Shehab takes on Saif

Saif celebrated his elevation to No. 2 spot in the national rankings with a 4-0 thumping of Mohammed Hussain in the other semi-final on Friday night.

Shehab had entered the semi-final as a heavy favourite to defeat Al Kitbi but things turned out differently from what everyone had been expecting.

It was Al Kitbi’s near-perfect safety that made the going tough for Shehab, who has scored three century breaks in as many matches. Shehab’s 125-point clearance in the quarter-finals on Thursday night is the highest of the tournament so far.

Al Kitbi succeeded in tightening the noose around Shehab by orchestrating the cue ball to positions from where his rival found it extremely difficult to kick off any major breaks.

The first two frames were tactical battles and both ended in Al Kitbi’s favour. Shehab started recovering in the third frame and a break of 81 points in the fourth helped him get on level terms with Al Kitbi. However, Al Kitbi was undaunted by Shehab’s resurgence and went 3-2 up again by capturing fifth primarily because of some risky pots his rival decided to attempt and missed.

Facing an upset, Shehab pounced on the first real opportunity that came his way in the sixth and went on to score a break of 80 points to push the match into the deciding frame.

In the seventh frame, Shehab had a scare when an attempted safety on the red led to cue ball kicking the target ball twice and opened up the game for his rival.

Al Kitbi failed to make the most of the gifted opportunity and a miscue let Shehab off the hook, allowing the top seed to notch a close 4-3 victory and move into the final.