Selby takes on Noppon at Crucible
SHEFFIELD: Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham gets what he wants.
After the 28-year-old from Samut Prakan stunned 2005 world champion Shaun Murphy 10-4 on Tuesday, he said he wanted to meet three-time Crucible king Mark Selby in the last 16 round of the World Championship.
Hours later, the Englishman saw off Crucible debutant Jordan Brown from Northern Ireland 10-6 to set up a second round clash with the world No.42 Thai. The best-of-25 match begins today at 4pm, Thai time.
World No.7 Selby has picked up two ranking titles this season, winning both the English and Scottish Opens to become the first player to win two Home Nations Series titles in a single campaign.
“The first round is always the hardest to win. You are always really edgy and you don’t feel you are a part of the tournament until you get that out of the way,” said 37-year-old Selby.
“I suppose I was a little bit surprised that Noppon beat Shaun. There are no easy games anymore though. I’ve played Noppon a few times and he was fantastic. For the players, I don’t think it was that much of a shock. The viewers watching will obviously put it as a bigger one. Knowing how he can play, it doesn’t surprise me that much.”
Selby will be hoping to progress and reach the quarter-finals for the first time since he last won the world title in 2017.
Also on Tuesday, Jamie Clarke made an astonishing Crucible debut by knocking out world No.4 Mark Allen, winning 10-8 in the first round.
Allen made five centuries, tying the record for a first round match at the Crucible, set 20 years ago by Ronnie O’Sullivan.
But he couldn’t shake off a determined opponent and it was Clarke who finished the match strongly to book a second round meeting with Anthony McGill.