Withstanding a stunning late comeback from his opponent, Luca Brecel defeated Mark Selby 18-15 in the championship match to win the 2023 World Snooker Championship and take home the sport’s top honor for the first time in his career.
After Cliff Thorburn (1980), Ken Doherty (1997), and Neil Robertson (2010), Brecel becomes the fourth non-British champion in the modern era and the first player from continental Europe to win the championship.
Brecel qualified for the Crucible Theatre as the youngest player ever in 2012 at the age of 17, but until this year’s event, he had lost all five of his previous matches there.
A spectacular few weeks have passed for “The Belgian Bullet” in Sheffield. He overcame his duck in the first round with a 10-9 deciding-frame victory and went on to beat Mark Williams, the seven-time defending world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, and Mark Selby.
In the semi-finals against the unexpected Si Jiahui, he also completed the largest comeback in Crucible history, coming back from 14-5 down to win 17-15.
Brecel maintained the same free-flowing and aggressive playing style that he had used throughout the competition against the supreme level and matchplay prowess of four-time champion Selby in the title match; it would serve him well during snooker’s championship match.
Brecel took the early lead in the match, securing a 9-5 advantage going into the overnight break. However, Brecel was forced to watch as Selby, a tenacious player, pieced together the final three frames of the first day, including a historic 147 in frame 16 – the first maximum break ever made in a world final.
Selby was the betting favorite despite Brecel having a slim 9-8 lead going into the final day. But the Belgian had a great start on Bank Holiday Monday, destroying his opponent in the opening mini-session and retaining a five-frame lead at 15-10 going into the last session of the evening.
The 28-year-old increased his lead after the restart, moving it to 16-10, but Selby dug deep, as he so often does, and was able to summon a five-frame run that cut the deficit to 16-15.
Brecel shown incredible fortitude by stemming the bleeding in frame 32 under extreme pressure and after going more than 50 minutes without potting a ball. He then accomplished his goal in grand fashion with a break of 112, his fifth century break of the day.
The fourth place designation
