Shehab and Al Joker to meet in final

Dubai: The UAE's top two players Mohammad Shehab and Mohammad Al Joker have set up an enticing finale for the Enoc UAE Snooker Ranking Circuit's second event after winning their respective semi-final encounters at the Dubai Snooker Club on Saturday night.

While Shehab breezed through his semi-final against Saif Al Kitbi 4-1, Al Joker was stretched to the limits by Mohammad Hussain before his 4-3 victory.

Al Joker had to shrug a spirited challenge by Hussain with the help of a crucial late break of 30 points in the first frame to gain an upper hand.

Hussain levelled the frame score with a 38 in the next, but then saw Al Joker produce runs of 35 and 62 to gain a 3-1 advantage.

Holding a decent lead and with the match almost in his pocket, Al Joker, uncharacteristically, missed a simple blue in the fifth to let Hussain off the hook and paid the price by allowing his rival to close in at 3-2.

The low-scoring sixth frame was an engrossing tactical battle which Hussain took on the final black and forced the decider.

A trade of blows was expected in the seventh but Al Joker succeeded in putting his act together and scored a break of 47 points that carried him in to the final. Shehab made his intentions clear to Al Kitbi from the word go as he orchestrated a captivating break of 82 points to grab the first frame.

 Triumph

A run of 57 followed in the next and Shehab's advantage widened to 2-0. Al Kitbi's succeeded in getting one frame to credit by taking the third, but Shehab produced another break of 68 to win the fourth frame. Although Al Kitbi did apply brakes to Shehab's scoring spree in the fifth, it was not enough to stop the former Asian Indoor Games gold medallist Shehab from marching to a 4-1 triumph.

Shehab and Al Joker had clashed in the final of the 2011 Ramadan Cup when the latter had won 4-3. However, Shehab got the better of Al Joker when they clashed in the 2011 Arab Games and 2012 West Asian Championships later.