Featured Image Credit: Eurosport
Topics: Snooker, Fan Reactions
Ryan Sidle
Mark Selby made snooker world championship history, by becoming the first ever player to score a maximum 147 break in the final.
Selby had finished his semi-final, against Mark Allen less than 24 hours earlier, with the match going beyond midnight, and trailed Brecel 9-6, with two frames of the session, and the day, remaining.
However, he found a maximum in incredible fashion, to make history, and earn an embrace from his opponent and the referee, as fans gave him a huge round of applause.
It was also the first time that the Jester from Leicester, attempting to win a fifth world title, had scored a maximum at the Crucible theatre.
"Mark Selby was still grinding out his semi-final win in the early hours of this morning. And he somehow manages the first ever maximum 147 in a world final a few hours later. There’s never been a competitor quite like him," said one fan.
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"Mark Selby MAXIMUM in the world championship final!!! What a break that was, just unbelievable!", added a second.
On the four time world champion's reputation, another stated, "There are people out there who think Mark Selby is boring. Let that sink in for a while. He’s the most underrated player of all time. Super talented with about as much bottle as anyone could have."
"What a moment. I absolutely love watching Selby play. We've focused so much on his safety game throughout this tournament, The Jester doing a perfect job of reminding us tonight how devastating a scorer he can be too," posted another.
And a fifth replied, "What a competitor - absolutely legendary,' says John Parrott about Mark Selby. That's right, it is the stuff of legend on the baize. Nobody has ever dug deeper on a snooker table than Selby. He is absolute granite. Wow."
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Selby had actually found himself 6-2 behind to Brecel, who shocked Ronnie O'Sullivan earlier in the tournament, after the first session.
The Belgian, playing in his first world championship final, rattled off 11 straight frames in the semi-final, against China's Si Jiahui to win 17-15 and secure the greatest comeback in the tournament's history.
However, this time it was his turn to be pegged back a bit, with Selby's 147 bringing him back to 9-7 and the following frame, the last of the day, making it 9-8.
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The history making 147 came 40 years since Cliff Thorburn became the first player to score a maximum at the world championships, and matched Kyren Wilson's own maximum from earlier in the tournament.
It was only the 14th time that it's been achieved, and only the 10th player to do so, with O'Sullivan and Hendry the only men to have done it more than once, with three each.