Luca Brecel wins World Championship final after 18-15 defeat of Mark Selby at the Crucible

It was a coming of age moment for Brecel who had been tipped for great things even before he became the youngest ever player to compete at the Crucible in 2012, aged 17. But the road since has been a rocky one for the Belgian, and he arrived at this year’s World Championship remarkably still without a win in this iconic sporting venue that played witness to another wonderful final.

Just over two weeks on from his 10-9 victory over Ricky Walden in round one, Brecel confirmed himself the first man from continental Europe to be world champion, capping a remarkable performance across two days in which he outgunned, outmuscled and ultimately outplayed Selby, a four-time world champion no less, with a fine display of snooker that lost none of its gloss despite a late wobble.

Selby can hold his head high following another terrific run, one that ended with a typically brave comeback, but he spent much of the four sessions struggling to lay a glove on an opponent who has always been a magnificent talent and finally put it all together on the biggest stage in snooker.

An emotional Brecel told the BBC afterwards: "It’s amazing. He [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.

"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.

"Snooker is a difficult sport and in the first round I could have lost to Ricky Walden – I beat him 10-9. 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."

Brecel’s achievement is made even more remarkable by the fact he prepared for his sixth World Championship by getting ‘drunk as hell’ and spending more time partying and playing darts than practicing snooker.

He said: "It’s been a crazy week. No practice, just partying – it shouldn’t be legal."

Asked what his win would do for snooker back in his home country, Brecel added: "It’s going to explode. I was so nervous because I just wanted it to happen for Belgium and for Europe. Now it has happened, I can’t wait to see what it brings to the world."

For Selby’s part, he refused to take a backwards step, but was forever swimming against the tide having trailed 6-2 at the end of the first session, and though he hit back hard on Sunday evening, including compiling the second maximum of the tournament, he was still 9-8 behind overnight.

And when Brecel returned on Monday with three centuries in the first four frames of the afternoon, he led 13-9 and already had one hand on the famous silver trophy. Selby again dug in, as is his way, this time by grinding out back-to-back frames, only for Brecel to reel off his fourth hundred break of the session and then finish by extending his lead to 15-10 after overturning Selby’s 40-point advantage in frame 25.

The Crucible crowd treated the players to one final famous South Yorkshire reception when they entered the arena for the final session, but any nerves Brecel may have been feeling were immediately calmed when he thumped in a terrific opening red which paved the way for a frame-winning run of 67. Brecel was now just two away.

He was then in first in the following frame, but aggression got the better of him when he missed an ambitious long blue and ever the competitor, Selby gritted his teeth for a fine 78 break.

It was more of the same as Selby edged a trappy frame 28, eventually holding himself together to complete a tricky clearance on the colours, and a touch of the old swagger had returned as he downed the final black to complete a 122 clearance that breathed life into a final that had appeared set for an early conclusion.

With Selby’s deficit reduced to three, having won three frames on the bounce, it was Brecel who was feeling the heat for the first time in the match and the mid-session interval afforded him the chance regroup ahead of the final push.

But it didn’t offer him any immediate relief as Selby continued his charge, dominating the next two frames with breaks of 50 and 52 to make it five frames on the spin and leave Brecel nursing a suddenly fragile 16-15 lead.

However, Selby was stopped in his tracks when he missed a black of its spot, and then a simple brown later in the 32nd frame when desperately trying to level, and Brecel managed to stop the rot.

With the wind taken out of his sails, Selby's race was run and a rare lapse safety opened the door for Brecel to finish the job, one he completed with his fifth century of the match and 11th of the tournament, made with all the flair and class of a world champion.

A magnanimous Selby said: "I battled and gave everything but every credit to Luca he deserves it. 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."

Third session (Selby 10-15 Brecel)

Luca Brecel rendered Mark Selby’s maximum a distant memory as he fired four centuries to fashion a 15-10 lead after a high-quality penultimate session of their World Snooker Championship final at the Crucible.

Looking utterly undaunted by the biggest occasion of his career, the 28-year-old Belgian moved just three frames away from becoming the first winner of the title from mainland Europe, and the first overseas winner since Neil Robertson in 2010.

Selby had entered the session on a high after Sunday evening’s stunning 147 but it was Brecel who rose to the occasion, blasting three of those hundred breaks in the first four frames as he turned his 9-8 overnight lead into a 13-8 advantage.

The four-time champion looked distinctly out of sorts, cueing up many of Brecel’s chances by leaving reds dangling desperately over corner pockets, but no-one would have expected anything less than one of his trademark stirring fightbacks.

Just as he dredged his way back to win previous finals over Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins, Selby launched his assault straight after the interval, despite some sterling resistance from Brecel who reclaimed the majority of a 68-point deficit.

Selby also took what felt like a pivotal 23rd frame, as he clawed back from 41 points behind and got the better of a lengthy safety battle on the last red to reduce the deficit once again to 13-10.

But if there ever was a sign that Brecel was unfazed it came in the next frame when the Belgian built on a brilliant opening red to serve up his fourth century of the session, a nerveless 119, to restore his four-frame advantage.

For all his centuries, it was arguably Brecel’s brilliant clearance to pink in the final frame of the session that was most impressive, as he wiped out Selby’s 40-point lead to move three frames away from claiming his maiden crown.

Session Two (Selby 8-9 Brecel)

Mark Selby compiled the second 147 maximum break of this year's World Championship, and reduced his arrears to 9-8 at the end of a fabulous second session to their final at the Crucible.

Brecel had taken early control by dominating the opening session, racing into a 6-2 lead, but it was roles reversed in the evening, Selby winning the session 6-3 and making a maximum break in the penultimate frame which was as close to snooker perfection as you are ever likely to see.

Some forty years after Cliff Thorburn made the very first maximum at the World Championship, Selby became the 14th player to etch his name onto the list of history-makers at the Crucible, following Kyren Wilson who achieved the feat in the first round of this year's tournament against Ryan Day.

Selby immediately looked a different animal upon the resumption, kicking off with a wonderful total clearance of 134, but Brecel continued to pot and score at will and he would have been delighted when leading 9-5 and seemingly closing in on a big overnight lead.

However, not for the first time in a World Championship final, Selby dug deep to haul himself back into the match, firstly with his faultless maximum and then with a crucial steal in the last frame of the night that might just have swung the pendulum back in his favour.

Having struggled to get a foothold in the match in the afternoon, at times looking visibly jaded following his late-night exertions against Mark Allen on Saturday, this was just the response the four-time champion would have been craving.

And he had to do it the hard way. Though winning the first frame of the session, Selby was then forced to watch Brecel construct a brilliant 99 clearance as he regained his four-frame advantage.

In winning the next two frames, the second was capitalising on a rare mistake from his opponent, Selby cut the deficit to two, but Brecel again threatened to pull away after the mid-session interval.

Despite being faced with a table seemingly full of obstacles, Brecel huffed and puffed and somehow put together a frame-winning run of 72, one which was duly followed by another brazen break of 67, moving him 9-5 ahead.

With Selby's title hopes apparently hanging by a thread, he conjured his best snooker of the whole tournament to force his way back into the contest, gritting his teeth for a hard-fought 61 before finally clicking into top gear for his maximum moment in the very next frame.

With the final frame of the evening now holding increased significance, Brecel looked set to win it when in first with 48, only to crack when trying to gain position on a colour and missing the red.

A poor attempted snooker behind the green soon followed and though Selby's initial counter-attack broke down, he dominated the subsequent safety battle before holding himself together to pot the colours and pinch a huge frame that could go a long way to deciding the outcome of this absorbing final.

First session (Selby 2-6 Brecel)

Comeback king Luca Brecel revelled in his new role as a front-runner after dominating the opening session of the World Snooker Championship final against four-time winner Mark Selby at the Crucible.

The Belgian, who reeled off seven straight frames to sink Ronnie O’Sullivan in the last eight and then 11 in a row to overcome Si Jiahui, continued his exhilarating progress as he soared into a 6-2 lead ahead of their resumption later on Sunday.

Brecel’s high-octane approach was underscored in the final frame of the session when he clattered the cue-ball into the pack, scattering reds around the table and gifting him the chance to mop up with a break of 70.

In contrast, there were worrying signs for Selby, not-so-fresh from his early hours semi-final win over Mark Allen, who missed a number of early chances and produced rare errors in his safety game that were brutally exposed by the buoyant 28-year-old.

Brecel, having never won a match in five previous visits to the Crucible, continued his apparently nerveless approach by reeling off the first three frames including breaks of 77 and 90.

Errors littered Selby’s game, including two missed blacks off their spots, and he could have been further punished in the fourth frame when he ran aground on 36, only for Brecel to leave a red dangling over the middle pocket.

Selby, however, failed to capitalise on getting his first frame on the board. Brecel pressed further ahead after a well-crafted break of 67, then got the better of a lengthy safety exchange to clinch the sixth by cutting in a tight blue.

Even when Selby responded with a frame-winning break of 62 in the next, the questions remained, as another missed black briefly tempted Brecel back to the table in search of snookers.

He quickly aborted his unlikely mission, preferring to get back to what he did best, and it was not long before his aggressive approach paid dividends once again as he ended the afternoon with a four-frame advantage.

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