When tactical play is excting | Mark Selby vs John Higgins ...

Good news is he hasn't left the red in a possible position but I thought he'd get closer than that. All right this is a half chance it's all about the cue ball this I mean it's tight on the cushion was a much better shot than it looked. Yeah I suppose the only good news for Mark Selby before with the shot he played was the green came down the table if it had been on its spot these have been definitely all over but position a little tricky yep yellow to green and green back to eight that's not perfect it will pass the blue yeah it's in a funny position as well this green because it's one of those ones you'd love to stun this in but the middle pocket might be in the way so good 15 he needs all the balls this is the wrong side of the blue but he should be okay oh he hasn't had enough side on it when he hasn't played it with enough side where was the side if he pots the pink Mark Selby will be able to tie what did he do with that blue he can't believe it himself he cannot believe it the only thing he couldn't do there was not get into the cue ball he's got to try and pop the pink now and cannon the black that's the only way he can get on the black and he's missed the cannon he tried to flick the black out 26 unbelievable he cannot believe it John he's just looked at the sky there and he cannot believe what he's done he's hit it thinner than he needed 26 but it's not an easy pot by any means things you can do when you're under pressure this is a massive shot wasn't easy John's pot won't be easy either well he had the safety in mind as well he looked at the angle but look where he put the cue ball a fabulous return safety shot well that's not too bad either I can tell you brilliant wall to wall to wall three consecutive shots top class that's okay it's going to be hard enough keep your eye on the black here see how many cushions it hits there's one two where's the white but look where he's got the black this is some of the best standard of safety play on a black I've seen for a long long time oh he has this time that John Higgins has been waiting for after that fabulous safety battle on the black just this needed and in the black it wasn't enough and John Higgins wins that frame on a black ball fight chance John Higgins setting himself up for this difficult long red potted a cracking red but he's not on the green he's gonna have to play the snooker he needs to get this absolutely dead tight if he can this was the good pot and he just come right onto the green a bit unlucky playing it this way so he can hopefully get some distance between yellow and cue ball and he's hit it full ball good shot very good shot two ways he can play thin off the yellow on the left side if he wants but that's the one is he hard enough is he hard enough it's still a good shot but he had a chance of getting the snooker there it's not bad might get the snooker this time easy to escape from he's almost potted that he mishit that that wasn't the way intended to get out of the snooker wow what a shot he's taken on what a thin yellow he took on there i don't think mark selby thought he was going to try and cut that in i'd certainly didn't think he was going to take that on what a shot oh and he's got a horrendous kick that is unbelievable he's potted the most fabulous yellow to get himself on the green to put himself in the semi-final and look what happens oh that is just so cruel is he playing it with the side he is and that's what can happen that's what can happen he got on the brown but he had so much side on that on these lively cloths it makes the pot so much more difficult he needs the brown he needs the blue and he needs the pink that is just pure pressure is he gonna fluke a snooker behind the blue no he hit that so hard that was just settle down please your attention there has he left this on yes he has i'm saying that there's nothing gone in this situation what a pot that is under the circumstances he stroked that into the pocket beautifully he's not going to be perfect on the pink nine he's going to have to cut this in with the rest okay the black is safe takes a little bit of pressure off the pot but it's not a gimme by any means is there another twist dennis not guaranteed this it's there john higgins had one foot in his semi-final and he played a poor brown but mark selby he's not done with yet he's taken the frame and we're all square but he can get to the potting angle he can what a big shot this is wow i think he might have got away with that because i don't think the red is near the black spot goes into the corner and if it doesn't what a result john's had there and there you see it it doesn't pot probably the best shot of this year's masters well you said earlier that was that's just usurped it what a shot that was absolutely brilliant to get that work on the ball and put it there fantastic shot i'll miss and that mark selby will be going straight back and this is an absolute load of trouble for john higgins well can you believe it let's see what happens this time needs a bit of good luck here well how can you find the gap there well i'm gonna miss not mark selby that is quite incredible needs a lot of luck here and he hasn't had it yes the only hope there was to try and knock a couple of those reds safe the one that went to two runs that are by the black spot aren't possible eight well he has made a pretty good job of it i'll just try and put a line up to show you the possible shot here it's so important to get enough side on it as well to create the angle to get to the two reds so this is a key shot coming up right hand side he's gone twice across the table and he's unlucky he felt it was awkward with the middle pocket in the way mark selby 18 yep snooker him that's good oh that's not oh good miss that's not good john mark selby and he won't be having that back he's left an angle where he can pop this and run around see where mark selby's queuing there can he get around the angles here for the black he hasn't done it but there's a chance of the pink yeah the pink is perfect john higgins knows that this next shot is key amazing right back at the beginning the word battle and there's another terrific safety shot all of these shots need a thin contact oh he's missed it this could be a free ball as well miss in the free ball oh it's not only a free ball the flick off the brown has left him with a pot but of course at first it looks good but those two reds aren't pretty yeah but if he can get on the color off the brown and he's trying to get over into the spot that you mentioned and he's come up a bit short if that runs a bit further across the table he would have had the angle to get to the reds he's going to have to leave a tricky one along the cushion and be interesting to see his next choice of shots well he has created quite a bit of angle there now how does he play this he's 17 points in front no but he's trying to cover it he played it in such a way that he tried to cover it but i don't think he has has he well he's covered it but i think he might be able to pop this off the cushion if anybody can pull this off it's mark selby yeah great knowledge of pool and the angles on the table we've seen that this evening already but i should get this dennis to get back on this red i don't i think he's dropped in a place where he can't do it mark selby well that's a fabulous shot not totally straightforward this one yeah that's the problem you hit the black where is the black it's over the pocket well the last place i thought he would take it on there was the middle pocket i never thought that that was cuttable well this is a shot you'd be setting up in practice and playing for hours in the club but this is where it matters didn't want to finish his bang on the the ball cushion he was trying to get all the way around the angles here so he needs to pull out an absolute cracker here the tension here quite something at the moment what a conclusion to this quarterfinal everything's happening the yellow wobbled four or five times it's dropped in seven points the difference as we show you this yellow good safety definitely got the snooker once again a lot of our hitting this and you get it safe and it's the swerve shot well it's not the blue awkward it's not the pink awkward but the pink is not absolutely safe overcut it oh is he going to be hampered well the green won't pass the brown he's going to play the slow roll behind the brown no he's not i don't blame him at this stage a little bit a little bit of twitching going on to play that job too yeah what was i thinking of now this is a good shot not the best shot that john's ever played and it's all about the brown i fancy him to pop the green but how is he going to finish on the brown that's the question yeah where this is finished he'll do well to get on the brown and he has any if it pulls up he's got an angle to move the blue move the blue but that was a brilliantly controlled shot on the green well have a look at the scoreboard if he pots the brown the situation is both players need blue and pink seven well he won't be playing the back double now cross double maybe but i don't think so he's surely going to play safe he's looking at it and what you see there's he's pointing the cue he's looking at doubling that and screwing off the ball cushion to get over behind the pink what a shot this would be to pull off if he pulls us off and bring the house down this to keep himself in this year's masters the shot is played there dennis do you play this pink in the middle pocket what a shot on the blue i fancy the top pocket as we see the white come round he's looking at the angle to the middle pocket he's looking at the angle to the corner he's going for the middle here we go absolutely mark selby still in this year's masters he beats john higgins six frames to five