'He was best player by a long way' – O'Sullivan admits he got lucky in win over Selt

Ronnie O’Sullivan struggled for peak form, but held his nerve in the final frame to complete a 5-4 win over fellow Essex potter Matthew Selt in the Xi’an Grand Prix quarter-finals.

The seven-time world champion will face Kyren Wilson in the semi-finals on Saturday after the defending Crucible winner eased to a 5-1 win over world No. 58 Xu Si in the other last-eight match on Friday morning.

But O’Sullivan was perhaps fortunate to overcome former Indian Open holder Selt, who was the heavier scorer as he came agonisingly close to a first win against the world No. 5 after losing their two previous meetings at the 2014 UK Championship and 2016 Scottish Open.

A couple of 50-plus breaks helped the 41-time ranking event winner lead 3-1 at the mid-session interval, but Selt rallied superbly as breaks of 102, 105 and 95 saw him level at 4-4 from 4-2 behind to gain crucial momentum.

O’Sullivan missed a black having opened with a 36 in the deciding frame, but Selt ultimately could not recover as a loose safety shot off a red enabled his opponent to scramble over the line in taking it 71-13.

“I thought the way Matt played, when I missed that black and he was at the table, that he would clear up,” O’Sullivan told reporters.

“He was playing well. He allowed me to get back in the game, and gave me a chance. At 4-4 anything could happen, but Matt deserved to win today, he was the best player by a long way.”

Wilson had an easier passage past Xu, who had ousted three-time world champion Mark Williams 5-4 from 4-2 behind in the last 16 on Thursday.

Knocks of 69, 50 and 115 helped Wilson progress with Xu’s 51 in the third frame merely preventing a whitewash.

O’Sullivan and Wilson contest their best-of-11 frame semi-final at 07:00 UK time on Saturday morning.

The remaining quarter-finals begin at 12:30 on Friday with Judd Trump facing David Gilbert and Barry Hawkins confronting Daniel Wells.