Mark Selby pays tribute to ‘snooker great’ Ronnie O’Sullivan after UK Championship final
MARK SELBY hailed Ronnie O’Sullivan as one of the two best players to have ever played snooker after beating him in the Betway UK Championship final.
Mark Selby emerged a 10-7 victor from an epic UK final, which included four 130+ breaks in five frames, to crown a brilliant 2016.
Selby is only the sixth player in history to win the UK and world championships in the same year but he was quick to praise his opponent, who came back to 8-7 from 7-2 down in a high-scoring final.
"To play Ronnie O'Sullivan in any game is always a great atmosphere and gives you a buzz," says Selby.
"I had to be on the top of my game, and if I had only played at 60% then I wouldn't have won.
"In my eyes Ronnie and Stephen Hendry are still two of the greatest players to play the game.
“It is a fantastic feeling to play him in the final."
"I just want to say well done to Mark he played fantastic today, he deserved it," O'Sullivan said.
"I enjoyed today, the crowd have been fantastic. I scored alright but I missed too many easy balls.
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"You can't afford to do that because if you start giving your opponent confidence and easy chances, they're going to annihilate you.
"I think I've done OK considering he's world number one and he's so far ahead of everybody else."