Sensational Selby smashes Stephen in semi-final - 02/12/2008

Mark Selby 5-0 Stephen Hendry (best of 9)
83-34 (Selby 34, Hendry 34), 110-4 (Selby 110), 133-0 (Selby 128), 115-4 (Selby 115), 77-0 (Selby 77)

Mark Selby

MARK Selby produced a sensational effort to book his place in the 2008 PartyPoker.com Premier League Snooker final.

Selby hit three centuries and a break of 77 to thrash seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry 5-0 in the first semi-final.

"I'm a little disappointed as I didn't make four centuries," joked Selby. "I'm really happy to win and to beat Stephen is really hard anyway but in the way I did was very impressive.

"I've been playing well in practice and when you come out on to the match table you have to handle your nerves and the situation and I managed to do that.

"All the way through the game I seemed to be in the zone. When I was making century after century I was not thinking to make another one, I just wanted to pot one ball at a time.

"I'm really confident for the final and if I play like that I don't mind who I play."

Selby triumphed over Stephen Hendry 5-1 in the league phase and was hoping for a repeat performance in the first semi-final.

Selby made a great start as he won the first two frames of the night.

He profited from a missed attempted pot from Hendry on a red into the centre pocket in the opener and then compiled an excellent break of 110 in the second.

Selby finished top of the league, while Hendry was fourth and scraped in by winning one more frame than Ding Junhui.

But the semi-final was going with the form book as Selby was producing an excellent exhibition of snooker as he raced into a 3-0 lead with his second successive century.

Hendry missed a red into a centre pocket and went in-off before Selby punished him with a break of 128 as it had now been more than 30 minutes since Hendry last potted a ball.

The seven-time World Champion got his first points in three frames when Selby went in-off, but Hendry still did not manage to pot a ball as a failed attempt at a tough red brought Selby back to the table.

Once again he fully punished his opponent with a run of 115, his third consecutive century break to lead 4-0, only one away from a place in the final.

He finished the job soon afterwards as Hendry had failed to pot a single ball in four of the five frames. Selby reached 77, including a stunning double to down a red, but ran out of luck for what would have been his fourth century.

A capacity crowd of 1,200 at the Potters Leisure Resort in Hopton-on-Sea, Norfolk were watching the action and Hendry praised the Premier League Snooker tournament.

"This is what you want - to play in front of big crowds," said Hendry. "Some tournaments haven't been well attended but this is a different kettle of fish.

"You're guaranteed to see four of the top players every week and that brings the crowds out."