“I nearly made a meal of it but I’m very relieved to get through”.
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But the world number 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.
But the 33-year-old Australian wrapped up a tense 6-5 quarter-final win and reflected on “an emotional roller coaster”.
“There’s lads in there that have been loads more consistent than me but under this system, you can have one good week and get yourself in there”.
Liang came from 4-2 behind to beat Leeds cueman David Grace 6-4 in a gruelling afternoon semi-final that over-ran, causing a delay to the start of the Robertson-Selby duel.
“In 2008 I made the World Championship quarter-final and lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan but I have been thinking too much which is not making me happy”.
After a 6-0 victory over Selby on Saturday evening, Robertson said he would play computer games into the early hours before bedding down for the night.
“The way I started the match was absolutely brilliant, to go 4-1 up, but John, being the champion he is, shut me out the next couple of frames”, Robertson said.
“He played his part in a wonderful final – tonight was about digging in and nicking the important frames”. The world number 52 spied his chance but missed a simple long pink and Liang made no mistake to clean up.
“It was shocking really, just a twitch”, Grace said of the squandered pink. He would have had to share the spoils of his own masterful break had Un-Nooh slotted that seemingly straightforward ball during their third-round encounter.
Wenbo also enjoyed the moment, clapping and then hugging his opponent, who now has managed three maximums in his career.
Liang showed his class in the first frame after the break as he lashed in a wonderful 110 to reduce the deficit.
“He’s maybe asked me to do that to motivate the boys, so I’ll definitely take the trophy to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, that’s the next thing I’m excited about”.
Selby said: “Neil’s playing great, probably playing the best in the tournament so far, so it’s going to be a tough game but I’ll relish it as always”.
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He went on to lead 5-2 but Fu punished a miss in the next with a 79 and levelled the match before Liang clawed himself over the line.
