UK Championship 2023: Dominant Mark Selby brings A-game to York and blows Mark Joyce away in whitewash

Mark Selby cruised to victory in his opening UK Championship match with a 6-0 triumph over compatriot Mark Joyce on Monday.

The world No. 5 excelled to kick off his tournament in style and is primed to fight for his third title at the Barbican Centre in York.

The match took a while to get going, with both Selby and Joyce struggling to find room on an unfavourable-looking table.

Once the pack was spread, Joyce had a chance to put together a run but missed an easy red to allow the four-time world champion in.

Selby duly accepted and took his chance to put up a superb clearance of 44 to the pink to draw first blood.

He made things look much easier in the second frame to navigate his way to a break of 82 and double his lead.

Now in his rhythm, Selby fired a sensational red to kickstart another 60-plus clearance for 3-0 and had one foot in the second round at the conclusion of the fourth.

A break of 75 was rough for a 4-0 lead as he headed into the interval needing just two more frames to wrap up the win.

Selby put together a break of 48 before displaying a supreme safety shot to leave white behind the brown in baulk, limiting Joyce’s options.

He quickly returned to the table and continued his clearance with another solid break of 80 for 128-0 and to move within a frame of victory.

At this point, the match was all but over for Joyce who would have needed to win the remaining six frames to advance. All he could realistically do was avoid a whitewash.

But Selby was just too good. He displayed some excellent recovery play in a tightly contested final frame to move 64-4 ahead and wrap up the win.

Selby moved into the second round where he will play Barry Hawkins, who earlier dispatched Ben Woollaston 6-4.