Tag: Mark Selby

Four-time snooker world champion Mark Selby is considering retirement after crashing out at the first round of the world championship 10-6 to qualifier Joe O’Connor on Monday.

Defeat capped a dismal season for Selby, who has slipped to fifth in the world rankings.

“I will take a long time to think about it over the summer,” said the 40-year-old.

“Away from snooker I’m happy, then when I come to snooker it’s the opposite. It was pathetic from start to finish.”

O’Connor, who is the only debutant in the field at The Crucible amassed a 7-2 lead during the first session on Sunday and held on for the biggest win of his career despite a rally from one of his snooker heroes.

“I’ll sit down with (my wife) Vicky and see what the options are,” added Selby.

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“Obviously it will be a big decision but if I do carry on playing I need help, probably on the mental side of it a little bit more just to go out there and enjoy the game.

“That’s all I want to do, go out there and enjoy it and for me, it’s always sort of life or death; I’ve always been that kind of character, putting too much pressure on myself and trying too hard.”

Notably, Mark Selby, who became the first player to hit a maximum break in the World Snooker Championship final last year, ended up on the losing side as he fell 18-15 against Luca Brecel.

It is worth mentioning here that the World Snooker Championship 2024 commenced on April 20 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and will conclude on May 6.

Brecel, who won his first world championship last year, will be looking to defend his title while star player Ronnie O’Sullivan is searching for a record-shattering eighth title.

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LONDON: Mark Selby became the first player to compile a maximum 147 break in a snooker World Championship final as he reduced Luca Brecel’s lead to just one frame on Sunday’s opening day of the showpiece match.

Selby, already a four-time world champion, seized a chance to make history when his Belgian opponent left a red dangling over the corner pocket in the 16th frame at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre.

The 39-year-old Selby — who had to wait until nearly 1:00 am local time Sunday to complete his semi-final win over Mark Allen — took the next as well to head into Monday’s final day just 9-8 down in a best of 35 contest.

Selby won the session 6-3 after Brecel had established a 6-2 lead in Sunday’s opening exchanges.

The Englishman’s 147 came on the 40th anniversary of Cliff Thorburn’s landmark first maximum in any Crucible encounter, against Wales’ Terry Griffiths.

Selby’s break was the 14th maximum break in Crucible history and the second of this year’s Championship after Kyren Wilson’s first-round 147 against Ryan Day.

Brecel, who prior to this year’s tournament had never won a match at the World Championship, had been the comeback king on his way to the final.

He won seven straight frames to beat seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the last eight, with the 28-year-old then reeling off 11 in a row from 14-5 down to beat China’s Si Jiahui 17-15 in the semi-finals.

Brecel continued his fine form on Sunday as he won the first three frames while making breaks of 77 and 90.

But the gap between sessions appeared to do Selby good as the renowned match-player started the evening with a superb total clearance of 134.

Brecel responded with a sparkling 99 featuring several trick shots on the colours.

But he missed a relatively easy red in the next, with Selby’s ensuing break of 96 reducing the deficit to 7-4.

Brecel then squandered a 42-point lead with another miss in the subsequent frame but recovered well with breaks of 72 and 67 following the mid-session interval to go 9-5 up.

Selby, however, punished a careless Brecel split on the pack with a break of 61 before making light of his 147 attempt after prizing the final awkward red off the side cushion.

Referee Brendan Moore, presiding over his third and last world final before retirement, was the first to congratulate Selby, who was also embraced by a smiling Brecel.

The debutant finalist looked as if he would extend his overnight lead when he went 48 points clear in Sunday’s final frame only for Selby to fight back in a match already shaping up as a classic encounter.

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LONDON: Iranian snooker player Hossein Vafaei marked his British Masters debut with a 6-2 opening-round victory over three-time champion Mark Selby on Sunday.

Vafaei, who took Zhao Xintong’s place in the draw after the Chinese player became one of 10 players suspended amid an investigation into match-fixing, made two centuries and further breaks of 99, 52 and 65 to beat Selby for the third time in succession.

“I can’t believe it,” 28-year-old Vafaei, Iran’s first snooker professional, told Eurosport.

“He’s such a tough opponent, he never gives up. He’s such a legend and it’s such a pleasure to share the table with him.

“I’m so proud of myself to beat him again. He’s one of the greatest ambassadors we have so I’m so happy to do the hat-trick against him.”

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SHEFFIELD: The 15th-ranked cueist China’s Yan Bingtao knocked out the defending champion of the World Snooker Championship Mark Selby after a match featuring the longest frame in Crucible history.

In the second-round fixture, Bingtao ranked 15th, blunted the top-ranked Selby by the scores of 13-10 in the Best of 25 to book a quarter-final berth in the ongoing tournament.

The two cueists remained involved in a see-saw battle, right from the start with Selby pulling ahead and Bingtao levels and vice versa. Both the cueists won four of the first eight frames.

Bingtao then took a decent lead 7-4 as he won the next three frames, including a century in the ninth.

Selby, however, responded quickly as he managed to claim three out of the next four frames to cut the margin to 8-7 only for Bingtao to secure victories in the next three frames to extend his lead to 11-7.

With his opponent just two shy away from the victory, Selby looked to retaliate as he copied Bingato; winning three consecutive frames and moving just one short of the Chinese cueist 11-10.

The two cueists then involved a nerve-wracking 22nd frame – the longest in the history of Crucible, lasting 85 minutes and 22 seconds, beating the previous longest by five minutes and 51 seconds.

Bingtao managed to hold his nerve calm to claim the marathon frame by 63-49 before bettering it by scoring a century in the 23rd frame to thump the defending champion Selby 13-10 in the second round.

Bingtao scored three, while Selby scored four centuries in an exciting see-saw battle. Selby scored the best break of match 132, which came in the 12th frame.

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