Congratulations to Mark Selby who has defeated 2008 champion Ricky Walden this morning to clinch the Sangsom 6-Red World Championship title over in Bangkok by an 8-6 scoreline…
Having both come through dramatic semi-finals against Barry Hawkins and Jamie Cope by a 7-6 scoreline yesterday, today’s final between Mark Selby and Ricky Walden always promised to be a close run thing and so it proved as it almost went the distance today.
Early on however it did not look like being the case as Mark got off to a fast start, limiting Ricky to 12 points as he took a 3-1 lead with a top break of 63 in frame two. Ricky fought back well to trail by just one frame at 4-3 but what followed was probably the most pivotal part of the match as Mark reeled off three successive frames to leave himself just one away from the title at 7-3.
Ricky again demonstrated his fighting qualities by taking the next three frames to get back to within a single frame but it was not to be enough as Mark won the 14th frame to clinch the title.
Having already taken victory in the second PTC event earlier this month, it has been a fantastic start to the season for Mark who will be hoping that he can carry this form through into the bigger tournaments this year such as the Shanghai Masters and the World Open.
2009 was a difficult year for him as apart from strong runs in both the Masters and the World Championship, he failed to perform in the season’s ranking events and probably suffered from the lack of tournaments more than most. Already in 2010 however he has won the Masters, a PTC event and now this and he looks to have the confidence and belief back that he had during 2008 following his run to the World final the previous year.
Ricky meanwhile is also looking to rebound following a difficult period which saw him miss out on a place in the top 16 despite having looked certain to move into that bracket halfway through the 2009/10 season before his form deserted him. Whether or not he put too much pressure on himself following his shock victory in Shanghai in 2008 only he will know but if he can repeat the form that took him to that title on a consistent basis then you can be sure that we will be seeing a lot more of him on our TV screens during the coming seasons.