Robertson through to UK snooker final

Australia's Neil Robertson has whitewashed world No.1 Mark Selby 6-0 to win through to the final of the UK snooker championship in York.

In Sunday's decider he'll take on China's Liang Wenbo, who fought back in his semi-final with a 6-4 victory over surprise packet David Grace.

Liang was in danger of a shock exit against Grace when the part-time snooker club table cleaner moved into a 4-2 lead.

But the world No.29 recovered to grind out the win as he took the next four frames to book a place in just the second ranking event final of his career.

The 28-year-old Chinese player, who lost against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2009 Shanghai Masters final, also secured a place in the Masters as a result of his last-four win at York's Barbican Centre.

"This is a very good chance for me. I was thinking of this match as a final, not a semi-final. I was very happy I'd done well," said Liang of his final chance.

Judd Trump and Marco Fu were among Liang's victims en route to the semi-finals, but he looked out of sorts as he fell 3-1 behind Grace at the interval, only to rouse himself with a break of 110 in the fifth frame.

Despite earning just STG13,000 ($A27,000) on tour over the past two years and propping up his income by painting more illustrious cuemen and selling the portraits, Grace moved within two frames of a famous triumph.

The world number 81 had looked certain to force a decider but missed what would ordinarily have been an easy pink at the end of the 10th frame, the pressure telling and handing Liang a shot at sealing his final berth.

"It was shocking really, just a twitch," Grace said of the squandered pink. "I'd potted harder balls than that in the break and I thought I'd done the hard work."

Liang leapt into the air in celebration on clinching his win, having beaten himself up repeatedly during the match over a string of misses.