Two 17-15 results produced a final between four-time world champion Mark Selby and ninth-seeded Luca Brecel, who had not won a match at the Championship until a fortnight ago.
Selby, however, barely got into trouble throughout the tournament. In the first match, he defeated Matthew Selt 10-8. In the second round, Gary Wilson was defeated 13-7.
In the quarter-finals, John Higgins took a 4-1 lead, but Selby answered with six frames in a row and eventually made it 13-7. The story of the semi-final is still fresh and also similar, as after a 6-3 interval, Selby posted a six-frame run to then not give up the lead.
Thus, in his 19th World Cup appearance, Selby secured his sixth World Championship final in eight attempts on the single table of the semi-final setting. Only the first final (2007) was lost by Selby, who became world champion in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2021.
Luca Brecel is participating in the World Championship for the sixth time and did not win a single match in the previous five participations (2012, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022). However, the three-time Belgian champion did win three ranking tournaments; the China Championship (2017), the Scottish Open (2021) and the Championship League (2022).
Tournament sequence
Brecel did not have to make up any ground in his first round either, but could only finally strike in the decisive frame against Ricky Walden (10-9).
After that, the bear was well loose, as Mark Williams found out, aia a 6-4 deficit and an 11-11 tie, he was beaten 13-11.
In the quarter-finals against another former champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, Brecel even made up for a 10-6 deficit to go through 10-10 to 13-10.
The story of the semi-finals is well known. Si Jiahui was ahead 14-5, saw Brecel win 11 in a row and eventually reach the final 17-15.
Mutual duels
The 'Belgian Bullet' as Brecel is called, managed to surprise Selby three times in the first five official encounters (through 2017), but since then Selby seems to be wearing a bulletproof vest.
Without exception, the six most recent encounters all went to Selby, always with more than one frame difference.
More than four months back, it was still 9-6 at the English Open. So it remains to be seen whether Brecel can have a laugh with the 'Jester of Leicester' on Monday evening. The fourth session is scheduled of a match that will last a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 35 frames.
