Scottish Open: Mark Selby retains title with 9-3 win over Ronnie O’Sullivan

Mark Selby retained the Scottish Open title with a commanding 9-3 victory over world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.

The 37-year-old was never behind against his fellow Englishman and won the last three frames of the afternoon session to lead 6-2 in Milton Keynes.

A break of 78 helped him move further ahead and he quickly closed out an 11th consecutive victory in ranking finals to equal Stephen Hendry’s record.

“This season has been fantastic,” world number four Selby told Eurosport.

“Even if I’d lost to Ronnie, there’s a lot of positives. Semi-finals, quarter-finals, won the European Masters so really consistent and happy.

“I always believe in myself when I play Ronnie. A lot of people collapse against him and are beaten before they start because of the aura he has.”

O’Sullivan paid tribute to the champion, who triumphed on his Scottish Open debut last year, and said: “Mark played fantastically well. I’ve no complaints.

“I didn’t really do a lot wrong but some days you just don’t score enough points and put your opponent under enough pressure. When you get to finals you’ve got to do that.”

With no fans in attendance and the Marshall Arena haunted by Covid tests and men in muzzles, you might as well amuse yourself in such soul-destroying times. Which the two main protagonists did before the festive mood turned slightly sour in Milton Keynes.

For the world champion it was hardly a laughing matter as Selby gained a measure of payback for losing 17-16 to his old rival in an epic Crucible semi-final in August that saw the Rocket clamber off his seat to win the final three frames as quickly as he bites a tip off with glistening breaks of 138, 71 and 64.

Selby added to his European Masters success in September by making off with the Stephen Hendry trophy – and equalling the seven-times world champion’s record of 11 straight victories in ranking finals set in the 1990s.

For O’Sullivan – who once described Selby as “the torturer” – it became a tortuous experience as he failed to score heavily enough with several obvious chances that came his way eluding his normally unflappable trademark break-building instincts.

Perhaps the tip torment tipped the balance in Selby’s favor. Who knows, but it was difficult to suggest the scoreline did not reflect the balance of power.