Selby masters third title

Mark Selby won his third Masters title on Sunday, beating the defending champion Neil Robertson 10-6, in a final that took place at London’s Alexandra Palace.

The Englishman didn’t possess the best cue action in the competition until reaching the final, while Robertson did exactly the opposite, but Selby managed to pull himself together to crush the Australian’s dream of defending his Masters crown.

The first session was pretty much a one-sided snooker affair; “The Jester from Leicester” used runs of 73, 102, 84, 32 and 22 to go 5-3 up, while Robertson’s contribution consisted of three top breaks of 78, 63 and 72.

 A few hours later, in the presence of referee Terry Camilleri and in front of an ecstatic audience, the players re-started their match for what was the last redoubt.

Selby fired in breaks of 67, 25 and 41 to go just two steps away from winning the tournament, leaving his opponent even further behind.

However, Robertson didn’t give in and tried to find his way out of the woods, grabbing the next three frames with a series of 74, 83 and 26. The scoreline was now 8-6.

Still, it was a bit too late and although the following two frames were a genuine scrap, Mark Selby capitalised in order to freeze the scoreboard at 10-6 and lift the trophy for the third time in the most prestigious non-ranking event of the snooker calendar.

Thrilled to share the same stage with players like Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan or the late Paul Hunter, in regard to winning the Masters tournament more than two times; Selby was handed the icy-look trophy by Barry Hearn, the Chairman of World Snooker and cheerfully acclaimed by a huge crowd and of course, his beloved wife, Vikki.

 Ramona Dragomir