World Snooker Championship 2023: Mark Selby edges past Matthew Selt as he starts quest for fifth Crucible title

Mark Selby held off a spirited fightback from Matthew Selt to reach the second round of the World Championship. The four-time champion led 6-3 overnight after a strong start where he produced breaks of 94, 83, 110 and 131. Ad He wasn’t cueing as impressively in a scrappy and tight deciding session but produced a fine 112 break to finally end Selt's hopes and win 10-8.

Tour ChampionshipSelby withstands Day charge to set up clash with Murphy in semi-finals30/03/2023 AT 15:57 Selby's second-round meeting with Gary Wilson will start on Saturday evening. Having seen Robert Milkins rally from 7-2 down to beat Joe Perry earlier in the day, Selt’s chances of a comeback didn’t get off to the best start as Selby moved four clear by taking the first frame of the session. But Selby did not look in the same strong form as he had at the start of the match and Selt took advantage of a missed red into the corner with a break of 74 to close to three behind again.

Selby found some rhythm to take the next frame and looked to be heading for a 9-5 lead before screwing the white into the middle. 'This is unfortunate' — Perry left stunned as he's wrongly introduced in comical gaffe Wilson forgets to name himself as one of the Crucible 147 club Wilson hits five centuries to storm past Day and set up Higgins clash, Murphy trails Jiahui Selt made the most of the unexpected reprieve to close the gap before the mid-session interval. A lengthy 14th frame featured a safety exchange without a ball potted for 10 minutes.