Match Reports from the 888.com World Snooker Championship
Higgins holds off brave Selby
John Higgins 18 – 13 Mark Selby
John Higgins survived a challenge from the charging Mark Selby to win his second world title in a marathon final.
The final day was a mixture of quality and when play eventually finished at six minutes to one in the morning it was the latest Crucible finish in a final.
The fact it got to that stage was down to Selby. After a torrid first day, he resumed 12-4 down facing the possibility of finishing a session early.
If there is one thing the snooker world has learnt about the 23-year-old over the past 17 days, it is that he has an abundance of character.
This was shown in the afternoon session, where he courageously fought his way back into the match.
With the crowd behind him, he won an opening frame where both players had their chances. He found his stride in the following frame with a break of 109, but he was still six frames adrift at 12-6.
Selby continued, and took the third successive frame of the afternoon with a break of 65 to come from behind. He was growing in confidence, and at the same time Higgins began to look anxious.
The Scot may have been waiting for his opponent to run out of steam, but even when he had chances he looked nervous and was unable to take them.
Breaks of 62, 42 and 56 incredibly got the man from Leicester to within two of Higgins at 12-10. The scoreline was hardly credible at the start of play, but by taking six frames in a row Selby was right back in the match.
The turning point was perhaps the length of the final two frames, which lasted 75 minutes. This took the time past 6.15pm, at which point the tournament organisers hauled the players off two frames early to give them time to prepare for the evening session.
The break benefited Higgins far more than Selby, whose momentum was disrupted. When the players returned, Higgins was a changed man, and a break of 58 won him the 23rd frame to put him three clear at 13-10.
After that much of the play was either awful or enthralling, depending on the interpretation. Frame times ballooned as Selby desperately tried to limit the number of mistakes, which often meant taking his time on shots.
Higgins could not inject any quality into the game, and the match became bogged down. It took three hours to play five frames, with a high break of 48, as fans bedded down for a late finish.
Significantly, although for a long time the match was in the balance, Selby could no draw level. The key frame was the 28th, which could have gone either way. Had Selby taken it the score would have been 14-14, but a Higgins win made it 15-13.
The Scot then came from behind to pinch the next frame to go 16-13, before breaking Selby’s resistance for good in the 30th frame.
After what seemed like an eternity, finally the crowd saw a frame won in a single visit, as Higgins cleared with a 129. It was the 68th ton of the tournament, equalling the Crucible record.
That left Selby needing to win the last five frames. After so many comebacks over the past fortnight, this proved to be one too many, and a grinning Higgins won frame and match with a 78 to take become a multiple world champion.
Shot of the day: For a time Mark Selby appeared to be staging the greatest comeback in Crucible final history. He played brilliantly in the afternoon session, and no pot sums up the guts and technique he showed than one in the 20th frame. Higgins played a safety shot but left a long red to the right corner. The shot was risky, and a miss would have given Higgins a great chance to win the frame and ruin Selby’s good start. After much deliberation he decide to go for it, and sweetly sank it on his way to his fourth consecutive frame.
