Mark Selby becomes the first man ever to reach 147 in a World Cup final

• Mark Selby becomes the first man to reach 147 in a World Cup final
• Luca Brecel flies out of the blocks against a tired Selby in the first session
• The run to the final has been huge news in his home country – dominating the back pages

Mark Selby became the first man to reach 147 in a World Cup final as he continued his quest for a famous fifth title.

The four-time champion led the Mexican surge with a Crucible crowd that included Manchester United legend Roy Keane when he scored the maximum in the 16th frame against Luca Brecel.

Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion, said on the BBC: What a magical moment. It doesn’t get any better than this. The audience is on their feet and we were on our feet.

It was the second 147 of the year after Kyren Wilson’s effort against Ryan Day in the first round and 14th at the Crucible.

Earlier, Brecel looked close to becoming the first player from continental Europe to win the World Championship.

The Belgian Bullet fired in Sunday’s opening matches against an exhausted Selby, who returned to action just 12 hours after his marathon semi-final win over Mark Allen.

And Brecel could now join Canada’s Cliff Thorburn, Ireland’s Ken Doherty and Australia’s Neil Robertson as the only non-British world champions.

The 28-year-old didn’t even practice in preparation for the event, but spent all his time partying and throwing darts. And he continued to show his relaxed nature by arriving at the Crucible with his girlfriend just 10 minutes before the 1pm kick-off yesterday.

However, Brecel continued to break out of the blocks, winning the first three frames and then opening up a 6-2 lead.

In a final that pitted the showman against the slow man, Selby responded with the first century of the final in the opening frame of the evening session.

But Brecel hit back with breaks of 99, 72 and 67 to move into Monday in the sights of history.

“The whole of Belgium is texting me, all over the newspapers, I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Brecel, who had not won a match at the Crucible in five visits before this year.

If I won it would change my life because my name will be on the trophy forever, which is crazy because it’s such a special tournament. It’s my dream come true.