The Belgian bullet

Luca Brecel celebrating with the World Championship (Image: Getty Images)

Luca Brecel beat four-time champion Mark Selby 18-15 to become snooker’s first World Champion from mainland Europe. Brecel had never previously won a match at the Crucible but put on one of the greatest tournament performances the famous venue has ever seen.

In the opening round, Brecel came through a deciding frame against Ricky Walden to win 10-9. In the second round, Brecel faced former World Champion Mark Williams. Brecel put on an excellent all-round performance and finished with a superb break of 67.

In the quarter-finals, ‘The Belgian Bullet’ would face his toughest opponent yet: ‘The Rocket’, Ronnie O’Sullivan. The seven-time champion held a commanding lead of 10-6 but lost seven successive frames.

After the match, O’Sullivan was very critical of his performance.

He said: “I didn’t put up any resistance. I wasn’t playing well enough to have any impact on the game.”

For Brecel, his reward would be a semi-final matchup with the sensational Si Jiahui. The expectation going into the match was huge and both players did not fail to disappoint. Si raced out to an incredible 14-5 lead. Many thought that the match was done as Si was three frames from his first final, but Brecel was far from finished.

Brecel and Si shake hands after their semi-final match concluded (Image: Getty Images)

The match completely turned around as Brecel went on an astounding 11-frame run and was one frame away from what would be his first final. Si was on the edge of collapse until he managed to win one frame to get within two of victory. But Brecel was not to be denied. At 16-15, Brecel won the 32nd frame to complete the greatest comeback in Crucible history.

In the final against Selby, Brecel’s aggressive style of snooker would pay off. Brecel won the opening session 6-2. But Selby known for his miraculous comeback, specifically in finals, struck back in the second session as he won 6-3. Selby gave fans a bit of history as he made the magical 147 maximum break. The final score was 9-8 to Belgian heading into Monday afternoon.

Many questioned whether this may be the turning point in the match as Brecel was coming off worse despite holding a slender lead. However, the bullet delivered a huge blow to Selby as he showed his mettle once again by putting together four century breaks.

As the afternoon session ended, Brecel re-established his lead and went into the evening session 16-10.

Tensions would rise for Brecel as errors would start creeping into his game at the worst time. A few stray shots resulted in Selby closing the gap and gaining all the momentum. The final went into the last mid-session interval at 16-13. ‘The Jester from Leicester’ continued his charge as he took frames 30 and 31 to leave him trailing by a single frame.

At 16-15, the match looked destined to go the distance, but Brecel managed to compose himself for one last push. In frame 32, Brecel put on a wonderful display of snooker and left Selby with snookers required. After missing a difficult red along the cushion, Brecel finally snapped Selby’s streak and was one frame away from being World Champion.

Mark Selby and Brecel during the World Championship final (Image: Getty Images)

Everything had to be flawless from Selby but after a difficult safety went wrong, Brecel pounced. After a wonderful canon on the pink, a chance to win the World Championship opened. The moment Brecel had waited for arrived. As the pink fell into the pocket, the Belgian held his arms out wide as the crowd erupted into enormous applause. Brecel finished the match with a century.

Brecel, 28, became the fourth non-Brit to win at the Crucible and was the first since Neil Robertson’s victory in 2010.

Post-match, Brecel was very emotional but had nothing but praise for his opponent.

"It's amazing. [Selby is] the worst opponent to have in the final. He just keeps coming back, he's such a fighter and at 16-15, I didn't fancy winning at all, to be honest."

The snooker at this year’s World Championships has been nothing short of magnificent. With the arrival of new stars in Luca Brecel and Si Jiahui, the future of snooker is in safe hands.