The 2021 World Snooker Championship started off with 128 players competing for sixteen places to qualify for the main stage of the tournament. The qualifiers then competed with the sixteen best snooker players in the world at the Crucible. After many gruelling weeks of snookers, long pots, fist pumps, safeties and twists and turns, we are now left with just two players left. Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy are the only survivors there and they will compete to lift snooker’s most prized possession: the World Championship trophy. Oh, and this event has already beaten 2019’s record of most centuries in the World Championship at the Crucible!
It may not be everyone’s dream final but this is an intriguing match-up. These players have 28 ranking titles between them, including 11 Triple Crown titles between them. Before this 2021 final, they reached seven World Championship finals put together.
Before I get started with the preview, I want to thank everyone who has been reading my World Championship previews. It’s been great researching the stats, writing them and predicting the results. I managed to correctly predict 23 out 30 winners, so that’s not been too bad. Hope you like the rest of this 2021 World Snooker Championship Final preview!
Seedings are correct to the world rankings after the 2021 Tour Championship, according to World Snooker Tour. As before, the H2H will include Championship League and Snooker Shoot-Out results. The H2H’s will come from Cuetracker. All sessions are played on the 2nd and 3rd May 2021 at 13:00 and 19:00 GMT.
DRAW
Mark Selby (4) vs. Shaun Murphy (7)
H2H: Selby is leading Murphy 21-17 and one draw.
Last Meeting: 2020 European Masters (Selby winning 6-3).
Mark Selby’s route to the semis: Kurt Maflin (10-1); Mark Allen (13-7); Mark Williams (13-3); Stuart Bingham (17-15)
Shaun Murphy’s route to the semis: Mark Davis (10-7); Yan Bingtao (13-7); Judd Trump (13-11); Kyren Wilson (17-12)
Semi-Final Analysis
Mark Selby vs. Stuart Bingham
Mark Selby had comfortably dispatched his first three opponents in the draw. His best performance was against in-form Mark Williams, after which his Welsh opponent said that he was outplayed in every department. His match against Stuart Bingham was his first proper test, considering he went from being 9-7 ahead to 13-11 behind. In the fourth (and amazingly the fifth) sessions, Selby dictated the game with fantastic safety play. He succeeded in giving Bingham fewer options to score and scored heavily himself when he needed to.
Unfortunately, this match wasn’t without controversy from both players. Bingham claimed that some of Selby’s antics throughout the match were “close to gamesmanship“. This included Selby’s theatrical and overexaggerated reaction after fluking a red and especially how long Selby was taking over some shots throughout the match. There was one particular instance where referee Ben Williams encouraged Selby to take a shot after about three minutes of thinking time. Selby celebrating before he potted match-ball wasn’t a good look in my opinion. Selby denied that he was playing slower deliberately, pointing out that his average shot time was almost the same as Bingham’s and that he wasn’t going to play a style of game that’s going to give him chances.
Shaun Murphy vs. Kyren Wilson
Shaun Murphy looked like a player heading out of the World Champion in the early stages of the match. Kyren Wilson played well to lead Shaun 6-2 and 10-4 and while Murphy usually showed visible signs of frustration. But from 10-4 down, Murphy started playing like a demon-possessed. The frame that Murphy won to go 11-9 behind to potting the final black proved to be a turning point and Murphy gave a number of fist pumps to the crowd. Wilson said post-match that he wasn’t too impressed with his celebrations.
His performances in the final session of the match was probably the best of the tournament. Murphy won the first five frames of that session to win the match from 12-12 with breaks of 58, 77, 78, 91 and 117. Wilson didn’t play badly whatsoever, it was just that Murphy was so ruthlessly clinical and punished every mistake. Murphy mentioned he is as shocked as anyone by his incredible run, considering he hadn’t reached the quarter-final stages since his World final appearance in 2015.
Prediction
The H2H looks quite tight, though Selby has won five out six of their most recent meetings including the 2015 German Masters final. Selby (10) has scored more centuries than Murphy (8) this tournament but Murphy is in the running for the highest break prize, which is the 144 scored against Yan Bingtao in the Last 16.
Murphy will come into this final feeling less fatigued since Selby had to play the fifth session against Bingham shortly after Murphy’s victory over Wilson. Murphy is more battle-hardened, having come through tough draws against Mark Davis and Judd Trump. But Selby has the upper hand in having a better win ratio in World finals. Selby has won three times in four final appearances, while Murphy has won one in three.
The consensus over Twitter (and therefore must be true) tells me that they would rather Murphy won the title, but think Selby will win it instead. This match will be a clash of strengths, with Selby’s tactical nouse opposing Murphy’s all-out attacking long-game. Who can wrestle control of the match? Over the course of the (hopefully) final two days, I think Mark Selby will lift the crown.
Prediction: Selby to win 18-15.
The 2021 World Snooker Championship will take place between 17th April and 3rd May 2021 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.
