Mark Selby remained on course for a third consecutive Unibet British Open final as he beat Mark Williams 5-3 to reach the semi-finals in Cheltenham.
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Anthony McGill is also into the last four thanks to a 5-3 defeat of Stan Moody, reaching the semi-finals of a ranking event for the first time since the 2022 Northern Ireland Open.
Selby is defending champion having beaten John Higgins in last year’s final, and he also reached the final in 2023 before losing narrowly to Williams. He took a measure of revenge for that defeat today as he came from 3-2 down to take the last three frames.
Leicester’s Selby landed three titles last season but has had a relatively slow start to 2025/26 – today was his first ranking quarter-final. The 42-year-old is now into his 68th career ranking semi-final and he’s just two wins away from a 25th title.
In a battle between two players with seven world titles between them, Selby took the opening frame with a 41 clearance and added the second on the colours. Williams fought back to take three in a row before Selby’s break of 106 made it 3-3.
In frame seven, Williams led 54-1 when he missed a tricky mid-range red to a top corner, and that proved costly as Selby made 44 then got the better of a safety exchange on the last red and took advantage to regain the lead. Williams trailed 22-1 in the eighth when he missed the black to a top corner and his opponent sealed the result with a run of 39.
“We both played ok in patches and there were some silly balls missed as well,” said world number ten Selby. “It’s always a great win to beat Mark. This event has been good for me and hopefully I can get to the final again and get my confidence up. I am close to playing well, my concentration is wavering a bit. I am missing a few easy balls so I need to stay more focussed.“
Glasgow’s McGill won ranking tiles in 2016 and 2017 and was a Crucible semi-finalist in 2020. In recent years he has struggled to regain those heights, and was even in danger of tour relegation, having dropped to 57th in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings. So this week’s run is a much needed boost for the 34-year-old Scot.
Moody, who turned 19 this month, was seeking his first ranking semi-final and hoped to be the first British teenager to reach that stage since Judd Trump at the 2008 Grand Prix. He led 3-1 at the interval with a top break of 81, but McGill then dominated and took three in a row with top runs of 61, 77 and 71 to go 4-3 ahead. Frame eight came down to the colours and Moody’s attempt to pot the green to a top corner, playing with swerve as he was partially snookered, missed the target and that proved his last shot.
McGill said: “In the third frame I played a kamikaze shot on the blue and went 2-1 down, my head was gone. I deserved to lose the match just for that shot. But in the end I turned it around. At 3-1 down I actually felt in control. I had let him get ahead by making daft mistakes, but at 3-1 there was still a long way to go and I knew there was time to pull it back. It’s good still be here at this stage of a tournament, it has been a long time. I haven’t played in front of a crowd like that for a while. I feel good, I’m just trying to sink the balls.”
John Higgins played his best snooker of the season so far as he beat Louis Heathcote 5-2 to reach the semi-finals of the Unibet British Open, boosting his hopes of a 34th career ranking title.
From 2-0 down, Higgins produced a vintage display to take the next five frames in a row, compiling breaks of 86, 74, 66, 52, 135 and 50 to reach the 89th ranking event semi-final of his career. One more win would put him back into the final in Cheltenham, where he lost to Mark Selby a year ago. Higgins is seeking a third ranking title within six months having won the World Open and Tour Championship towards the end of last season. His next opponent will be close friend and practice partner Anthony McGill at 1pm on Saturday.
Just a month ago at the Wuhan Open, 50-year-old Higgins admitted that he was “really struggling with motivation” but he looks to have regained the enthusiasm this week, notably knocking out World Champion Zhao Xintong and then hitting top gear tonight.
“I hit the ball better, that’s probably the best I have felt this season,” said the Wizard of Wishaw. “I came over to the practice table today trying to find something because I wasn’t happy with the way I was hitting the ball, I felt I was bashing it. I tried a few little things and changed something technical, hopefully it works. Louis will be disappointed, he had chances to make it 3-1. After that I played well.
“It has been an enjoyable week, (wife) Denise has come down so it has been great to have company. It can be soul destroying at some events because you are basically on your own in your room a lot of the time. I’m not sure if she will be able to come to all of them.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow, especially playing Anthony. I am delighted to see him in a semi-final and he’s pushing onwards again. It will be a great game, I will be trying my hardest, but if I lose to him then he’ll be in a big final and that would get his confidence back up. He’s a great boy.”
Shaun Murphy continued his bid to win a first ranking title in 26 months as he thrashed Mitchell Mann 5-1. He will now meet Mark Selby in a blockbuster battle on Saturday at 7pm.
Murphy was 3-0 up within 40 minutes, compiling breaks of 57, 54, 75 and 87. Frame four came down to the colours and Mann converted an excellent long pot on the blue to keep his hopes alive at 3-1. But after the interval, Murphy regained his momentum with a break of 51. Mann looked set to pull one back when he made 63 in frame six, only for Johnstone’s Paint Masters champion Murphy to clear superbly with 73 to reach his 54th ranking event semi-final.
“It’s really rewarding to see the hard work paying off,” said world number 16 Murphy. “Last summer I took a leaf out of Judd Trump’s book because he has said in the past that it’s not rocket science, he just practises harder than everyone else. He hasn’t practised harder than me in the last few months. I am doing the right things away from tournaments. I am still a long way from taking the trophy home, but if it’s not this week then it will be soon.
“Mark Selby seems to love this event – I don’t know if there is something in the water in Cheltenham that he likes or if he is half horse! We have been knocking hell out of each other since we were nine years old, we have played in a lot of gala matches and we are really good mates. I think it will be close.”
I haven’t much to add. I only watched Selby v Williams in the afternoon. There were indeed some apparently silly misses during the match. I write “apparently” because it seems to me that this has been a “trend” all week in all the matches I watched. Maybe the conditions are a factor. There has been a huge crowd all week, which is good but also comes with challenges. We see it at the Masters every year. It’s not just the inevitable coughing, sneezing or movement, it’s also the atmosphere that becomes hotter and more humid as matches go on because humans are living beings, not robots … they react to emotions, they move, they gasp, they breath, their body produce heat and sweat. It can be off-putting at times, but it also creates the huge atmosphere on which players thrive.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 