Moment of the Month: August: Selby wins in Riga with another classic comeback

As we roll on through the months looking back at my favourite snooker moments of 2014 it's time to take a stop in August where my moment of the month was Mark Selby's Riga Open final comeback against Mark Allen. This was my take on it:

Mark Selby is certainly a man that you would pick, if you had to pick a player to make a big comeback in a match when he was on the brink. That was exactly what he was able to do back in August against Mark Allen to win the Riga Open and become my pick for the moment of the month for August.

To make the final Mark Selby had beaten Ian Burns, Mike Dunn and Jimmy Robertson earlier on in the tournament before victories over Aditya Mehta, Peter Ebdon and Barry Hawkins earlier on, on the Sunday to make it into the final. Meanwhile, in the top half of the draw Mark Allen had overcome Ryan Causton, Anthony Hamilton and Ben Woollaston in the early stages before further wins against Mark Williams, Sean O’Sullivan and Anthony McGill to set up the final against Selby.

When the final came around it was the in-form Mark Allen that got off to the perfect start in the match as a run of 74 put him 1-0 ahead in the best-of-7 final,  as they always are on the European Tour. It looked like Mark Selby was going to level the match when he was on a break of 54 in the second but when he broke down and Allen got his chance he was able to make it 2-0 by stealing the frame with a 56 contribution. The third frame was pretty even and again, went down to the colours and again it was Allen who won the battle and looked to be strolling along to victory at 3-0.

That though was where the switch flicked for Mark Selby as it always seems to when he’s staring defeat in the face and he finds that extra gear. A break of 65 did the job for the World Champion in frame four for him to get on the score sheet, before a fine century in the fifth would’ve had Mark Allen worried in his chair as he certainly knows what Selby is capable of. In frame six a break of 62 got Selby over the line and he was now playing some of his best snooker in the tournament, having relaxed possibly from the feeling that defeat was near and the pressure being on Allen to win it. In the decider, Allen had the first opportunity but he couldn’t make enough from it and when Selby was left in a break of 63 was the catalyst for him taking the frame and the match completing a fantastic turnaround with a 4-3 victory to win the Riga Open European Tour one event.

How does Mark Selby keep producing these wonderful moments and unbelievable comebacks? Is it simply the refusal to lose a match if he can do anything at all about it? Or does he simply relax and loosen up to play his best snooker, pressure free, by feeling that all is lost in the match? Well only Mark Selby could explain it, but he does it time and time again proving rightly so that he is one of the very best in the business, and one of the toughest men to finish off. 

 

What another key and amazing moment that was in the snooker year of 2014, and there's more in that vain to come tomorrow when I reveal my best moment of September, so be sure to come back and have a look out for that.