Mark Selby Begins World Snooker Championship Title Defence
-in Commanding Style as He Leads Kurt Maflin in First-Round Opening Session
- Mark Selby leads Kurt Maflin 6-3 and needs only four more frames to win
- No first-time champion in Sheffield has returned to retain the trophy
- Selby and Maflin shared the first four frames before Selby pulled away
- Marco Fu leads Jimmy Robertson 5-4 after break of 66 in final frame
Daily Mail UK, 18 April 2015
Mark Selby was straight into an auspicious groove as he began his title defence at the Betfred World Championship on Saturday.
The 31-year-old from Leicester rocked Ronnie O'Sullivan in last year's final to claim his maiden Crucible title, and returned to ease 6-3 ahead of Kurt Maflin in their first-round tussle.
No first-time champion in Sheffield has returned to retain the trophy 12 months on, and that factor has taken the tag of the 'Crucible curse'.
Mark Selby plays a shot in the first round match against Kurt Maflin on day one of the World Championship
Mark Selby and Norwegian Kurt Maflin look on during their first round match at the Crucible in Sheffield
Selby is equipped with the form to be a repeat winner, having lifted the German Masters and China Open titles this year, and breaks of 84, 108, 53, 69 and 56 gave him a commanding lead to take into the evening session.
His match with Maflin concludes on Saturday, the only clash to reach a finish on day one of the tournament, and Selby looked like being too strong for his London-born opponent who currently represents Norway, where he has lived for more than a decade.
Maflin defeated Steve Davis in the qualifying stages, and he beat Selby in Germany last year, but this was a Crucible debut for the 31-year-old. Selby, despite being just two months older than Maflin, is an old hand at the tournament, having made his first World Championship appearance 10 years ago.
They shared the four frames before the mid-session interval, Maflin making runs of 96 and 60, before Selby opened a two-frame lead and then also claimed the seventh after a re-spotted black.
It looked a pivotal frame, as Maflin twice attempted to double in the black but on the second occasion left Selby a long pot, which he fired assuredly into the centre of the pocket.
Selby match against Maflin concludes on Saturday, the only clash to finish on day one of the tournament
Back came Maflin with an 88 break, but when Selby bustled through the last of the session he had a commanding advantage to take into the concluding session, needing just four more frames to reach the second round.
Hong Kong cueman Marco Fu took the final frame of the session with a break of 66 to nudge 5-4 in front of Bexhill's Jimmy Robertson.
Robertson was mauled 10-1 by Selby when making his World Championship debut four years ago, but after qualifying for the second time was making a stronger fist this time.
The 28-year-old Englishman briefly threatened to make a 147 maximum break, which would have been the 11th in the tournament's history, but missed the 11th red in the fifth frame.
World Championship Snooker 2015 Schedule, Scores and Results
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FORMAT:
First round: Saturday 18, Friday 24 April. Best of 19 frames
Second round: Thursday 23, Monday 27 April. Best of 25 frames
Quarter-finals: Tuesday 28. Wednesday 29 April. Best of 25 frames
Semi-finals: Thursday 30 April, Saturday 2 May. Best of 33 frames
Final: Sunday 3, Monday 4 May. Best of 35 frames
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