World Snooker Championship 2021: Mark Selby defeats Shaun Murphy 18-15 wins leads fourth world title, prizes.

Mark Selby extends his leads & strengthened his status as one of snooker’s all-time greats by beating Shaun Murphy 18-15 in the final of the 2021 Betfred World Championship to conquer the Crucible for the fourth time.

Selby, who led 14-11 prior to the final session, is now three Crucible crowns off Stephen Hendry's record of seven.

Runs of 66, 68 and a superb 120 helped him break Murphy's resistance in a high-quality encounter.

Mark Selby, 37, collects £500,000 in prize money and moves up to second in Snooker Ranking the world behind Judd Trump.

The £200,000 runner-up prize is a huge consolation for Murphy.

World Snooker Championship 2021 final: Best Stats.

World Snooker Champions in 2014, 2016, 2017 and now 2021, Selby has lifted the trophy four times in seven years; no other player has won it more than once in the same period.

He becomes only the fifth player to take the title more than three times at snooker’s Theatre of Dreams.

World Snooker Championship: Full list of past Winners, Champions, Stats, history..

Selby becomes the eighth player to win 20 ranking titles and has now won 11 of his last 12 ranking finals.

With three Masters and two UK Championship titles to his name, Selby has now won nine Triple Crown events, bringing him level with Higgins and behind only O’Sullivan (20), Hendry (18) and Davis (15).

Am Not Confident, & It’s unbelievable to win it for a fourth time, said Selby.

“It’s unbelievable to win it for a fourth time,” said Selby. “It’s such a tough tournament. To beat O’Sullivan to win my first title in 2014 was a dream come true. To win it tonight with my daughter Sofia there, now she is old enough to understand what’s happening, is on a par.

Shaun played fantastic, he is a great player and great ambassador.

“When I came here last year I wasn’t too confident, and Chris Henry got me within one frame of the final. It is such a tough sport mentally and you can’t win this event if you doubt yourself.

“My aim now is to get back to world number one, but that will be tough because Judd Trump has been winning so much for the past two years.”

Playing Mark is like a forensic exam, he tests every aspect of your game, Mark praise Selby.

Murphy said: “Mark is super granite. I have known him since we were nine years of age and he has always been the same. I started the match well and he went into super-hard mode.

He broke me last night and it was tough to give him a three frame lead, in the end that’s what made the difference.

“Life has been very difficult for everyone in the last 12 months. I want to say a very deep personal thank you to everyone who has bought a ticket and come here over the last 17 days.

“Playing Mark is like a forensic exam, he tests every aspect of your game. He has to be looked at as the best all-rounder we have ever seen.

“I have shown to myself that my best game is still pretty good. Maybe my best snooker could still be ahead of me.”