On May 2, Beijing time, the 2021 Snooker World Championships ended two semi-finals at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, and three-time champion Mark Selby defeated the 2015 champion Bin Ham 17-15 in a fierce confrontation to attack the fourth world championship.
Bingham and Selby
Selby, the 2014, 2016 and 2017 champions, will compete with Sean Murphy for this year's title, and if he can reach the top, he will be on the same list as several great players – only Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Steve Davis and John Higgins have more than three World Championship titles.
It will be the 37-year-old Selby's fifth time reaching the final of the World Championships, losing to Higgins for the first time in 2007. This is also Selby's 30th ranking final, and he will be attacking the 20th individual ranking title. In 2019, Selby lost form and confidence for a while, but with the help of coach Chris Henry, he gradually found himself. Last year he lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals of the World Championships, and this season he has two titles.
Bingham, on the other hand, played an inspirational performance, this year for the first time in a decade to experience the World Championship qualifiers, twice through the decider all the way to the semi-finals. The scores were tightly tied from 4-4 in the first stage to 9-7 in the second stage, with Selby taking a slight lead. Bingham exploded in the third phase, opening with a single shot of 131, 96, 78 and 68 to win five straight sets to stretch the score to 12-9.
Selby
However, Bingham, who had the initiative, could not continue to exert pressure, Selby won two sets of 50+ with two strokes, and Bingham scored 63 points to win the final set of the third stage, ending the third stage with a 13-11 score. In the fourth stage of the tiebreaker, Selby snatched up three sets before half-time with a one-shot break and 68 points, drawing 14-14. Back from the break, Selby 76-51, 132 singles to take the match point first, 16 to 14, Bingham single shot 85 points to save the next match point, but due to the schedule, the game was suspended.
The game resumed three hours later, moving into "Stage Five," when Sean Murphy had beaten Karen Wilson 17-12. Selby opened with a single shot of 41 points, Bingham got a chance to clear the stage, but after scoring the last red ball, the position was not ideal to lose the position, Selby introduced Ann Global confrontation in the color ball stage and gained the upper hand, using the green ball to make a high-difficulty snooker, Bingham five solutions failed, the last solution also missed the opportunity, Selby took over the green ball into the corner bag, cleared until the pink ball locked the victory, 17-15.
Selby said: "It feels incredible to be in the final of the World Championships again, it's a tough game. Stewart is so good that it's strange just to think he's going to play qualifying, because he's definitely one of the top eight players. The whole time I was trying to keep up with him and find a way to reverse. I was calm at 16-15 and felt like I was in good shape, he chased it with a wonderful clearance, and in the last set I hit a wave of small orgasms to cross the finish line. ”
Selby and Bingham
"The time invested on the practice stage, and all the sacrifices made away from home, it's all worth it to get to the final now. I need to play at the best level because Sean plays very well and we grow up together, just a year apart. I was 14 and when he was 15 we played at Willie Thorne's club and we're still fighting. ”
Bingham, for his part, believed Selby had deliberately delayed at certain points in the game, saying: "One shot he thought about for three minutes and then just stuck the ball on. It's almost for tactical purposes, and you have to question that, did he mean it or something? I want a smooth and natural game where in some innings we don't have a goal and no one gives the other side a chance. ”
'It's tough to lose a game like this, Mark played great, today he was full of firepower and deserved to win.