Ratchapol crashes.

Michael Holt of England.

In the second semifinal, veteran Praprut Chaithanasakul keep the Thai hopes alive as he defeated world No. 53 Stuart Pettman of England 5-3 in an engrossing battle.

The Saturday night's final will now be a clash of contrasting styles that will put Holt's potting capabilities to the sternest test in the tournament so far. Praprut will also have his work cut out as he would have to dig deep and find ways of checking Holt's scoring sprees.

Given Ratchapol's inconsistent potting, Holt, ranked No. 23 in the world, had always been the favourite and he did play like one at the New Travel Lodge Hotel ballroom to entertain a large crowd.

Holt did not take much time to get into the rhythm and breaks of 54, 71 and 94 saw him enjoy a massive 3-0 lead over his Thai opponent, a former world No. 3 who is now spotted in the 33rd place.

Ratchapol, one of the best players ever to come out of Asia, showed his mettle in the fourth with a break of 83, but Holt was back to work again in the next frame with captivating run of 96 points.

The match could have very well ended in the sixth frame had not Holt cued the last brown a bit too feebly and that paved the way for Ratchapol to make the scoreline somewhat respectable before bowing out of the tournament in the next frame.

Pettman, the perpetual potting machine who had routed a clueless Suttipong Chansri 4-1 with the help of breaks 138, 102 and 84 on Thursday, was bit too gung-ho in his semifinal against Praprut, a former world amateur championship runner-up and winner of two Asian crowns.

The two had carried the frame score to 2-2 and Pettman could have easily gone one up but made the mistake of attempting a suicidal pot on the last black with the long rest and paid the price for it.

The sixth frame was much the same, as Pettman, who the other day scored the highest break of the tournament of 142 points in less than nine minutes, miscued a pot on the brown, letting Praprut off the hook to grab a 4-2 lead. There was change in Pettman's approach to the game from then, but it could not stop Praprut from cruising into the title showdown.

Saturday's best-of-nine frames final will begin at 9 pm at the same venue and will be beamed live nation-wide by Channel 11 TV , starting 10 pm.

Frame scores

Thursday night's quarter-final: Stuart Pettman (England) beat Suttipong Chansri 4-1 (77(57)-15, 102(102)-0, 96(84)-8, 24-74, 138(138)-0)

Friday's semifinals: Michael Holt (England) beat Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm 5-2 (81(54)-14, 74(74)-8, 123(94)-12, 23-83(83), 96(96)-9, 55-68, 58-19); Praprut Chaithanasakul beat Stuart Pettman (England) 5-3 (109(101)-0, 34-97(71), 55-17, 18-86(86), 68-63, 70-60(51), 30-72, 64-63)