Mark Selby relieved after reaching final clash against Ding Junhui at Newport Centre: 2012 Welsh Open
World Number one, England’s Mark Selby put up an impressive show at the Newport Centre arena in Newport, Wales to oust the former three-time World Snooker Champion, compatriot Ronnie O’Sullivan and reach the finals against China's Ding Junhui.
A marvellous performance from the Leicester potter brought him on top at the end of 2012 Welsh Open semi0final clash which he won by an easy score line of 6-2.
Until the end of the first session, the match up seemed a topsy-turvy game as both potters were playing neck and neck and finished at session at 2-2 level. Selby fired an 84-point clearance in the first frame while O’Sullivan replied with 80 in the second.
After that, the Jester from Leicester made no mistake and breezed into four consecutive frame wins to claim his penultimate battle win.
Selby faced a verbal insult from the Rocket after he won the quarter-final match over Judd trump. O’Sullivan said that he did not want to play Selby because Selby’s playing style is slow and painful. However, Selby seldom cared about what O’Sullivan said
and focused on his game during the contest and finally proved his class to the Magician.
While speaking to the World Snooker after his victory, Selby said, “It was a strange game, we started off well but then in the third frame I missed a red and after that everything went scrappy. I had a bit of run of the ball and played decent safety. I did
what I had to do. The third frame was important because if he'd gone 2-1 up he could have reeled off a few frames.”
When asked about O’Sullivan’s comments, the 28-year-old added, “I don't take criticism on board because everyone has their own opinion. I'm not the type of person to feel as if there's extra spice to a match. To beat Ronnie in any tournament is a great achievement
and to get to a final means a lot to me.”
Selby believes that the likes of John Higgins and Mark Williams also played well in the scrappy matches when they were the World Number one despite the fact that they were not in their form.
He said that somehow being the number one potter put some pressure on him but still he did not get nervous because of his position in the world of snooker.
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