Matthews Stevens, the nearly man of the world snooker championships, missed out on a 147 Saturday but still booked his place in the 2005 final where he will face Shaun Murphy.
Stevens had the chance in frame 27 to emulate fellow Welshman Mark Williams' maximum earlier in the tournament but after potting 15 blacks and reds, he failed to pot a long blue. But Stevens gained more than ample consolation through overcoming his gallant opponent.
Stevens won the initial frame of the evening with the help of a 50 break but McCulloch brought himself back on level terms after Stevens missed an easy pink into the middle when he had a chance to pinch the frame.
Stevens then agonisingly missed out on the 147 but was breathing a sigh of relief after edging home in the final frame of the session.
His poor safety shot allowed McCulloch the kind of longish pot on the final black he has been gobbling up all fortnight but he failed to take the opportunity and went in-off with the white to lose 51-56.
Stevens quickly extended his advantage to 16-13 with a run of 76 in the next to leave McCulloch one frame away from defeat. He earned a stay of execution with a 65 in frame 30 but it was only a short reprieve before Stevens closed out the match in the next.
Earlier in the day, Shaun Murphy became the first qualifier to reach the Embassy World Championship final for 26 years after overwhelming Peter Ebdon 17-12 with a near flawless display.
Murphy, a 150-1 outsider at the beginning of the tournament, had been locked at 12-12 with 2002 world champion Ebdon going into the final session.
But the Rotherham-based player moved into over-drive to win five frames in a row to set up a meeting with tournament favourite Stevens.
