Higgins is looking to win his second major title of the season

Stephen Maguire came through a gripping contest with Mark Selby to set up a Welsh Open final against John Higgins.

Maguire won 6-5 against Leicester's Selby and will go in search of his fifth ranking event title - and first since 2008 - in Sunday's showpiece.

Higgins continued his title defence by cruising to a 6-2 win over Ali Carter in a repeat of last year's final.

Scotland's world number one, who also won in 2000, will be contesting his fifth Welsh final in total.

Carter started brightly against him with a 118 before the reigning UK champion hit back with breaks of 71 and 76 to lead 2-1.

Higgins was pegged back to 2-2 but turned on the style after the interval, with two quick frames and knocks of 69 and 55.

Carter, who won the title in 2009, was unable to stay at the table for any substantial length of time as his opponent took hold of the match.

In the second semi-final, Scot Maguire and Selby shared the opening four frames of the evening.

Maguire is looking to end his long run without a ranking title

But the Englishman edged ahead for the first time with a break of 65 after the mid-session interval, only for Maguire to fire in a total clearance of 137, taking full advantage of an opening fluked red.

Selby crept back into the lead with a run of 88, but he failed to capitalise on a 44-1 lead in the next frame, and let in Maguire to make a break of 109 in the ninth, which put him on the brink of victory.

The reply from Selby was impressive, as he fired in a steady 90 to make it a one-frame shoot-out for the right to tackle defending champion Higgins.

Selby handed Maguire the chance to pile on some points and he rattled in 67 before allowing his opponent back to the table.

Maguire, who will turn 30 next month, had lost all of his five semi-finals since landing the China Open title in March 2008, and he was determined to end that streak, so when Selby presented him with a difficult long red he wasquickly down on the shot.

It went in and Selby rose from his chair to concede defeat.

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