Selby stuns Rocket

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The Leicester potter, winner of last month's Wembley Masters, bravely battled back from 8-5 down to beat the Rocket 9-8 in a dramatic final-frame decider at the Newport Centre.

In doing so, the 24-year-old pocketed £35,000 as this year's worthy winner and also claimed his first ranking title.

O'Sullivan, who took home £17,500 as the runner-up, looked favourite to clinch his 20th ranking victory, a milestone only previously achieved by Stephen Hendry (36) and Steve Davis (28).

The provisional world number one also won an additional £2,000 after his 143 break in the semi-finals clinched the high-break prize.

But it was little consolation for the two-time Welsh winner as Selby, a finalist at last season's 888.com World Championship, prevailed by winning four frames on the spin for a remarkable victory.

Selby and O'Sullivan battled for more than three hours before ending the first session deadlocked at 4-4. That left both players requiring five more frames to claim the first world ranking silverware of 2008.

Breaks of 93 and 135 made it 6-4 in only 18 minutes as Chigwell potter O'Sullivan stamped his authority on proceedings, but world number five Selby kept himself in touch with a pressure clearance of 72 to reduce his arrears.

However, O'Sullivan immediately hit back with a 63 break to make sure of the 11th frame, leaving him needing two frames for victory. He took the next thanks largely to a 54 break, but Selby rallied to make it 8-6 after pinching the 14th frame as both players were guilty of missing routine pots.

And the Midlands man pulled even closer with a 62 break to trail by just one frame, before forcing a decider by winning the 18th frame by 14 points. Selby then pocketed a cool 48 break in the decider to lead by 30 points and, after O'Sullivan missed an ambitious double, Selby held his nerve to get over the winning line.