91�ȱ�

Australia's Neil Robertson whitewashed world number one Mark Selby to set up a UK Championship final against Liang Wenbo at York's Barbican on Sunday.

Robertson stormed into a 4-0 interval lead and continued to pounce on errors to claim a 6-0 victory.

The world number three told 91�ȱ� Sport: "I nicked a few frames and played well at the business end of frames."

World number 29 Liang, who has never won a ranking event, beat David Grace 6-4 in the other semi-final.

In reaching the final, the Chinese has jumped into the top 16 in the world which qualifies him for a place at next month's Masters.

Robertson the frame stealer

Selby made 50-plus breaks in the first two frames, but lost them both as Robertson showed amazing ability to fight his way out of trouble.

It was best illustrated in a gripping second frame where the Australian trailed by 55 points but made a 68 clearance to take it on the black.

Robertson, the 2013 UK champion, also stole the next frame with a break of 53 and then won a scrappy fourth.

He added: "It was 4-0, but on reflection it could easily have been 2-2."

Selby looked odds-on to break his duck in the fifth frame, but Robertson won a safety bout and cleared from the green.

Looking increasingly desperate, Selby went for more long pots in the sixth frame and after missing a crucial one on the colours, Robertson kept his cool to win on the black.

Edgy Liang finds his nerve

Despite winning the opening frame, Romford-based Liang looked a different player from the one who racked up three successive centuries against Hong Kong's Marco Fu in the quarter-finals.

He appeared edgy being favourite, occasionally slapping his own face as his frustrations boiled over.

Grace, who cleans snooker tables to supplement his earnings, won three frames in a row with a highest break of just 52 to lead 3-1 at the interval as the contest took a while to warm up a capacity crowd in York.

Liang, whose only other ranking final was the Shanghai Masters in 2009, knocked in a match-best 110 break in the first frame after the interval to reduce the arrears, but Grace restored his two-frame advantage at 4-2.

The Chinese won two further scrappy frames to level the match in the eighth before a crucial 50 break gave him the lead for the first time since the opening frame.

He let a comfortable lead slip in the 11th, but after potting an excellent green and following it with a tough brown to the middle pocket, Grace faltered on the pink and Liang took advantage.

On reaching his first UK ranking final, Liang said: "I'm under no pressure. I will enjoy the game."

The final, which will be live on 91�ȱ� Two and the 91�ȱ� Sport website, is the best of 19 frames and begins at 13:00 GMT.