Selby continues 100 per cent record - 09/10/2008

MARK Selby stamped his authority on the PartyPoker.com Premier League Snooker with a 6-0 victory over Steve Davis at the Malvern Theatres in Great Malvern.

Mark Selby is top of the Premier League

Selby went into the game top of the league with two wins out of two but watched Ronnie O’Sullivan light up the evening with a sublime whitewash of Ding Junhui.

The Jester from Leicester was not to be undone though and repeated the trick against the six-time World Champion Davis, who was somewhat out of sorts despite a solid showing in the Shanghai Masters.

“Apart from the second frame where I should’ve got a century and the last frame they were pretty scrappy,” said Selby. “But I played well enough to get some decent scores and take them from Steve.”

Two whitewashes in one night for the crowd in Great Malvern – but Selby was focussed on the win rather than trying to emulate the Rocket. “It didn’t cross my mind to be honest,” said Selby, who picked up £7,000 on the night with his final frame ton. “To beat a player like Steve is a great achievement whatever the score and as I said last week, I really believe I can win it.”

After the quick-fire action of O’Sullivan’s game, Selby and Davis spent ten minutes on the green which Selby twice failed to pot to win the first frame before finally edging a disjointed opener in just over 25 minutes.

The world No.4 picked his way through a cluttered table brilliantly to take a two-frame lead with a break of 95 and it began to look ominous for the 51 year-old. Davis employed his two-cushion break again in the third frame but left a red into the middle for Selby to get off the mark.

Davis was allowed back into the frame though but couldn’t get into a rhythm despite a 43 break and Selby won a scrappy frame to move into a 3-0 lead.

A break of 33 looked like sealing the points but he missed a tight red to let Davis in. The Nugget replicated that miss though and Selby never looked back in the frame, sealing the win with a clinical break of 80.

Now the aim for Selby was to match O’Sullivan’s whitewash and he made a fine start reaching 47 before missing a long red. Davis put him in trouble with some good safety and had two chances to get a frame on the board, but they only yielded four and seven respectively and Selby moved to 5-0.

The icing on the cake came in the final round as Selby – like O’Sullivan before him – finished off the game with a century, to complete the whitewash and move two points clear at the top of the table with a 100 per cent record.

October 9 - Malvern Theatres, Great Malvern
Mark Selby 6–0 Steve Davis
68-36 (Selby 48), 95-3 (Selby 95), 66–43 (Davis 43), 113-7 (Selby 33, 80), 73-49 (Selby 47), 101-0 (Selby 101)