Mark Selby v Liam Highfield live stream | British Open Semi-Final preview
Highfield is set to appear in his first ranking semi-final (Credit: Every Second Media/Alamy Live News)
Mark Selby bids to reach his third British Open final in four years when he plays ground-breaking Liam Highfield on Saturday.
There is a stark contrast between the players contesting the first of the semi-final clashes at The Centaur in Cheltenham.
While four-time World champion Selby is eyeing his 40th ranking final appearance, this is the biggest match of Highfield’s 16-year professional career.
Indeed, the left-hander from Stoke is appearing in his first ever semi-final at a ranking event, having already taken out a former Crucible king along the way.
When Highfield compiled a 147 in the opening frame of his qualifying match against Stephen Maguire, he could only have dreamed of it being the start of his best ever run in professional competition.
The world number 67 – a semi-finalist at a 2010 Players Tour Championship event – defeated Mahmoud El Hareedy 4-2 at the start of this week, before putting 2024 World champion Kyren Wilson to the sword 4-1.
Another 4-1 victory followed against Long Zehuang, before he swept rising star Stan Moody aside 5-2 in the battle between two players seeking their first ranking semi-final.
However, he now faces a whole different test of his credentials against the most consistent player at the British Open since it returned to the calendar in 2021.
Indeed, Selby has lifted the trophy in 2024 – 12 months after he was runner-up to Mark Williams – and now reached a further two semi-finals.
Taking his overall tally of ranking semi-final appearances to 72, the Jester has got stronger as the week has progressed, having initially had to navigate three successive deciding frames against David Lilley, Lei Peifan and Jackson Page.
He then ended the run of Iulian Boiko, who had knocked out Ding Junhui, with a 4-2 win, before condemning home favourite Jack Lisowski to a comprehensive 5-0 whitewash in the quarter-finals.
Already a champion at the China Open, and quarter-finalist in Wuhan last week, Selby has certainly been the form player at the start of this campaign – winning 13 of his 14 matches in ranking tournaments.
The winner of this battle between two players with contrasting levels of experience at this stage in competition will play either Judd Trump or Jak Jones in Sunday’s final.
The match breaks off at 1pm BST on Saturday and will be contested over the best of 11 frames at The Centaur in Cheltenham.
WATCH THE BRITISH OPEN OPEN STREAMED LIVE HERE
18+ | T&Cs Apply | Geo restrictions may apply | Be Gamble Aware