Here's what happened on the evening in question at the Lotto Arena:
Mark Selby Vs Ronnie O'Sullivan
The match started off in style, after Ronnie potted a great long red to the yellow pocket, after Selby missed a tough long pot of his own. Ronnie was soon in full flow and at his best, a great split of the reds on 52 leaving the frame at his mercy, and a break of 74 confirmed that he would take the opener in no time at all. The second frame started off with a top quality long red from Mark Selby, to give him his first opening of the match. A brilliant split of the reds from the blue on 13 turned the opening into a golden opportunity for The Jester to hit back immediately. However, a really poor missed blue off of the spot on 39, left O’Sullivan in with a chance, although it looked like a very tough clearance when the 5 times World Champion came to the table. But Ronnie then missed a fairly straightforward red of his own along the bottom cushion, letting Mark off and leaving him in an easy position to level the scores. With a lead of 34 with 1 red left on the table, Selby missed a fairly easy red on the bottom cushion himself, when he only needed the red for the frame. O’Sullivan then potted the final red, and the black before snookering himself on the yellow, sending them into a battle on the colours. Selby potted the yellow but then missed frame ball green, before O’Sullivan potted green and brown but failed to get on the blue. After a long safety battle on the blue, Mark Selby eventually knocked in a decent long pot to level the scores at 1-1. Ronnie O’Sullivan was first in, in the third frame after Selby missed a red to the middle which Ronnie brought up the table from the break off shot. O’Sullivan then missed a mid-range red on 24 and left that red on for Selby who had his opportunity. A good mid-range red of his own on 20 kept the break going but he was unable to get the right angle to bust the reds open, and had to play safe on 28. O’Sullivan knocked in a great long pot though, and then created himself a brilliant chance, which he took with a run of 54 making it 2-1 to the World Champion. After a high quality safety battle, with both players playing showing off their great tactical knowledge, but when Selby missed a tricky long pot, O’Sullivan was able to get in and had a really good scoring opportunity in the early stages of the frame. However he could only make 22 before missing a mid-range red by quite a distance. A poor shot from Ronnie trying to escape from a snooker, let Selby in again with a decent opening to try and cancel out Ronnie’s frame and match lead. A nice contribution of 56 put Selby 25 ahead with 3 reds left on the table, and in a fairly commanding position. There was another great safety battle on the final 3 reds, before Ronnie made a nice long pot but couldn’t get on a colour. O’Sullivan then potted another decent long red, and played a great shot on the black to get on the final red on the cushion which he potted with ease, and he cleared up to and including the pink to move into a 3-1 lead, and only 1 frame away from taking the Antwerp Open title.
A careless attempt at a long red from O’Sullivan, with the
Rocket catching the blue first, left Mark Selby right in with a good chance to
make a valuable contribution early on in the fifth frame. A brilliant recovery
red to the green pocket on 36 after an unlucky split, made it an excellent
chance but he missed a simpler red to the left middle on 52, but Ronnie let him
off straight away with a missed red of his own. A brilliant long red from Selby
later on, showed Selby’s bottle but he couldn’t get on a colour and failed to
cover a long red near the corner with the safety shot, only for Ronnie to miss
the long red and hand Selby the easy chance he needed to clinch the frame, with
an additional 61 closing the gap to one frame at 2-3. A brilliant safety shot
from Mark Selby produced a him a good scoring opening, with the reds spread, as
Ronnie left one on trying to land on a red from the snooker. Mark picked the
reds off brilliantly, and showed his true fighting qualities, by forcing a
decider with a wonderful 133 total clearance.
A bit of poor luck from Mark Selby after a missed long red,
left O’Sullivan a chance, but he failed to get on a colour from the red, and
had to play safe prematurely. A poor safety a short while afterwards from Mark
gave the Rocket his first proper chance of the decider, and a decent split of
the reds on 14 put Ronnie in a great position to take the frame and the match
in 1 visit, but an uncharacteristic missed black from the spot on 28, gave the
3 times Masters champion his first chance in the decider. Once again, Selby
picked the reds of really well, and with all the balls there for the taking
Mark made no mistake, completing a brilliant comeback victory with a magnificent
break of 77 clinching the 2013 Antwerp Open and winning this classic contest.
What a match it was as well, with a brilliant comeback from Mark Selby, deserving of winning him yet another PTC title, and all credit has to go to Ronnie O'Sullivan as well as it takes 2 men to make a classic contest, and he played really well in the opening stages or warm-up time as Mark Selby probably prefers to call it. Another great tussle on Boxing Day then, as the countdown continues into the top 6 tomorrow. But do you think they'll be six of the best of 2013 snooker? Well you'll have to wait and see what I've got for you then!
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