Mark Selby. Picture by Monique Limbos

MARK Selby is one win away from defending his UK Championship crown after reaching the final with a 9-5 win over Ricky Walden.

And the world number two star made history during the semi-final when he made snooker’s 100th 147 after potting a difficult black into the middle pocket from the tightest of angles.

Selby, who won the UK Championship last year beating after Shaun Murphy, will face Australian Neil Robertson on Sunday in a bid to retain his title and win the top cash prize of £150,000.

And should Selby beat Robertson he will leapfrog the Australian to return to the top of World Snooker’s world rankings list.

Bidding to reach his first major final of the 2013/14 season, Selby made a great start to proceedings by winning the first two frames to take an early 2-0 lead in the race to nine frames.

Walden then pulled a frame back with a break of 56 before Selby restored his two-frame lead after the Chester man missed the final brown.

The next two frames were shared before Selby wrote his name in the history books by making the great landmark despite having to face tricky pots from the final brown. The 147 break earned Selby an additional prize of £59,000.

A break of 53 the increased Selby’s advantage to 6-2 going into the evening session.

And The Jester from Leicester looked set to have an early night in store when he won the first two frames after the restart to put him on the verge of the final with an 8-2 lead.

Walden ensured the session had a mid-session interval winning the next two frames and managed to put a fifth frame on the board to give the score much more respectability.

But Selby clinched his place in the grand final in clinical style with a break of 129.