Selby beat fellow Englishman Stuart Bingham 17-15 in a contest that made World Championship history as the pair were pulled off early to prevent the concluding session of their match overrunning into the start of the last session of the second semi-final.

Bingham led 13-11 at the start of the session but Selby quickly levelled thanks to a 68 clearance and a break of 125.

Bingham took the lead again with another century, a record 101^st for a single tournament.

Selby then struck the front after winning two hard-fought frames before putting himself on the brink of victory at 16-14 thanks to a 132 break.

Selby then got off to a good start in the next frame but lost position after splitting the pack of reds, allowing Bingham to make a clearance of 85 after potting an impressive opening red from distance.

After resuming following the conclusion of the second semi-final, Selby made a break of 41 before Bingham had a chance to reply, although he lost position after potting the last red.

The key moment was when Selby had his opponent snookered on the green and after Bingham missed the escape five times, he left the three-time world champion with a chance to clear the colours and seal his place in a fifth World Championship final.

Selby will face compatriot Shaun Murphy who triumphed in another all English semi-final against last year’s runner-up Kyren Wilson.

Wilson resumed the third session of the match this morning with a 10-6 lead and took a hard-fought opening frame of the day to extend his advantage to five.

Murphy set about reducing his arrears and claimed a dramatic 20^th frame on the black to cut his deficit to two at the interval 11-9.

A break of 86 helped Wilson open up a three frame advantage but it proved to be the last he would win in the match as Murphy ended session three by winning three in a row including a top break of 120.  

Murphy’s dominance continued into the final session in the evening when a break of 78 gave him the lead.

After Wilson went in-off in frame 26 Murphy made a clearance of 91 before another century continued his winning run of frames.

Murphy, world champion in 2005, sealed victory in the first frame after the mid-session interval taking control with a break of 58 before sealing victory 17-12 with an ambitious double.

Murphy and Selby will meet in the final over four sessions and the best of 35 frames tomorrow and Monday (May 3), with action due to take place in front of a capacity 980 strong crowd of spectators.