World Snooker Championship 2023 final: Luca Brecel beats Mark Selby for first world title

Belgium's Luca Brecel became the first player from mainland Europe to claim snooker's World Championship with an 18-15 win over Mark Selby in Sheffield.

Brecel, 28, is just the fourth non-British winner at the Crucible and the first overseas player to triumph since Neil Robertson in 2010.

Brecel won six of Monday afternoon's eight frames to open up a 15-10 lead.

A visibly emotional Brecel sealed victory and the £500,000 top prize by taking three frames in the evening.

"It's amazing. [Selby is] the worst opponent to have in the final. He just keeps coming back, he's such a fighter and at 16-15, I didn't fancy winning at all to be honest," Brecel told BBC Sport.

"I was missing balls by a mile. I don't know how I did it. Once I got to 17, I fancied it if I got a chance to clear up, which I did. It's a great feeling."

Despite becoming the youngest player to ever participate in the tournament in 2012, aged 17 years and 45 days, the 'Belgian Bullet' had remarkably never won a single match at the famous venue until this year, losing in the first round on his five previous visits.

"Snooker is a difficult sport and in the first round [this year] I could have lost to Ricky Walden - I beat him 10-9," he added.

"If I'd have lost that game then everybody would have said 'he's lost again in the first round' and now I'm the winner, that's the small margins in snooker, it's crazy. I still can't believe it."

It is a moment that has long been in the making for Brecel, who climbs eight places to finish the season second in the world rankings behind Ronnie O'Sullivan.

But it only arrived after he had come through the sternest of examinations from England's four-time world champion Selby, who won five consecutive frames and scored 315 points without reply at one stage to get back to 16-15.

With the tension rising Brecel knocked in a timely 51 to leave himself on the brink of victory, which he confirmed with a stylish 112 break.

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After losing Sunday's opening session 6-2, the manner in which Selby fought back to within one frame in the second session - a run lit up a sparkling 147 maximum break - raised significant questions about how Brecel might respond.

But, resuming 9-8 in front on Monday afternoon, Brecel produced an incredible display of attacking snooker to seemingly take the match away from his opponent again, compiling four superb century breaks of 113, 101, 141 and 119.

In a contest billed as a test of Brecel's mental endurance as much as his undoubted skill, few inside the Crucible Theatre could have been prepared for his blistering start.

Brecel fired in doubles, a succession of stunning long pots and seemingly cleared balls at will as he rattled through the first four frames in under an hour.

It was a theme that initially continued into the concluding session, Brecel making several astounding pots to craft a 67 that saw him go 16-10 ahead.

Brecel's swashbuckling style has endeared him to fans across the world, in particular the manner of his famous victories over O'Sullivan and Si Jiahui on his run to the final.

But when things do not go to plan the drawback is that it guarantees his opponent opportunities - and few in the game are as ruthless as Selby at capitalising on those.

A wild effort on a long blue saw Selby reduce his arrears with a break of 78 and he then carved out a superb 122 on his way to reaching the mid-session interval just 16-13 adrift.

Selby's charge continued with a half-century in the 30th frame and a fluked red set him on the way to winning the 31st frame.

That opened up the possibility of a first Crucible finale to go the distance since Peter Ebdon's 18-17 victory over Stephen Hendry in 2002, but Brecel recovered his composure to get across the line for an emotional victory.

"I battled and gave everything but every credit to Luca he deserves it," said Selby, the Crucible champion in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2021.

"Congratulations to Luca, he's a great talent and a great lad with a lovely family. I wish him all the best. It was great to make a 147 at the Crucible, I never thought I would do it in a final.

"It was an amazing achievement and something I will remember for rest of my life but it's not about me today, it is about Luca, he played fantastic over the two days."

'Breath of fresh air' - analysis

John Parrott, 1991 world champion:

He's been a breath of fresh air through this tournament. It's a refreshing thing to watch. He goes for his shots, he doesn't care if he misses but he pots more than he's entitled to.

We talked about Mark's character this evening but how much did Luca show? To get over the line there, that's what champions do. Then in the last frame, to finish like he did with a century, the sign of a champion.

Steve Davis, six-time world champion:

Young players will be looking at that and saying 'that's the way to play, that's the way to win'. Don't hang around, don't study every shot, see the shot, go for it, trust your first instincts.

It's great to see somebody play swashbuckling snooker but with balance as well and push the game to even more new limits than we thought possible.

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