day in a decider with David Gilbert.
That loss saw both of Gilbert and Walden relegated before they even played each other in the final round robin game. The damage had been done for both on the first day, with the loss to Holt being Gilberts fifth from five, while Walden lost from 2-0 up for the second time in the group in his match with Graeme Dott which did the damage for him, and following his 3-0 loss in the dead rubber with Gilbert the pair finished in the bottom two with a point each.
In the semi-finals, Selby breezed past Michael Holt with two centuries in a 3-0 win (after making his 400th career century earlier in the day against David Gilbert), while Kyren Wilson managed to survive as Mark Davis came from 0-2 to 2-2, only for Wilson to clear with 65 in the decider to book his place in the final.
Of course, it was Selby that came out on top, avenging his earlier round robin defeat, making the highest break of the entire group in the match with a 131 forming part of a 3-1 victory.
What it means for tomorrow and the start of group six is that Kyren Wilson, Mark Davis and Michael Holt move on and are joined by the three new players in German Masters champion Martin Gould, Paul Hunter Classic champion Ali Carter, Fergal O'Brien who replaces Michael Holt, who moved up from group six to group five to come in for Neil Robertson and finally Dominic Dale who replaces Graeme Dott who has withdrawn after finishing in fifth place in group five.
You have to say that this set of players looks like the most evenly matched so far, but the stand out two have to be group five runner-up Wilson and Martin Gould who has been a former Championship League winner and nearly went on to defend his title the next year so you would certainly make him a favourite to win in this penultimate qualifying group.
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