Mark Selby and Yan Bingtao played a frame lasting 85 minutes and 22 seconds during their second round match on Saturday night – the longest in 45 years of snooker at the Crucible.
Defending champion Selby and 16th seed Yan had a succession of extended safety battles on the reds and colours. It came down to the final black, and both players missed chances before Yan slotted it into a centre pocket to go 12-10 ahead, before a more fluent century completed a 13-10 victory.
The previous record was 79 minutes and 31 seconds, set by Luca Brecel and Gary Wilson in 2019.
The frame was still well short of the record for the longest in a professional match: 123 minutes and 41 seconds, set by Fergal O’Brien and David Gilbert in the final qualifying round ahead of the 2017 World Championship. The longest televised frame was 93 minutes and 12 seconds, in a match between Shaun Murphy and Dave Harold at the 2008 China Open.
Yan though won't mind how he finally ended the Selby reign, showcasing his full repertoire to first beat the champion at his own game and then stroke home his third century of a match which produced six of them.
His reward for winning is a quarter-final clash with Mark Williams, who has dazzled with 10 centuries of his own in sweeping aside Michael White and Jackson Page.
The longest ever frame at the Crucible.
— World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) April 23, 2022
And it didn't disappoint!
Don’t miss a shot!
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