Mark Selby wins second Welsh Open title and lifts The Ray Reardon Trophy

In a thrilling title match at the Venue Cmyru in Llandudno, four-time World Champion Selby finally managed to break free from his dogged opponent in the final mini session of the contest to lift The Ray Reardon Trophy and pocket a £100,000 payday.

Moving into joint-seventh (alongside Neil Robertson) on the all-time list of the most decorated ranking event champions, ‘The Jester’ secures his second Welsh Open crown and becomes the eighth multiple-time winner of professional snooker’s third-longest running ranking tournament.

Having successfully defended the Championship League Invitational earlier this month, Selby's triumph in North Wales represents back-to-back titles on the professional circuit and his third title overall of the 2024/25 season.

The victory pushes Selby up one place into third on the updated world rankings list.

Selby played the first match of the week on the main TV table on Monday morning where he came back from 2-1 down to defeat rookie professional Haydon Pinhey, 4-2. Under-the-weather during that opening assignment, the Englishman went on to oust Elliot Slessor and John Higgins via deciding frame outcomes in the last 32 and quarter-finals respectively, before stopping Luca Brecel 6-3 in the semi-finals in a rerun of their world championship final encounter from 2023.

In Sunday's best-of-17 frames final, Selby won the opening two frames and later went into the first mid-session interval 3-1 up. Maguire - appearing in his first ranking event final since winning the 2020 Tour Championship - levelled at 3-3, although Selby went back ahead with a break of 116.

Forty-one points to the good in the final frame of the first session, it looked like Selby was going to re-open a two frame gap and end the afternoon's play 5-3 up, but a missed red allowed Maguire back to the table who crafted a classy effort of 81 to level at 4-4 and leave the tie beautifully poised.

Returning a few hours later for the evening's concluding session, a tense and lengthy opening frame of the night ensued, and it was Selby who nicked it on the final black after Maguire crucially missed a green.

Six-time ranking event winner Maguire - champion of this event in 2013 - squared up again at 5-5 but Selby edged back in front, and appeared to be going two clear again when on a run of 60 in frame 12. However, an unexpected miss on a fairly straightforward red when nearing the winning line in the frame proved costly for Selby as a determined Maguire fashioned a very special 71 break to square proceedings again; the Scot had arrived at the table with four of the remaining reds on cushions. It was the fourth time that Maguire had pegged back his opponent.

Following the final mid-session interval of the match, Selby didn't seem to dwell on the disappointment of that miss as he went for the finish line, making breaks of 60 and 128 (the highest of the day) to go one frame away from glory before completing the task in frame 15.

Already one of snooker's all-time greats, Selby adds yet another accolade to his stacked career CV; it was at the Welsh Open in 2008 where he claimed his maiden ranking event title.

Next up for the World Snooker Tour is the World Open (23rd February to 1st March) in Yushan, China.

For the results from the 2025 Welsh Open, please visit our tournament information centre here.