In a highly anticipated final, Mark Selby took on Ronnie O‘Sullivan.
After the first four frames, O’Sullivan had a 1 - 3 lead in this mini session. Selby had started slowly and looked a bit nervous. O’Sullivan knocked in a 68 in frame one but Selby soon knocked in an impressive 82.
The next mini session of four frames was a reversal of the first with Selby taking it 3 - 1 to end the afternoon session at 4 - 4. Selby went 4 - 3 up and had a lead for the first time with breaks of 76 and 50. However, O’Sullivan won the eight with a brilliant clearance after Selby stumbled on a break of 53.
The all-important evening session started in frame nine. The frame went back and forth with O’Sullivan winning it on a fluked red that travelled the full length of the table and ended in the yellow pocket.
Later, Selby won three in a row with big breaks of 101, 89 and 114 to take a 7 - 5 lead after being behind.
O’Sullivan fired back with an 110 break which helped him regain the advantage and a 7 - 8 lead before Selby drew back it make it 8 - 8.
By now, a tired looking Selby missed a chance in the next and the score became 8 - 9 to O’Sullivan.
The final frame started unusually with two re-racks before O’Sullivan clinched the title with a break of 55.
All in all, I think this was a great quality tournament, especially from the quarter finals onwards. It was nice to see, after the fairly poor quality of play throughout the UK Championship in December.
We now move on to the Welsh Open, which will be 16 - 22 February.
Highest Breaks:
Selby 82, 76, 50, 53, 41, 101, 89, 114, 55, 69, 49
O’Sullivan 68, 40, 101, 48, 53, 43, 110, 55
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