Mark Selby takes charge of Tour Championship quarter-final despite 147 break from Ryan Day

Ryan Day wowed the crowd with a maximum break, but he faces a mountain to climb to reach the semi-finals of the Tour Championship as Mark Selby took a grip of their match.

The brilliance of the 147 aside, Day was largely out of sorts and Selby seized on errors from his opponent to take charge.

Selby will return to the Bonus Arena on Thursday evening with a 6-2 lead in the race to 10.

Shaun Murphy will be an interested spectator as he faces the winner in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Day set out his stall to be aggressive by taking on a tough red in the opening frame. Selby got in on the back of Day’s miss and made 45, but broke down when failing to split the pack off the green.

Day had a chance to counter but missed a blue off its spot and Selby punished him with a 77, thrilling the crowd with a party piece off four cushions to pot the final black.

Selby looked razor sharp in the opener, but along with playing well it helps when fortune is on your side. Selby had it at the start of the second as he missed a long red by some distance, so much so that it flicked off another ball and into the pocket. He could only make 23 before running out of position.

As expected, Selby’s safety was exemplary and it crafted him further chances and enabled him to double his lead with another run of 77.

Day got a foothold when taking the third, and did it in style with a maximum 147 – the third of his career. After being kept largely cold for two frames, Day produced a series of pots out of the top drawer.

The fourth was the first scrappy frame of the match and it contained a collector’s item: the sight of Selby failing to escape from a snooker. When his miss left Day with a shot at the yellow it looked set to go the Welshman’s way but he failed to get on the blue and following a protracted battle, Selby knocked it into the green pocket to take a lead into the interval.

The Tour Championship is prestigious in its own right, but Day arrived in Hull knowing victory would guarantee his place in the World Championship as one of the top 16. With pressure on, he hit back to take a bitty fifth frame to get within one of Selby once again.

The advantage was stretched to three when Selby took the seventh with a classy 132 to ensure he would take a lead into the evening session.

The advantage was extended to four frames, but Selby had to do it the hard way after passing up a golden chance to kill it off in quick time.

He had to survive a test of his escapology skills as Day chased a snooker on the colours, but the man from Leicester held his nerve and closed it out when the chance came his way.

Selby and Day will return for the evening session, with the former well placed to set up a meeting with Murphy.

– – –