UK Championship: Neil Robertson to face Liang Wenbo in final

  • Published
Media caption,

Robertson whitewashes Selby

Betway UK Championship

Venue: York Barbican Dates: 24 November - 6 December

BBC coverage: Watch on BBC Two, Red Button, BBC Sport website, Connected TVs, tablets, mobiles and app from 28 November. Full details.

Australia's Neil Robertson whitewashed world number one Mark Selby to set up a UK Championship final against Liang Wenbo at York's Barbican on Sunday.

Robertson stormed into a 4-0 interval lead and continued to pounce on errors to claim a 6-0 victory.

Media caption,

UK Championship: Liang Wenbo beats David Grace to reach final

The world number three told BBC Sport: "I nicked a few frames and played well at the business end of frames."

World number 29 Liang, who has never won a ranking event, beat David Grace 6-4 in the other semi-final.

In reaching the final, the Chinese has jumped into the top 16 in the world which qualifies him for a place at next month's Masters.

Robertson the frame stealer

Selby made 50-plus breaks in the first two frames, but lost them both as Robertson showed amazing ability to fight his way out of trouble.

It was best illustrated in a gripping second frame where the Australian trailed by 55 points but made a 68 clearance to take it on the black.

Robertson, the 2013 UK champion, also stole the next frame with a break of 53 and then won a scrappy fourth.

He added: "It was 4-0, but on reflection it could easily have been 2-2."

Selby looked odds-on to break his duck in the fifth frame, but Robertson won a safety bout and cleared from the green.

Looking increasingly desperate, Selby went for more long pots in the sixth frame and after missing a crucial one on the colours, Robertson kept his cool to win on the black.

Edgy Liang finds his nerve

Image source, PA
Image caption,

Liang Wenbo lets his frustrations show after missing a simple pot in the semi-final against David Grace

Despite winning the opening frame, Romford-based Liang looked a different player from the one who racked up three successive centuries against Hong Kong's Marco Fu in the quarter-finals.

He appeared edgy being favourite, occasionally slapping his own face as his frustrations boiled over.

Grace, who cleans snooker tables to supplement his earnings, won three frames in a row with a highest break of just 52 to lead 3-1 at the interval as the contest took a while to warm up a capacity crowd in York.

Liang, whose only other ranking final was the Shanghai Masters in 2009, knocked in a match-best 110 break in the first frame after the interval to reduce the arrears, but Grace restored his two-frame advantage at 4-2.

The Chinese won two further scrappy frames to level the match in the eighth before a crucial 50 break gave him the lead for the first time since the opening frame.

He let a comfortable lead slip in the 11th, but after potting an excellent green and following it with a tough brown to the middle pocket, Grace faltered on the pink and Liang took advantage.

On reaching his first UK ranking final, Liang said: "I'm under no pressure. I will enjoy the game."

The final, which will be live on BBC Two and the BBC Sport website, is the best of 19 frames and begins at 13:00 GMT.

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