In the other semifinal at the Klang Plaza, reigning Thailand No. 1 and former world amateur champion Noppadon Noppachorn scored a comfortable 4-1 victory over Issara Kachaiwong to enter his second final of the season.
Supoj had a good start to the semifinal, snookering his rival five times in the opening frame to get off the mark first.
Noppadol, who has been having a great run in the tournament, came back with a break of 65 points in the second frame that proved enough to earn him a 1-1 tie.
Supoj did well the in the third to capture lead, but Noppadol's trademark safety play came into the picture and helped him pinch the frame extend his lead to 2-1.
Apart from a few points that Supoj scored at the beginning, the fourth frame completely belonged to Noppadol, who had made his last appearance in the national ranking tournament in the same city five years ago when he had lifted his his maiden title. Noppadol scored two nifty breaks of 47 and 37 to widen the gap to 3-1.
Supoj tried his beat to get back into the match, but the balls never favoured him.
He got going several times in the fifth frame, but on each occasion found obstacles only multiplying. Supoj saw Noppadol pot the last red -- difficult one by all counts -- and then steal the coloured ball to the blue to bring an to Supoj's campaign.
The best-of-nine frame final starts at 2 pm at the same venue with NBT (Channel 11) and True Sports televising the match live from 3 pm onwards on July 24. |
