World Snooker Championship: Mark Selby makes historic 147 and trails Luca Brecel by one frame after thrilling session

Selby became the first player to make a 147 in a Crucible final, 40 years on from Cliff Thorburn’s historic maximum, in the penultimate frame on Sunday night.

However, the match was all about Brecel prior to that as he made his game plan clear from the off as he went for his shots to the delight of the crowd and won the opening three frames in his maiden Crucible final.

The Jester from Leicester made a great start to the evening session with a 134, his highest break of the match so far, but Brecel hit back with a 99 to make it 7-3, even though he missed a red which strangely veered off to the right.

Brecel missed a routine red early in the 11th frame, which Selby punished with a 96 as the momentum began to change.

A tactical fourth frame came down to the final red, with Brecel 50-41 up. The Belgian Bullet made an error in the safety exchange and Selby cleared the table to get within two frames at the interval.

Brecel came back from the break with a spectacular 72 break to stop the Selby run and he opened up a 9-5 lead after a 67, despite the four-time world champion fluking a red in the middle of the frame.

There was no sign of Brecel stopping going for his shots and it proved costly when he missed multiple long reds and was punished by Selby, who pulled a frame back.

It looked on early in the frame and a red near the left cushion was the only major issue. However, Selby got a nice position on the black to get in behind the red and rolled it in.

From there, the 147 was never in doubt and Selby himself admitted he felt surprisingly calm as he made Crucible history.

He then stole a close final frame, after Brecel missed a red on 48, so will be just one behind going into the last two sessions on Monday, which are live on Eurosport and discovery+.

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