Mark Selby 10-7 Ronnie O'Sullivan: Frame-by-frame

So, that's about us - thanks all for your company and comments, and snooker is back in January with the Masters. My days, that was good.

Selby lifts the trophy as three of four pieces of confetti fall, he poses for pictures, and really, what a player he is, already one of the greats with so much more to come. I guess he's not got any all-timer at their peak to compete with, but even so. And what a ridiculous final we had; perhaps Ronnie can't quite sustain the brilliance as once he could, and certainly isn't the 2004 version of himself, but he really played tonight, and still Selby saw him away.

The sixth man to win the world and UK in the same year then talks about his mate Bobby Lee, who travels with him and received some tragic news this week.

"I know I had to be on top of my game ... if I'd been 50 or 60% I wouldn't have won."

And here's the champion...

"I scored alright but I missed too many easy balls."

A brilliant display form both players. "Best player all week, deserves his victory ... I've had a great week, it's been like an all-expenses holiday for me. I'm having a great time," says Ronnie.

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It's remarkable how many of Selby's pots have wobbled in the jaws but gone in, and there goes another, as the balls are duly despatched. What a performance this is from the world champion and world number one; O'Sullivan just left himself too much to do this evening. Selb, meanwhile, is hunting another century, and there is it, a blue carefully stroked into the middle, then a pink rammed into the green pocket; he misses the black, but MARK SELBY IS THE UK CHAMPION!

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Selby is taking his time, spending more than a minute sizing up a red along the top rail; down it goes, the brown follows it, then a red above the black spot. If this next black goes, and is followed by position, this is very close to over. It's there, he's played it beautifully, and we're very close to done.

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Oh my! What a shot does O'Sullivan play, off a red on the side cushion, off top cushion, and in behind the brown. But Selby gets out of it, O'Sullivan misses a red into the top left corner by a way, and Selby smacks in a long red! Plenty to do, but a black follows it and this is a chance for frame and match!

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Somehow, there's nothing obvious on, so Selby tries to set the cue ball behind the pink cannoning it instead, and another safety exchange begins.

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We could use a scrappy one to punctuate the unreal clearances, and this might be it. O'Sullivan offers Selby a long-range plant, he takes it on, and very nearly pulls it off, instead covering the red nearest the pocket with the green. O'Sullivan probably has to swerve this, playing the pot at the same time, AND IT'S THERE! That is ridiculous! But then he misses the blue to the green pocket - it wobbles in the jaw, and could that be curtains?

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And Selby drives in a red to the far corner! What a pot that is! And a green comes next, as he makes his way down the table, then a red - but it'll need a pink back into the middle to continue the break, with no guarantee of being on anything. And he misses it! That was a bad miss, but there's nothing easy on.

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Naturally, Selby is equal to it, but then makes a mistake, unable to clip a red, and O'Sullivan puts him almost inside the yellow pocket. That's amazing control under pressure, given one mistake could mean curtains.

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A terrific safety shot from Selby forces O'Sullivan to roll into the pack off the side cushion, and he hits the pink. Oddly, Selby puts him back in rather than put him in more trouble, and a much better shot now leaves a tricky response.

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46 points ahead, Selby cannons the pack and doesn't get much in return. He has to take on a red to the middle from very close to it, which of course he does, potting it with ease. What an expensive miss that brown was; need O'Sullivan have played the shot? Of course, he's Ronnie O'Sullivan; he expected to pot it. Meantime, Selby eases around the table, gently removing the various balls, equals last year's centuries tally with a routine red and then sets about the colours. They go. This is so, so good.

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Sure enough, Selby leaves a red - in a manner of speaking. Because what a pot it takes to clip it into the bottom-left, dead weight. But the ball flies back up to baulk, O'Sullivan tries to force a brown into the middle, screwing it back, but misses and Selby has a chance! He needs the rest, but just about manages to wobble the pot home - it looked for all the world as though it was going to bounce out. Selby does not need to be asked twice. He sets about the balls, assiduously removing reds and blacks, and will be one away very soon.

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O'Sullivan first won this competition 23 years ago, when he was 17. What a ridiculous, ludicrous, wondrous human being.

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O'Sullivan misses a black, callously denying us four consecutive total clearances, useless. But he's only one behind, and Selby will be feeling pensive when he steps up to break. Drink this in, because rarely do we see someone so good at anything, never mind snooker.

A delicate little cannon is all it takes to free the majority of the pack, and this is going to be another total clearance isn't it. O'Sullivan cannons the pack off the black, and they spread beautifully. This is electrifying.

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Selby takes on a red, overcuts again, and O'Sullivan leaves him on the top cushion. He can't get back to baulk - he can't get anywhere near - and The Most Naturally Talented Player Ever To Pick Up A Cue knocks in the first red from close the blue spot, follows it with a pink, and here we go.

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O'Sullivan leaves a red to the middle following the break, but Selby overcuts his effort, there's a double-kiss, and O'Sullivan misses too! But the ball rolls along the top cushion, and is covered by the green ... Selby comes off the aforementioned cushion but can't pot, so a safety exchange doth unfold.

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There is nothing better than a snooker final, and this is such a snooker final.

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O'Sullivan finds himself faced with a tricky black, so simply caresses it home, sorts out an unassailable lead, makes another century, turns it into a total clearance, the third in three frames, and what a match this is becoming! The two best players in the world, grooved and flowing - but O'Sullivan really must win the next one too.

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The pink is more or less out of commission, so O'Sullivan uses the blue, then moseys on down to the black, and with the way the reds are spread now, it'd be surprising if in about three minutes time it wasn't 8-6.

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"It's our Djokovic and Federer", says John Parrott, and that's a good comparison; the past-his-best maestro, and the relentless tactician. Selby leaves a red from the break and O'Sullivan takes it on, but misses. He appears to have left a red to the middle, but the green is blocking the route, so Selby tries a long one, cues across it slightly and misses. And this time, the red he leaves is more or less unmissable, so O'Sullivan sends it home, follows it with the green, a red ad a blue and already this is a good chance.

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Apparently, O'Sullivan didn't practise during the break, while Selby did. Whatever that tell us (nothing).

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Selby registers his first century of the match, the 446th of his career, and that's a brilliant clearance. But what a peculiar error from O'Sullivan which granted him the opportunity.

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Selby is making this looks very easy indeed. His cueing is smooth and he's having to do very little with the white, securing the frame and setting about a century break.

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Against Marco Fu last night, O'Sullivan was given the chance to come back, but Selby is in another class entirely. Still, though, the pink is tied up, several reds clustered around it and none around the black spot. He's forced up to baulk, taking a green, and looks perfectly composed, working out his route superbly.

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O'Sullivan leaves one, and Selby takes on the pot. He misses, but then O'Sullivan misses a much easier one, and by a distance. His cueing hand was forced onto the cushion, but that's no excuse. Selby takes the red he leaves, and immediately, is in the balls. It's ridiculous to say the chance is a frame-winner, but the way the table is spread, it's certainly an opportunity to rack up a sizeable lead.

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So, can O'Sullivan retain the momentum? It's him to break...

Here they come!

Imagine not liking snooker. Literally, some people don't.

Right, that's the mid-session. Gather yourselves folks, because there's a rocket on the loose, if that's how one describes rockets.

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Selby looks glum as O'Sullivan clears a couple of reds at the top of the table, comes back down, takes a red and a pink, and that's the frame! 3-1 tonight, which no one saw coming towards the end of frame 10. But he were are. As the old saying goes, never give genius an even break. This really has been a phenomenal run, so many difficult shots made to look ludicrously easy. Total clearance, everything gone, bye-bye balls!

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O'Sullivan plays a poor positional shot on the red - he's now got to pot the blue, off its spot but from close to the side cushion, and get back on a red. Naturally, he does it with mortifying ease, and though there's still work to be done, this is now a frame-winning opportunity. 5 ahead, 83 remaining.

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Selby won't have wanted to break, and he leaves one, rammed in by O'Sullivan to the bottom left. That is such a pot, distance between cue ball and object ball and object ball and pocket. Beautiful. The blue comes next, rolled in, another red and black, and there's a break while the referee cleans the ball. Another red and black, and O'Sullivan is in trouble - there's a red on, but not the one he played for, into the left middle. He can't see much of it but punished is home nonetheless, and here we go.

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So, how will Selby respond? He'll be nauseous as you like after that, but there is no one in sport more equanimous.

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O'Sullivan is up, takes the first red - that one on the cushion, made to look easy - and needs everything but the black. This would be positively larcenous! And he takes it, clipping the pink into the green pocket! We could be in for such a night.

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Selby is rolling, 52 needed 83 left. He takes his time plotting his route - there's one red on the bottom cushion, but provided he's not straight on it, it won't be a problem. But then Selby plays a poor positional shot on the penultimate red, is straight on the pink, is forced to force it, and he misses!

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Selby, unflustered, plays a lovely yellow into its own pocket, feathers the pack, takes the next red, and this is a frame-winning opportunity now. There is no way he's wasting it.

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But then he gets minor bad contact while contemplating whether to take pink or black - he goes for pink, but misses the red. Usually you'd expect him to force that through anyway, but his cueing wasn't clean enough. He's not left anything, but, and a safety exchange ensues; he plays the first telling shot, but typically Selby responds, leaving him on the top cushion. O'Sullivan then plays the red furthest away down the other end, and this time, Selby is on something. He does not miss, and follows it with the green. Key moments coming up.

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O'Sullivan does brilliantly, taking the easy red, then the yellow, then a tricky red and an even trickier blue. It's not so much the pots but the pressure and the need to secure position, which he does and suddenly he's flowing round the table like a cheetah on acid.

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O'Sullivan leaves the cue ball tight on the top cushion, which forces Selby to look at two reds, one to the middle and one to the bottom left. He takes his time, attempts the latter, and it goes! He's close behind the black, so plays the snooker, ad O'Sullivan plays off the cushion in the pack. He plays it well, but leaves a chance - a tricky one, given three reds close behind the cue ball, but Selby wobbles it home, and attempts the pink to the middle, back up the table ... and he misses! Chance for O'Sullivan!

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O'Sullivan leaves a tempter - a red halfway up the table, but Selby gets a kick, misses it by a fortnight and leaves a red! O'Sullivan knocks it in, but it's hard to see where his next red's coming from, so he takes a blue to the yellow pocket, and sticks Selby on the top cushion.

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O'Sullivan is back cruising around the table, rolling in a break of 80 to clear the balls and reduce the deficit to four. This is what it’s going to take.

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But Selby misses! O'Sullivan comes to the table needing two snookers, makes nine, misses a red and shortly afterwards, concedes. Selby has made an absolutely brilliant start to the session and he is all over this. All Ronnie can do is hope he gets the first chance, because in protracted frames, he's not up to this at the moment.

The last thing O'Sullivan needs is a safety exchange, and shonuff he leaves a red, beautifully knocked into the bottom right by Selby. he is playing with so much confidence now, and needs one more red for the frame, 60 ahead with 59 remaining.

Break of 56 for Selby, with six reds left on the table. It's beginning to look like he's got O'Sullivan's number.

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Alarm bells here for O'Sullivan. Another fantastic clearance from Selby after O'Sullivan failed to capitalise on loose balls and the Leicester man finished with 28, consecutive centuries. It means that Selby goes into the interval 6-2 ahead and he looks in full control of this final. O'Sullivan looks tired in his seat and he needs to snap himself out of this funk during the break otherwise this will be over very quickly. That's the end of the afternoon session - Selby can almost smell the finish line.

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O'Sullivan is looking a bit jaded here. Warning signs are in the body language as Selby misses a pink off its spot having made 58, but O'Sullivan can't cash in as he usually does. Another 51 from Selby and he moves halfway to the winning post of 10 frames. One more frame to be played this afternoon. More important obviously for O'Sullivan in the grand scheme of this final.

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A lot of errors from both men in a scrappy frame, but O'Sullivan, struggling for momentum, pays a heavy price when he has the chance to win the frame as he misses a blue at pace to a centre pocket. No such mistake from Selby as he slots the blue for a 4-2 lead. O'Sullivan has lost two frames that have ran for over 30 minutes which suggests O'Sullivan must win these frames with the first kill. That hasn't happened since the first frame.

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Eight frames to be played this afternoon and with three more frames of the session remaining, world champion Selby leads for the first time in the final. Ronnie O'Sullivan is punished for giving a few points away in fouls before a break of 63 gives Selby a slender lead. Selby has topped the rankings for the past 22 months. He is not going to fold in this or any other final. O'Sullivan will have to win it.

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Selby restores parity at 2-2. Both men had chances in the fourth frame, but Selby is not punished after missing a blue to a centre pocket as O'Sullivan misses an easy red. Selby mops up with a run of 67 good enough to bring us back to 2-2 in the final. A 15-minute break for the mid-session interval.

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O'Sullivan should have been 2-0 clear, but he puts the disappointment of losing that frame behind him to piece together a rapid 63 for a 2-1 advantage. Lovely plant on two reds leading 42-0 is the key to putting frame to bed. And O'Sullivan is smiling as he spots his friend the artist Damien Hirst in the audience. Neither player is yet at his Sunday best, but warming up nicely in the Barbican.

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The second frame takes many times longer than the first, with both players producing some fine tactical stuff - particularly Selby who picks up 12 points in fouls as O'Sullivan struggles to escape a snooker. But the decisive moment comes when O'Sullivan misses a simple brown - albeit played with the rest - and Selby clears up the colours to level the match.

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What a start from Ronnie. Selby misses poorly, leaves a red on, and O'Sullivan invites him to take a seat. He reels off an immaculate 124 clearance, and such is his mastery of the white that he barely faces a difficult pot. If god wants him to stop playing, consider us on the side of the devil.