Ronnie O’Sullivan on how Luca Brecel is beating Mark Selby in World Snooker Championship final

ByNigel Chiu

Updated 30/04/2023 at 19:56 GMT

Ronnie O’Sullivan has explained the importance of keeping a good rhythm against Mark Selby as he praised Luca Brecel for his strong start against the four-time world champion in the Crucible final. Brecel came out firing by winning the opening three frames and appeared to not be prepared to get bogged down by Selby’s more cautious and slower style.

Ronnie O’Sullivan believes Luca Brecel is playing the right way to beat Mark Selby in the World Championship final and thinks keeping a good rhythm will be key for the Belgian.

Brecel led Selby 6-2 after the first session and clearly didn’t want to get drawn into his opponent's slower safety game.

He is playing in his maiden Crucible final after making history by becoming the first player to win a match from nine frames behind on his way to stunning Si Jiiahui in the semi-finals.

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“He’s such a good cueist,” said O’Sullivan in the Eurosport studio. “A lot of the shots he’s played today, me and Alan (McManus) haven’t even seen them until he’s played them.

“He has a range which we don’t recognise. You can’t predict what he’s going to do because he can get so much work on that cue ball that he has different possibilities to him on the snooker table.

“He hits very high up on the white so is getting a different stroke on the ball to everyone else on the circuit.”

'That is an immense shot!' - Incredible pot from Brecel on the brown

Brecel played the Sunday afternoon session with an average shot time of 20 seconds, the same as his semi-final against Si. In contrast, Selby was four seconds faster than his match with Mark Allen.

O’Sullivan’s explanation about keeping a good tempo comes from experience, after he lost the 2014 World Championship final to Selby from 10-5 up, but got payback six years later in the semi-final by winning the last three frames to beat The Jester from Leicester on a decider.

“A slow player can make you slow down but Luca hasn’t allowed that,” said The Rocket. “What’s happened is Luca is playing his game and it’s made Selby rush up a bit.

“He’s thinking, ‘I’m back to the table sooner than I normally am’. It’s bamboozled him. So it can work both ways.

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“You can’t stop your opponent playing slow, so Mark Allen got sucked into Selby’s rhythm and lost his own rhythm.

“Luca is ‘see ball, pot ball, see ball, pot ball’. If he comes out in the second or third session and ‘sees the ball, looks around, walks around’ then he will start to miss balls.

“If he can stop himself from doing that, he can stay in a good place. Whether he’s winning or losing, stay in a good place – be happy with his tempo.

'Brecel clearly fancies the job!' - Advantage to the Belgian Bullet after first session

“As long as you’re happy with your rhythm, he can go bang. What takes Selby two hours to do, it will take him 40 minutes.

“You’ve just got to be aware of it and I don’t think a lot of people are aware of that side of the game.”

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