Tour Championship snooker 2023 LIVE – Mark Selby up against Ryan Day in final quarter-final

Selby 2-1 Day (24-30)

Ryan takes the balls nicely, building a lead and inadvertently using the corner jaws to get onto the yellow; have the Snooker Gods switched sides? Er, no; as soon as I type that, he misses that yellow thinking about position, and Mark gets to work – though the table is unfriendly.

Selby 2-1 Day (17-4)

Ryan misses to left corner when he shouldn’t – the euphoria has receded. But the balls are strangely positioned, so no harm done, and when Mark catches the jaw of right-middle, he leaves a chance…

Selby 2-1 Day (13-0)

Ryan takes a while out of the arena to compose himself – that run is worth £10,000, provided no one else makes a maxi this week. Anyhow, Mark is back in mark-mode, nailing a starter; he’s on nowt, but plays in behind the yellow – not tight – and Ryan, trying to get everything safe, foul-misses four times before hitting nicely.

Ryan Day makes a 147!

Selby 2-1 Day

He punches the air and there’s some real relief there! Mark offers warm congratulations, praising, I think, the only really tough shot he left himself save the opener – that last red to the yellow pocket – and do we got ourselves a ball-game? Ryan needed to make something happen – he was playing like a drain – and he did. Goodness me, this game!

Selby 2-0 Day (0-113)

Ryan gets a nice angle on the black and floats up to the baulked ball … but is he straight on it? Oh yes! He powers it home, gets onto the black, and that is perfect! What a shot! But that – that being the next shot, under-screwed so the final red need to be cut long to the yellow bag – is not. No matter! He sends it down beautifully, and the maxi is his for the taking! This has been a brilliant break, his cue-ball control near-perfect, save that last shot. COME ON RYAN!

Selby 2-0 Day (0-88)

Frame secure, Ryan can concentrate on the maxi, and he’s looking good. Even the red near the yellow pocket isn’t too tricky, and this is all because he nailed that lovely starter.

Selby 2-0 Day (0-65)

Faced with a blue or black call – blue is easier – Ryan goes black. He knows it’s on, though there’s one red way down in baulk. Come on Ryan!

Selby 2-0 Day (0-40)

Five reds and five blacks for Ryan, balls quite nicely spread….

Selby 2-0 Day (0-9)

Mark’s getting the run of the balls here, missing a red hard and leaving nowt easy. But what a pot Ryan finds, clouting hard to right corner; can he capitalise? He needs to, and our match needs him to.

Selby 2-0 Day

Ryan’s only potted two balls so far, and the even worse news for him is that Mark can play better than he is.

Selby 1-0 Day (51-1)

Mark digs into the pack but finds it unresponsive, so we’re back playing safety with loads on. So Mark leaves Ryan knuckled in the green jaws, the mistake duly follows, and a mid-distance red means 2-0 seems imminent.

Selby 1-0 Day (26-1)

A poor safety from Ryan means he’s soon playing from the baulk rail, so he tries to pot his way out of trouble, can’t, and Mark is back removing spheres.

Selby 1-0 Day (23-1)

Mark runs out of position, which seems like good news for Ryan, except he’s now tight behind the yellow not sat in his seat … but he finds a good escape, swerving onto the side and judging the pace really well to land in the cluster. And he sinks the next pot too … only to miss a pressure broon to right-middle – he knocks it straight, when straight was never taking it in; “lot of body-movement,” advises Stephen.

Selby 1-0 Day (22-0)

Ryan is not going to like his. He dangles a potential starter, Mark takes it on … and pots it in left corner off another red nearby. “He’s scoring well, playing good safety and getting flukes,” says Stephen. “Good luck.” I don’t know, best of 19 is a lot, but this felt like a hiding before we started and a frame plus change in, it really feels like a hiding.

Selby 1-0 Day

Mark exhibitions the black at the end of a 77 clearance, and Ryan is not only in for a long day, but you sense that he knows it.

Selby 0-0 Day (82-1)

Ryan’s here largely because he won the British Open, but that was in October and he arrived here having sorted two matches since December – and even at the top of his game I’d not back him over the stretch against Mark.

Selby 0-0 Day (50-1)

Surprisingly, it’s Ryan who wins the safety exchange, but after sinking a starter he misses a simple blue to middle, and Mark will surely secure the frame at this visit.

Selby 0-0 Day (45-0)

How good would it be if Mark rediscovered his best form in time for the Cruce? What a factor that’d be! Meantime, he picks off the loose reds, then tries to get into the cluster off the green … and misses it completely. Still, that’s a decent start, and we’re back playing safety.

Selby 0-0 Day (8-0)

All our experts think Mark will pull away here, and Ryan starts poorly, sending one long to left corner, missing, and leaving it for Mark to right. With the black available to both corners and plenty of reds loose, there are points out there for him.

Our boys baize…

Ryan speaks

He needs to win today to try and qualify automatically for the Worlds; similarly, Ding must win tomorrow to oust Gary Wilson from the top 16. He doesn’t sound especially confident, saying he knows he can play well but he’s inconsistent, and it’s a while since he won a match. In such circumstances, Mark Selby – even this version of him – is the last person you want to play.

Today we have…

Mark Selby v Ryan Day

Not bad.

Afternoon all!

And welcome to the 2023 Tour Championship – day four!

Tour Championship quarter-final schedule

Monday March 27

13:00 and 19:00

• Mark Allen 5-10 Ding Junhui

Tuesday March 28

13:00 and 19:00

• Ali Carter 4-10 Kyren Wilson

Wednesday March 29

13:00 and 19:00

• Shaun Murphy 10-8 Robert Milkins

Thursday March 30

13:00 and 19:00

Murphy avenges Welsh Open defeat with comeback win over Milkins

Shaun Murphy went some way to avenging the Welsh Open final loss to Robert Milkins as he came from behind to beat the ‘Milkman’ 10-8 and claim his place in the Tour Championship semi-final.

Trailing 5-1 and then 6-3 at one stage and with history looking destined to repeat itself, Murphy rallied to win five consecutive frames, holding his nerve to see the job through.

He will play Mark Selby or Ryan Day next.

“A few years ago that’s the type of match I wouldn’t have won, you know,” Murphy told ITV afterwards. “I was known for only being able to really to win if I burst the lights out, whereas that’s changed.

“It took me a bit longer than some of my peers to get that B and C game, but I have got it now. I will have a bit of patience and I will wait.”

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