Ronnie O’Sullivan breaks down Luca Brecel’s ‘best chance of winning’ against Mark Selby in World Championship final

Ronnie O’Sullivan said Luca Brecel faces “the ultimate test” when he takes on Mark Selby in the 2023 World Snooker Championship.

Brecel is yet to win a World Championship, or any Triple Crown event, while a win for Selby would move him on to five Crucible titles.

Selby’s style can be divisive and speaking to Eurosport, seven-time winner O’Sullivan acknowledged the size of the task facing the Belgian.

“Yeah, the ultimate test really, you know, two days, four sessions, final of the World Championship,” he began.

“Selby’s proven. It is going to be fun. Last time they played, I think Selby really gave him a good beating in the English Open final, but I think Luca would have learned from that and, you know, try and make that not happen again.

O’Sullivan predicted more exacting play from Selby, saying: “Selby’s going to try and shut up shop and try and keep Luca under wraps.

“Luca’s got to try and not allow that to happen. It will happen, but he’s got to try and limit the amount of time that it happens and just try and impose his own game.

“That’s his best chance of winning. Not saying he can’t win if it goes tight, but his best chance of winning is getting amongst the balls, scoring, building up momentum, putting lots of pressure on Selby.”

O’Sullivan believes that Brecel certainly has a chance, saying: “Listen, anything can happen, you know, snooker’s very fickle.

“You know, Mark could wake up, have a headache, not feel great on the first day. Anything can happen.”

– – –