How Mark Selby joined exclusive club of fellow snooker legends after latest UK Championship glory

The 42-year-old Englishman resisted a spirited rally from world number one and defending champion Judd Trump to win the final at the Barbican Centre 10-8, and complete a hat-trick of UK crowns following previous triumphs there in 2012 and 2016.

His 25th ranking event title overall, Selby’s latest achievement has added importance due to it being the 10th Triple Crown event accolade of his illustrious career.

In professional snooker’s modern era, only three players before Selby have reached double figures in that category - Steve Davis (15 titles), Stephen Hendry (18), and Ronnie O’Sullivan (23); very elite company to keep.

Selby reached his first ranking event final as a teenager at the 2003 Scottish Open, but was defeated by David Gray. In 2007, as a qualifier, he went all the way to the final of the World Championship at the Crucible Theatre but was denied the sport's ultimate prize by John Higgins.

The first professional title of Selby’s career was a huge one at the 2008 Masters. On his debut at snooker's most prestigious invitational event, he survived deciding frame outcomes against Stephen Hendry, Stephen Maguire, and Ken Doherty in consecutive rounds before comfortably dispatching Stephen Lee 10-3 in the final. Only a few weeks later at the Welsh Open in Newport, Selby recovered from 8-5 down to pip O'Sullivan 9-8 and claim his maiden ranking title.

In 2010, for the third time in as many years, Selby made the Masters final, and reclaimed the crown after coming back from three down with four to play to pip O'Sullivan in a decider. O'Sullivan had won the 2009 final against him, 10-8.

Selby's first UK Championship title arrived in 2012 and several weeks later he completed a trio of Masters triumphs.

Two of the three Triple Crown boxes were ticked, but the most significant of all - the World Championship - wasn't. That was until 2014 when he memorably overcame a 10-5 deficit in the final to once again usurp O'Sullivan - the title holder who was on a 14-match winning streak at the Crucible - from behind, this time recording an 18-14 victory to win the blue riband prize and complete a Career Triple Crown.

In 2016 Selby became a multiple-time world champion, and later in the same year he defeated O'Sullivan 10-7 for his second UK title, meaning he held the two most important ranking titles in the sport at the same time. Selby is the only player to have got the better of O'Sullivan in each of the three Triple Crown tournament finals.

'The Jester from Leicester' gained membership to another elite club in 2017 when he battled back from 10-4 down to defeat Higgins 18-15 in the Crucible final - a decade on from their initial meeting in snooker's biggest fixture - and secure back-to-back world titles.

Despite continuing to add ranking event honours to his bulging CV, it wasn't until four years later that Selby chalked up his ninth Triple Crown success when he claimed his fourth World Championship in Sheffield.

And now, in the middle of the decade, Selby has cemented his status as one of the all-time green baize greats with UK trophy number three.

One feat that Selby hasn’t done is win all three Triple Crown titles within the same season, although this has only happened on four occasions by three different players - Davis, Hendry, and Mark Williams. However, that remains a possibility for Selby this term with the 2026 Masters at the Alexandra Palace around the corner in January.