Selby and Robertson in China final

Mark Selby and Neil Robertson will contest the final of the China Open, the last event before the World Championship. The match will see a repeat of their Masters final back in January which was won by Mark Selby 10-6.

Semi-Final Round-Up

Shaun Murphy had more semi-final woes as he missed many chances on the way to a 6-2 loss to Mark Selby. Murphy started badly missing the yellow with the rest and the chance to steal the first frame. He missed a red with the rest in the next frame, and Selby cleared with 68. After Selby won the next frame and took a 3-0 lead, The Magician never looked likely despite going into the interval only 3-1 down after Selby was distracted while playing a the last red with the rest. A break of 63 restored Selby's 3 frame advantage and missed reds gifted Mark the chance for a 5-1 lead. Murphy began to go into attack mode and determined as ever, he got a frame back at 5-2. After Selby made an early 55 it looked like he was going to take out the match, until he missed a simple match ball red to the middle. Murphy had the chance to steal but couldn't get on the last red and Selby potted it for the match.

In the other semi-final Neil Robertson came from 4-2 and 5-4 down to beat 2012 China open runner-up Stephen Maguire 6-5. It was all square at the interval but it should have been 3-1 to Robertson. Maguire made a break of 52 to take a 1-0 lead, but Robbo hit back with breaks 78 and 80 to go 2-1 up and was looking good on 57 until he missed a tight pink as the Scot made 67 of his own to square the contest. He won the next two as well with a break of 67 in the sixth frame. Maguire had the chance for a 5-2 lead but once Neil made it 4-3 he was back into his stride. He punished Stephen again in the eighth making 87 to get right back in it at 4-4. Maguire was unaffected and retook the lead with a break of 82. The contest was deserving of a decider and it got it as Robertson made the first century of the contest, a 110 making it 5-5. Neil Robertson gave himself the opportunity for his first ranking since 2010, an 81 in the decider giving him a 6-5 victory.

Final preview

Mark Selby and Neil Robertson have met 3 times already this season, and once already in a best of 19 frames Masters final which Mark won 10-6. He also won their UK quarter-final 6-4 after finding himself 4-0 down. Since then i think Robertson has really improved and has started coming into form at the right time ahead of this tournament and of course the Worlds. Robertson also won their most recent meeting in China at the 2013 Haikou World Open as he came from 3-2 down to win 5-3.

I think that Robertson has played better this week than Mark Selby and has scored heavily, especially when he's needed to. My prediction for the final would be a very close one with Robertson taking a tense final 10-9 in a decider.

Still this should be a great way to spend Easter Sunday and don't forget that the two sessions begin a 7.30am and 12.30pm as the clocks go forward tonight.