Mark Selby has finally earned his place to be among the greats of snooker alongside Hendry, O’Sullivan and Davis by winning his 3rd World Championship title against John Higgins by storming back from 10-4 down to win 18-15 to become one for only four players to defend his title at the Crucible.
It’s not a bad night for Selby. Winning £375,000 in prize money, surpassing £1 million in ranking points over the past two years and shutting up (some, at least) doubters that Selby is actually a decent, exciting player. Selby has beaten Higgins, Ding and O’Sullivan to clinch three titles in three finals. It is quite fitting that he got his revenge over the 41-year-old Wizard of Whishaw, who clinched the World Championships in 2007 18-13.
For a moment, it does seem as if Selby was long gone at 10-4 down. Higgins was punishing his every mistake and enjoying being the underdog of the match, which was fairly unusual. Stephen Hendry remarked that it was like a master teaching the apprentice. The master, in this case, benefitted from sweeping aside Barry Hawkins 16-8 with ease while the apprentice was drained from his semi-final thriller against Ding Junhui 17-15. It was Higgins making the big breaks early on, with four breaks in a row to go 6-2 up to lead the first session with the highest break of the match of 141. It gets worse for Selby when he fell 10-4 behind. Meanwhile, people on Twitter are deeply concerned and delighted. Debates on whether Higgins did cheat or whether Selby does live up to his nickname the Jester from Leicester. Intelligent conversations happen on Twitter you know. Ish.
After the dawn of the second day, the tables turn on its head – the part in long matches where it get’s more exciting. Even more exciting than Marco Fu coming to win against Luca Brecel. Mark Selby does what he does best and grinds and grinds and grinds. And that is away from the karaoke stand. He raced to 16-12 by hitting six +50 breaks. Then came the black ball moment that-was-thought-to-be-critical-but-wasn’t-in-the-end-so-who-cares involving the great referee Jan Verhaas. Though in my opinion, it did touch, it was fractions and it is those moments that show how difficult being a snooker referee can be, sometimes withstanding more pressure than the players. This slight blip of a controversy led to Higgins snatching a frame back, but Mark did not let it get to him. He rallied a 131 and finally a 75 to clinch the lovely, silver, tinny thing called a trophy.
John Higgins congratulated his opponent like any sporting person would and mentioned that he was proud of his run through this tournament. Mark Selby on the other hand, makes it 3 World Championship trophies in four years, and with the massive pool of talent here, that is some achievement. It is fantastic that daughter Sofia was there it witness it, though it was her relief I’m sure that she didn’t see Mark sing ‘Sweet Caroline’ again, and again, and again……
