Mark Selby Edges Out Mark Allen In Decider

Selby raced into a 3-0 lead but was pegged back by his Northern Irish opponent before the pair traded four frames to set up the tense finale.

With both players proving almost inseparable Selby finally broke through to win the tactical last frame.

Maguire earlier progressed with a scrappy 6-1 victory over Ryan Day.

The Scot took the edgy opening frame but a careless safety from the Scot allowed Day to level in the second.

That was as good as it got for Day as Maguire capitalised on an error-ridden performance by the Welshman.

From there the game lacked fluency but Maguire did enough to make his third Masters semi-final in four years.

World number six Day, who whitewashed England's Joe Perry in the previous round, looked out of sorts throughout the encounter as both men struggled to find any rhythm.

"The first session was embarrassing, there was nothing happening from the two of us," said Maguire, who admitted he will have to improve.

"I'm not hitting 50% of my game at the moment, that's nothing against Ryan Day but he knows if he had played his game he would have beaten me.

"I am just hoping tomorrow will be better. Maybe tomorrow is a different day and I might start hitting the ball the way I want to hit it."

He will face Selby, who also overcame Allen 6-5 at the same quarter-final stage last year, but early on it looked like the "Jester from Leicester" would win this year's encounter more convincingly.

The nervy first frame was littered with mistakes and could have gone either way after each player missed straightforward pots before Selby finally took it 51-42 and then took the second frame comfortably.

Selby pulled further clear in the third frame, this time in considerable style, putting together an impressive 93 break.

However, Allen, who beat John Higgins 6-3 in the last round, hit back with the best break of the match, putting together a break of 114 before missing the final black with a trick shot off three cushions.

Allen, 23, took the frame after the mid-session interval with a break of 82 as he continued to pin Selby back and despite a break of 52 by Selby in the sixth frame, Allen managed to pull the match level.

After losing three frames in a row Selby bounced back in the seventh frame, capitalising when Allen left a red on in the corner pocket. But Allen again pegged him back to level the match at 4-4.

The pair traded the next two tactical frames before Selby struck in the decider to secure his place in the semi-final.

In the other semi-final Ronnie O'Sullivan will face Mark Williams.