Mark Selby on beating Ronnie 0’Sullivan

“To beat Ronnie in any tournament is a great scoreline, to beat him in the way I did, I am very, very pleased. It was more or less faultless,” Selby said on ITV4 following his win.

“It is a huge game and if you can’t get up for matches like that, you might as well put your cue away.

“I felt confident I could win, because if you don’t then more often than not the scoreline will be the other way.

“The biggest thing for me is that when I am not winning I try to tweak things, but the two performances I have put in here have proved to me that what I am doing now is what I need to carry on doing, whether I win or lose.”

Key dates for the year ahead

It’s going to be a busy year in the world of snooker, so here are some key dates to keep in mind:

• February 22-25 – Americas Q Tour 2 – San Jose (USA)
• February 26-27 – Championship League Group 6 – Leicester (UK)
• February 28-29 – Championship League Group 7 – Leicester (UK)
• March 1-2 – Championship League Winners’ Group – Leicester (UK)
• March 4-6 – World Masters – Boulevard City, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)
• March 11-17 – Women’s World Championship – Dongguan (China)
• March 13-15 – Q Tour Global Playoffs – Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
• March 18-24 – World Open – Yushan (China)
• March 30-31 – World Mixed Doubles – Manchester (UK)
• April 1-7 – Tour Championship – Manchester (UK)
• April 8-17 – World Championship Qualifiers – Sheffield (UK)
• April 20-May 6 – World Championship – Sheffield (UK)
• May 24-26 – British Women’s Opens – Walsall (UK)
• May 25-26 – Helsinki International Snooker Cup – Helsinki (Finland)
• Jul 15-21 – Shanghai Masters- Shanghai (China)
• Jul 25-28 – Xi’an Grand Prix Qualifiers – Xi’an (China)
• Aug 19-25 – Xi’an Grand Prix – Xi’an (China)
• Aug 26-28 – Wuhan Open Qualifiers – Wuhan (China)
• Aug 31 to Sep 7 – Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters – Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)
• Sep 16-22 – English Open – Brentwood (UK)
• Sep 23-29 – British Open – Cheltenham (UK)
• Oct 1-4 – International Championship Qualifiers – TBC
• Oct 7-13 – Wuhan Open – Wuhan (China)
• Oct 20-27 – Northern Ireland Open – Belfast (UK)
• Nov 3-10 – International Championship – TBC (China)
• Nov 23 to Dec 1 – UK Championship – York (UK)
• Dec 9-15 – Scottish Open – Edinburgh (UK)
• Dec 16-19 – World Open Qualifiers – TBC (China)

Given the Ron around

It still hasn’t sunk in that Ronnie O’Sullivan got whitewashed by Mark Selby in the quarter-finals.

The Rocket would have lost bookmakers a lot of money as he was favourite to win the tournament and continue his incredible 2024 form.