Mark Selby’s capture of the Paul Hunter Classic in Germany last night was another classy performance from a player now closing in on becoming world no.1.
Selby lost only one frame in reaching the semi-finals, where he recovered from 3-1 down to edge Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-3, employing his trademark steel under pressure.
In the second frame of the final, he trailed Mark Davis 0-70 but Davis went for a risky plant, left a red on and Selby produced a good 73 clearance to lead 2-0.
It was the key moment of the match and he duly went on to complete a 4-0 victory and receive the special trophy presented by Paul’s father, Alan Hunter.
Selby failed to win a televised title last season but he has already won two in this campaign, having secured the Wuxi Classic last month.
It is perhaps not surprising that he is thriving in this new era. He loves snooker, he loves playing snooker and he will play in as much as he can – wherever it is.
The fourth PTC was a triumph. Huge attendances in Fuerth once again demonstrated the thriving market that exists for snooker in Germany, where the fans are enthusiastic but also respectful.
They were treated to a parade of star names, some new faces and O’Sullivan’s magnificent 147 on Friday night.
Selby said afterwards that he hoped they could all be back next year. I don’t think there’s much doubt about that.
14 comments:
Thanks Germany for another display of enthusiasm.
(And a special thanks for giving us the granny twins)
This is the perfect way for an anonymous EPTC to become a true ranking event. Good stuff.
Well Played Mark best he was the best player all week and trully deserved to win.
Question is do we want to take this event away from its Pro Am Roots and Make it a Professional Ranking Event ?
There was an article in the newspaper today about the twins. They are 81 years old and became fans because of Eurosport and Rolf Kalb. They liked the tournament very much and also the very kind reception by the SSC Fürth. And so they donated € 100 for the training of young players of the club. http://www.nordbayern.de/region/fuerth/die-zwillingsschwestern-in-reihe-eins-1.1467142?searched=true
Pleased for Selby; as a player who has made the effort to enter virtually every event, it is fitting that he should win the Paul Hunter Classic, after all Paul made a great effort to play while he was ill.
Hi David. Superb Selby performance. Coming from 3-1 down to beat O'Sullivan 4-3.
Great 73 break from 70 points down in fame 2 of the final against Mark Davis, was the turning point of the final. A superb, confidant and assured 4-0 win.
He begun July in style with victory at The Wuxi Classic. He has ended August on a high, with victory at The Paul Hunter Classic.
One inal thought - In my view, it was fantastic to see Alan Hunter, Paul Hunter's Father, present the trophy last night.
Isn't it great to only be at the end of August and already have had so much great snooker action.
I also think it's great to see once again the enthusiastic way the German audiences have taken to the sport.
My one gripe with the wkend was the lack of live coverage on british eurosport.I hate to say anything bad about eurosport coverage as they've done so much in recent yrs to promote snooker and i know it was a very busy sporting wkend, but having watched the previous couple of PTC events on the livesnookertv website it was disapointing not to see more of the action this time around
Thanks 3:21 for the link. It was nice to get a backstory on those girls. 81 year old superfans, caught by Eurosport's net like the rest of us!
Great tournament! Fantastic crowd in Germany as always ! A good win for Mark Selby who produced when it mattered....he didn't loose many frames either :-)
@wild 3:07
Have to admit. Here in Germany (and Europe,e.g Warsaw, Antwerp...) we don't have too many opportunities to
watch all the players. I mean it is great to have a full ranking event like the German Masters in February. But at the venue in Furth just on Friday I had Higgins, Hendry, Selby, Ebdon, Trump, Lee, Cope, Walden, Fu, White,... topped by Ronnie's 147.
Where else can you get Easter and X-mas within one day?
Would not change a thing about the Paul-Hunter-Classics.
selby will have to win a proper ranking tournament or the masters to be in premier leauge next year..i say he will though but u never know..he is probably the 4th best player never to have won the world championships behind jimmy white and matthew stevens and ding junhui
3.45
not neceserally hes already won a more credable tv event than got jimmy in the PL This season.
well said wild
selby could win feck all and still get in if he speeds up twice as fast as he is naturally and plays lots of shots with more spin than is required....or catches peanuts thrown at him by the jimmy fans.
For Selby being ranked nr.1 means he
will be seeded nr.3 in all tournaments that Higgins is not a defender in.
So being ranked nr.1 doesn,t seem to
mean a lot when you might run into
O'Sullivan in the 2nd round.
Like O'Sullivan is a problem for Selby
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