“If one of us had played better, the other might have raised his game. The only positive for me is that I got over the line and I can only improve tomorrow.
“If I had lost I would have been gutted, but now I can put that behind me.”
The nature of the Selby-Higgins encounter led to a delayed start for the second quarter-final, in which Jackson Page was taking on Belgium’s 2023 World Champion Luca Brecel.
Selby’s semi-final opponent will be Brecel, the man who beat him in the final of the World Championship two years ago at the Crucible in Sheffield.
Brecel beat Page – who was the last surviving Welshman in the competition – 5-2 after they had been level 2-2 at the mid-session interval – with the Belgian player securing breaks of 94 and 76 to seal his place in the last four.
Scotland’s Stephen Maguire – the Welsh Open winner in 2013 – sealed his place in the last four with a 5-3 victory over England’s Jack Lisowski.
The semi-final line up was finalised with 2009 winner Ali Carter’s break of 91 sealing a 5-3 win over fellow Englishman Joe O’Connor.
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