Comeback king Luca Brecel has crowned his fabulous run at the Snooker World Championship by winning the title. The Belgian defeated favorite world number two and four-time champion Mark Selby (England) by 18:15 frames at the final table of Sheffield’s Crucible Theater late Monday night. The 28-year-old is the first continental European world champion.
In the afternoon session, Brecel had extended his lead from 9:8 to 15:10, the decision was made in the evening. Brecel, who had played a series of shots of more than 100 points, let Selby back into the game until 16:15, but then got his nerve under control. For his part, the Englishman made history on Sunday with the first maximum break (147 points) in a World Cup final.
In the quarterfinals and semifinals, Brecel had made impressive comebacks. First he won against the English snooker icon Ronnie O’Sullivan after a 6:10 seven frames in a row to a final score of 13:10. “The Belgian who terrorizes the British,” the newspaper later called him La Croix. O’Sullivan praised Brecel as “probably the most talented player I’ve ever seen”.
Before the tournament, Brecel sometimes celebrated longer or played Fifa
A round later, Brecel was even 5:14 behind against the Chinese World Championship debutant Si Jiahui – and still won 17:15. It was the biggest race to catch up in documented World Cup history. “I could cry. It’s unbelievable how I did it,” he said afterwards. Selby, world champion of 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2021, also defeated Mark Allen (Northern Ireland) 17:15 in the semifinals.
Brecel is an unusual champion, not a smooth gentleman. Before the tournament, he “celebrated” and sometimes only went to bed at six or seven in the morning, Belgian media quoted him as saying: “I played Fifa with my friends, drank and didn’t train.”