2015 UK Championship - A classical display of Selby-ness

Nothing compares with a classical late-night drama, so it was really no surprise to see Mark Selby and Jamie Jones go all the way until the last frame, with Selby performing one of his usual display of snooker for a triumphant 6-5 victory.

It's way pass 2am in Romania as I write this and Selby has probably finished his press conference where he shared personal thoughts about the tremendous victory he recorded against a player that in all fairness played better than him.

A great 53 followed by an outstanding 133 were opening the scoreline of this match, Jamie being the author of both breaks, although the mid-session interval was somehow finding the lads stuck at 2-2 Selby's top contribution being a 54 break.

A 5^th frame won on the pink was restoring Jamie's leadership, but Selby was sure to draw level with runs of 33 and 40. It was 3-3.

History seemed to be repeating itself when Jones took, once more, control of the match and then ... frame 8 happened.

It was a pure drama that landed on Selby needing a snooker, getting it and then needing one more, while his opponent miscalculated the in-off of the cue ball and granted Selby his much-desired snooker, to which the Leicester man added the pink and black to restore the balance of the match.

A brilliant 111 break was taking Jones one away from victory, proving that despite his earlier bad luck he was still the man to beat.

Drama kicked back when Selby won the next frame on the black thus forcing a decider which was won fair and square with a top break of 67. In the end, experience and attitude made the difference.

Still, Selby' statement after the match was: "I don't know how I've won the game".

Looking back at the beginning of the day John Higgins managed to book himself a place in the next round by beating "Captain" Ali Carter 6-2.

Although "The Captain" started with a powerful and extremely positive 89 break to take the opener, Higgins took the next five frames with runs of 46, 64, 77, 53 and 59 to go 5-1 up.

Ali disturbed his flow and pulled back a frame, but unfortunately it proved quite late, as Higgins closed with a 57 (as a response to Carter's previous 54) and won the frame and match on the black. 

The shock of the day came from the next table where the reigning world champion, Stuart Bingham was sent home by a furious Peter Ebdon, by 6-3.

Ebdon took the first two frames by using breaks of 66 and 41, the mid-session interval finding him still in control as his opponent only managed to win a frame. It was 3-1.

After the 15-minutes break the players shared frames until 4-3, a decisive moment which Ebdon fully took advantage off and encouraged it with breaks of 52 and 109 to win the match.

Also wearing the victory crown is Joe Swail who beat Michael Holt by 6-1, but also David Grace who beat Jack Lisowski 6-4 after being 3-1 down.

To check out the entire list if results, click here.