| Venue: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield Dates: 15 April-1 May |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV and Red Button with uninterrupted coverage on BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and the BBC Sport app |
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.
And he sealed victory and the £500,000 top prize by winning three of eight frames played in the evening session.
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.
Brecel comes of age on biggest stage
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.
But he produced an incredible display of attacking snooker to look as though he had broken the back of the contest on Monday afternoon, compiling four superb century breaks of 113, 101, 141 and 119 to stun Selby, who had trailed 9-8 overnight.
The manner in which Selby concluded Sunday evening’s second session – a fightback lit up a magnificent 147 maximum break – raised significant questions about how Brecel might respond to seeing his lead whittled down to one frame, having enjoyed a 6-2 advantage after the opening session.
In a contest billed as 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 final 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, opening up the possibility of a first Crucible finale to go the distance since Peter Ebdon’s 18-17 victory over Stephen Hendry in 2002.
More to follow.
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