Mark Selby has won his third UK Championship title nine years after suffering a dramatic defeat to Judd Trump. The four-time world champion considered retirement after a crushing Crucible loss to Joe O’Connor in 2024.
Last update: 07/12/25 11:58pm
Mark Selby won his third UK Championship and first since 2016.
Mark Selby overcame a brave fightback from world number one Judd Trump at the Barbican Center in York to claim the third British Championship title of his career.
Selby expanded a 5-0 lead in the opening session before Trump twice went back to single-frame deficits and threatened to crush his rival’s dreams of a first ‘Triple Crown’ title since 2021.
But the 42-year-old held his nerve to secure a 10-8 victory, marking his return to the top of the sport after four years, and a return to his dominant best seemed a distant prospect.
Mark Selby celebrates with his wife Vikki Layton and daughter Sophia, who was just two years old when she last won.
Selby opened up about his battle with depression after winning his fourth world title in 2021, went through an entire season without a ranking title and considered retirement after his Crucible loss to Joe O’Connor in 2024.
“It would be amazing to win another ‘Triple Crown’, it’s not easy to win and it’s taken me nine years to get back here (as British champion),” Selby said.
“I set a goal to win one of these three tournaments every year. The others are great, but I think they are judged on this ‘triple crown’ event, so I’m excited to win another one.”
But he showed his old self all week at York, particularly in the way he roared to a seemingly insurmountable advantage on the back of his fifth successive half-century or more.
Mark Selby has reiterated that he won’t keep playing if he doesn’t like it, and at one point last year he almost did. But he’s back and enjoying playing again
As Trump inevitably faltered, Selby showed a lot of pressure, especially when he blew a golden opportunity for victory in the 17th frame, but recovered well and surpassed him with a hard-earned 69 in the next frame.
Defending champion Trump had made relatively uneventful progress into the fifth British final of his career, but was belatedly awakened by Selby’s stunning start with successive breaks of 74 and 75 to give him a glimmer of hope.
Trump squandered two big chances to further reduce the deficit in the final frame of the afternoon and instead sent Selby back to the dressing room with a 6-2 lead, and an early night looked likely when the Leicester man took his first after the restart.
Instead, Selby showed the first signs of weakness. Trump pulled away 7-3 and won a dramatic and error-riddled 11th frame thanks to an act of sportsmanship by Selby after referee Olivier Marteel disputed awarding a free ball in Selby’s favor.
Selby accepted Trump’s protests and the ball returned to its original snooker position, with Trump duly dropping the final red to reduce the deficit to 7-4.
Judd Trump had a strong charge but couldn’t quite keep up with four-time world champion Mark Selby.
Trump certainly went one step further, delivering two centuries of 105 and 124 respectively, sandwiched between Selby’s stunning 91 and the mid-session interval to ensure the world number one remained 8-6.
Selby twice missed black as Trump closed to within 1 at 8-7, and Trump did so again at 9-8 after Selby thwarted the simplest of reds with the title seemingly at his mercy. But there was no denying the four-time world champion.
“Mark was great in the beginning, and I think I brought him down to the end,” Trump said.
“We were in a similar position last year and it’s hard to get over the line in this final. (But) Mark was the best player all week and he deserved the win.”
