Selby Keeps It Scrappy to Grind Down O'sullivan

Mark Selby yesterday followed his triumph in last month's Masters at Wembley with an epic recovery to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-8 from three down with four to play to win the Welsh Open at Newport, his first ranking title.

Selby, who led 7-5 in their Maplin UK Championship semi-final in December only to lose 9-8 to O'Sullivan's 147 maximum in the deciding frame, kept him out for long periods as the slow, sometimes turgid, early frames were shared 3-3.

The pace quickened as Selby took the seventh with runs of 70 and 65 but when O'Sullivan seized the last frame of the afternoon with a break of 108 and four of the first five of the evening with 93, 135, 63 and 54 - separated only by a winning 72 by Selby - he seemed to be cruising towards his 20th world ranking title.

Usually an authoritative clincher of a winning position, O'Sullivan showed uncharacteristic signs of anxiety as he failed to maximize his opportunities and committed some unexpected safety errors in the closing frames.

"I had a chance in every one of the last four and didn't take any of them," said O'Sullivan, who was twice seen to mouth the words "I'm bored" to a friend in the crowd. He also acknowledged afterwards that Selby possesses the sort of style to which he does not warm.

"He never takes a ball on if he is going to leave it. He's a bit like Peter Ebdon and Graeme Dott in that respect. You know you are in for long bouts of safety and it's difficult to build any rhythm. It's more of an endurance test against these players but you've got to find a way of coming through."

Selby played the last four frames very tightly. At 8-7 he came from 0-53 without O'Sullivan scoring again and his crucial 48 in the deciding frame was an effort of considerable intrinsic difficulty magnified by the pressure of the moment.

Selby felt that, on the whole, he "didn't have a lot of chances but just kept punching and dug deep". He added: "I wasn't doing well and I knew I couldn't do it unless I kept it scrappy. I just kept trying to have positive vibes and I felt more nervous at the start and the middle of the match than at the end."

Victories over John Higgins and Stephen Hendry this week had already assured Selby of fourth place in the provisional rankings behind O'Sullivan, Shaun Murphy - beaten 6-3 by O'Sullivan in the Saturday night semi-final - and Stephen Maguire. Considering he started the season in 11th there is speculation that he may hold the trophy aloft at the World Championship final at The Crucible in May.

"I've just beaten the best player ever to pick up a cue, so why shouldn't I be confident going to The Crucible?" he said.