The Masters; Mark King throws Mark Selby out
The most coveted and prestigious non-ranking invitational snooker championship, “The Masters”, is underway at the Wembley Arena. The tournament, offering a huge amount of prize-money is being contested among the world’s top-16 snooker players.
Mark Selby entered the tournament with high hopes and expectations. The “Jester from Leicester” has a tremendous track record in this particular event. The defending champion has won 11 out of 12 matches he played in this event and clinched the 2008 and
2010 titles. On the brink of emulating late Paul Hunter, Mark failed to keep his outstanding momentum and lost at the hands of Mark King in a stunner. Undoubtedly King has already pulled off an upset in the tournament, as he defeated one of the favourites
for the title in a convincing manner. This is the second time in King’s career that he has made it to the quarter-finals of the Masters.
Before this stunning victory over Mark Selby, King looked to be the last person raising the title, as he entered the tournament as the lowest seed. However, King belied the underdog status and surged ahead with appreciation and a big round of applause. In
the match Selby surged ahead of King with a break of 70 in the first frame and a clearance of 32 in the second frame, with the help of some marvellous potting. However, King replied with an astounding 139 to level the score-line 2-2.
The next two frames fell into King’s basket, as Selby started with the fifth frame with an affirmative break of 42; however, it was King who built a solid break of 57 as Mark missed an easy pink. The next frame fell to King in the same manner as Mark on
59 missed a tricky red, providing an opportunity for the winner to clear the fifth frame with a confirmatory break of 55.
However, “Mark the shark” came back into the match by claiming the next two frames with 46 and a century to level up the match with a score-line of 4-4. Nonetheless it was King’s day as he dominated the last frames of the encounter keeping his lead intact.
The world number 16 King knocked in 44, 79, 50 and 77 to make sure that he regained the lead over the defending champion. Mark King played at his best, producing his best snooker game so far in the season, by defeating the defending champion who was likely
to win the event third time in four years. Mark has made his way to the quarter-finals of the event where he will probably meet Shaun Murphy or Jamie Cope. The 36-year-old left handed cueist expressed, “I am Jubilant and happy, I saw it coming as I have been
working hard on my break building skills. I practiced hard to play well in the season, work my way up in the world rankings and get my hands on some prize money, fortunately it worked out well and now I am in a good position to run for the titles”.
On the other hand the defeat proved to be a devastating blow for the “Jester from Leicester”, as he had high hopes of emulating the late Paul Hunter who won the event thrice in his career. Despite his high hopes, Mark was enjoying a superb form as he won
matches in the championship league and booked his place in the final stages of the event. However, Selby was unable to pull off a victory in his first match of the most prestigious non-ranking event of world snooker.
“Mark the shark” stated in a post match conference, “I started the match in a satisfactory manner, but I could not carry on with my touch after the third frame. As I was defending the titles I should have played with more concentration, King just played
amazing snooker and got the better off me. I took a break from snooker over the Christmas to relax a bit so I have no excuses”.
The Masters offers the highest prize-money after the world snooker championship. What makes this tournament even more interesting is the sense of sheer competition. It is in this event that the world’s top-16 snooker players compete for the title and the
mega prize money.
More updates will flow in as the action-packed all-star tournament continues…
Tags: