Selby and Murphy slug it out in tight final at Crucible

Mark Selby battled back last night after Shaun Murphy had established a slender advantage at the end of the afternoon session of the best-of-35 World Snooker Championship final at the Crucible.

Selby was left a fine chance to level matters ahead of the evening session but left the ball over the pocket and Murphy gratefully swept up to carve out a 5-3 lead.

Selby pounced on an error from Murphy in the opening frame on the resumption to close the gap with a break of 85 but Murphy restored his twoframe lead with an impressive 98.

The match was level at 6-6 with Selby producing breaks of 67 and 86 before Murphy responded again with a clearance of 64 to lead once more.

It was 7-7 soon after as Selby stepped in again.

Selby then won the next two frames to establish a 9-7 lead, with just one more frame to be played last night.

Earlier, Murphy, bidding for his first world crown since 2005, looked set to regret an error when he missed what was effectively frame-ball for a 3-0 lead.

Murphy had continued where he left off in his semi-final against Kyren Wilson by winning the opening two frames of the final, and a break of 65 left him on the verge of extending his lead.

But a missed red proved the only chance Selby required to clear to brown and take the frame, and a break of 89 in the next enabled the three-time champion to haul himself level.

If the switch in momentum seemed ominous, Murphy swiftly recovered his poise with a break of 75 to retake the lead and ought to have re-established his two-frame advantage only for a missed black to enable Selby to make it 3-3.

Murphy won the next with a break of 64, but it was Selby with lots to think about after his error handed back the initiative.

Murphy had shrugged off criticism of his “theatrical” celebrations after sweeping aside Wilson in Saturday’s semi-final.

Murphy won five frames in a row in the concluding session of their last-four clash to turn what was at one stage a 10-4 deficit into a dominant 17-12 victory.

Murphy’s frequent fistpumps did not go down well with Wilson, who accused his opponent of being “a bit over-thetop and theatrical”, but Murphy retorted: “We are in a theatre and we are putting on a show.”

Selby completed a 17-15 win over Stuart Bingham in the other semi-final.

Mark Selby: Fought back after afternoon deficit.