Mark Selby defeats Ronnie O’Sullivan, and the accusations of both follow after

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Mark Selby and Ronnie O’Sullivan accused each other of playing ability after a controversial Scottish Open final which the former won 9-3.

Selby comfortably avenged his World Championship semi-final loss to O’Sullivan in Milton Keynes, although there seemed to be some bad blood left in his encounter with Sheffield in August.

The pair exchanged words a few times during the match and Selby accused O’Sullivan, who tried to keep playing the frames even when they were lost, of being “agitated” as the world champion struggled to find his fluency.

“He tried to go on, which he did in every other frame,” Selby said of a frame he had won.

“The referee actually announced that it was a frame for me and said that I couldn’t continue after that.

“I’m sure Ronnie would have continued, he’s been doing that all week when he’s 120 behind on yellow.”

Selby said O’Sullivan had deliberately moved toward his eye line when he played a shot early in the game.

“I’m playing with a long red in the corner and he stood up,” Selby said.

“I could see it in my eye line and just as I was about to hit the shot, he started chalking his cue hard quite hard.

“I picked up the shot and looked at him and he raised his eyebrows as if to say ‘sorry I didn’t realize I was doing it.’

“But he knew exactly what he was doing and I managed to play the shot and fit it. “

O’Sullivan later complained that Selby was hitting his water bottle in the fourth frame when he was playing a shot.

“He thought I was scoring my cue and I was putting him off, but it wasn’t even in his eye line,” O’Sullivan said. “I was in my chair when he was playing a safety shot.

“It seemed a bit strange to me, so when he started doing that (tapping his water bottle) I thought ‘I could pull you too.’

“So I said ‘is there any chance you can’t do it when I’m on my shot?’ But there is no problem between Mark and me, I think we have to thank each other for pushing us to be better players. “

Selby replied, “I went for a drink of water when Ronnie wasn’t even ready to play his shot.

“He was still standing around deciding what to play and when I left him he still hadn’t started playing his shot.

“I was telling the referee that I was making noises and moving, similar to what I was doing to Mark Allen. I think it was because I was getting on him and he was getting nervous. He doesn’t like people competing with him. “

Selby won the first frame and never looked back after taking a 2-1 lead with a 102 break.

The Leicester Potter had a 6-2 lead in the interval and O’Sullivan, unwell, earned a brief respite before the inevitable conclusion.

“I’ve been very consistent since the World Championship and I was delighted with the way I played,” said Selby, who collected the trophy with his six-year-old daughter Sofia present.



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