Ding Junhui to face Mark Selby in World Championship final as Hong Kong’s Marco Fu falls in titanic battle

China’s Ding Junhui will face Mark Selby in the World Championship final on Sunday when he bids to become the first Asian player to win snooker’s most prestigious title.

The 29-year-old Ding reached his first World Championship final in record style, with a break of 123 completing a decisive 17-11 victory over experienced Scottish cueman Alan McManus at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in northern England on Saturday.

Later in the day, 2014 world champion Selby, the world number one, prevented an all-Asian final when he defeated Hong Kong’s Marco Fu 17-15.

Ding’s seventh century break of the semi-final saw him surpass the previous record of most centuries in a Crucible match (six) held jointly by Selby and Ronnie O’Sullivan.

“I feel peaceful at the moment, just like normal. I want to be excited but my heart tells me it’s like normal,” said Ding.

In the modern history of the World Championship, the only two winners from beyond Britain and Ireland are Canada’s Cliff Thorburn (1980) and Australia’s Neil Robertson (2010).

A sign of snooker’s increasing popularity in China is that, according to a tweet posted by World Snooker, 27.1 per cent of the national television audience in the world’s most populous country tuned in to watch his semi-final on CCTV5, an official state broadcaster.