A STUNNING fightback from Mark Allen earned him a place in the Haikou World Open final earlier today.

In a thrilling semi-final, the Northern Ireland star came back from the brink of defeat at 5-2 down to topple world-number one Mark Selby.

Selby looked destined to make his second consecutive world ranking event final when he took a commanding three-frame lead but Allen hit four quality frame winning breaks of 80, 79, 71 and 112 to steal a memorable win.

A delighted Allen told World Snooker: “It’s very, very good to get through as any win against Mark Selby is a good win but to come from 5-2 behind is even better and the way I played in the last four frames would be worthy of winning any match.

“Hopefully I can now go on and win the tournament as to have played like that and not go on and win would be very disappointing,”

Tomorrow’s final will be Allen’s second world ranking event final since turning pro. His last appearance in a final was back in December when he lost to Judd Trump in the Uk Championship.