DEFENDING CHAMPION RONNIE O’Sullivan leads Mark Selby 10-7 at the end of the first day of the all-English World Championship final on Sunday.
‘The Rocket’ is bidding to win his third successive world title and sixth in all at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in northern England, having never lost in snooker’s showpiece match.
By contrast Selby is seeking to be crowned champion of the world for the first time, having lost in the climax of the 2007 edition to Scotland’s John Higgins.
Yet there was little to choose between the two players in Sunday’s opening exchanges in the best of 35-frame final which will conclude on Monday.
Indeed had it not been for a surprise missed black in the eighth frame, Selby would have ended the first session all square at 4-4.
But it was O’Sullivan who recorded the lone hundred-break of the session with a contribution of 103 seeing him take the third frame while breaks of 69 and 63 helped him move ahead.
During the evening session, O’Sullivan moved into an 8-3 lead.
But Selby clawed his way back into the match, even though O’Sullivan made a break of 131 in the 14th frame.
Selby is aiming to avoid an unwanted hat-trick of defeats in the finals of snooker’s three major tournaments this season, having lost to Australia’s Neil Robertson — the man he defeated in his Crucible semi-final — in the climax of the UK Championship and going down 10-4 to O’Sullivan at the culmination of the Masters.
