Selby conquers Paul Hunter Classic trophy

Mark Selby, the 2011 Paul Hunter Classic champion

After some really fabulous four days in Furth, Germany, Mark Selby performed a 4-0 whitewash over Mark Davis, to put his name on this year's Paul Hunter Classic trophy. With breaks of 47, 73, 99, 37 and 66 "The Jester from Leicester" won his first season’s ranking event.


It feels like almost yesterday Mark Selby and Mark Williams were playing their German Masters final in Berlin. Back then, the Welshman beat Mark by 9-7. Visibly disappointed, Selby received only the runner-up title, but that's ancient history, because from today on he will be remembered as the best player who rocked around the snooker table and won Players Tour Championship Event 4. Germany doesn't seem like such an unapproachable lady after all, isn't she?


Selby started his journey with a perfect 4-0 against the youngster Sam Harvey, didn't let himself to be slowed down by Rory McLeod, who also got the same 4-0 treatment, and booked himself a place into the Last 16 round by defeating the determined Craig Steadman with a similar scoreline.
Andrew Higginson found himself being crashed by Mark Selby as well, while the "Bulldog" Stephen Lee got hammered 4-1 during the quarter-finals, but Selby's "piece of resistance" was yet to come.

Mark Davis, the 2011 Paul Hunter Classic runner-up

The semi-final match was a tough one, as Mark had to face one of his old time rivals - Ronnie O'Sullivan. And it must be mentioned that O'Sullivan's performance these last few days was just fantastic. So, without too many problems, "The Rocket" went 3-1 up, in need of only one more frame to put his name of the final line-up.
However, Selby had other plans and with a top break of 126 he made his way back into the game to force the decider, a decider that he won fair and square.


Next in line was Mark Davis, the OnQ Promotion lad that defeated every player that dared to stay in his way. A spectacular performance that included victims like: Jimmy White, Jamie Cope, Matthew Selt, Fergal O'Brien and Neil Robertson.
It is fair to say that Davis had a pretty good chance from the beginning of the match, during the second frame leading Selby by 70-0. Still, he decided to play a plant instead of a safety shot, missed and so, Selby returned to the table to hit a 73 break and made the scoreline go 2-0 in his favour.

The entire gang, along with Alan Hunter (Paul's father -left)

Unfortunately for the Pink Army soldier, his performance during the final was not as strong and consistent as it was throughout the rest of the tournament, but this doesn’t make his runner-up title less valuable. He has proved he still has that killer instinct and taking into account his latest performances from the PTCs and beyond, I’m sure that if he keeps his spirits up he'll win a competition in no time.


But returning to our fresh champion, I must add that Selby's no stranger from winning a PTC event, for last year he won the PTC Event 2. 

The Paul Hunter Classic trophy

However, this is a more special one: maybe because it is obtained in Germany, maybe because is his first ranking title this season, maybe because it has the name of the late Paul Hunter written on it. Whatever the reason, it was great to see him all emotional when he got the trophy and with that big smile on his face. Great job, Jester!


In the end, I just want to say that I love when snooker travels to Germany. The crowd out there is so full of positive energy and the fans are absolutely mesmerized with the sport. One of the most important aspects for a tournament's success is that the audience is packed and loves each moment of it. And in Germany, that's a taken.

Can't wait for the German Masters! ;-)