The Scottish Open final has just concluded as Judd Trump was unable to continue his sweep of the Home Nations events. But that can be forgiven considering what he had just gone through the weekend prior (link at the bottom to read that). Instead, we were treated to a potential classic between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby as they come face-to-face for the first time since their semi-final epic at the World Championship.
Typically, when we reach the final of an event, we’re able to witness two players who have been performing the best over the course of the tournament, in the hopes that we’d see the two form players bring out the best in each other for a spectacle. Sadly, this wasn’t the case given that only one of the participating players was in this kind of zone. Selby has been flying throughout the Scottish Open and the final was no different as the Jester aimed to successfully defend his crown from last year.
O’Sullivan, on the other hand, had been struggling throughout the course of the week, including being 4-1 down in his semi-final match against Li Hang. Nevertheless, he was able to reach his second final of the season where he had the unfortunate task of playing an in-form Selby. And his struggles were evident throughout the final.
Selby was playing exceptionally well as he raced into a 3-1 and 6-2 lead over his opponent. This final was a clinical performance from the 3x World Champion as his long potting was as good as it was when he won his most recent title in 2017. It was a confident display of long potting and break-building where Selby didn’t really need to get too involved in the safety battle.
Although, he was getting help from O’Sullivan. Plenty of help. Simple misses, lapses in concentration and weak safety allowed O’Sullivan to only capture three frames in the entire final. And this was consistent during the whole contest. Even during positional play, where no one is better, O’Sullivan was struggling. One example of this was in Frame 10 where O’Sullivan played a screw shot on the black and over-worked it massively so that he was glued on the next red. There was a significant margin for error with that shot, yet he still managed to find it.
Regardless, Selby finished strong as audiences didn’t have to stay up too late in order to watch the conclusion of this final. A decisive 9-3 victory meant that Selby was not only able to defend his Scottish Open title, but also win his 11th consecutive ranking final. Something he has not been beaten in since 2016. In this form, Selby would give Trump a great run for his money and I would love to see them contest a final where both are in this kind of top-level form.
As for O’Sullivan, he’ll just be pleased to reach another ranking final. It’s a bittersweet feeling if you’re an O’Sullivan fan (antics aside) because while you’ll be upset that he didn’t get the win, you’re also kind of elated that he’s still reaching finals to this day. It shows that it still takes the very upper echelon to be able to overthrow him. Another Home Nations trophy has slipped his grasp, but who knows what’ll happen in the remainder of the season.
Like this Short? Click here to read: What An Ending! UK Championship Final 2020 – Shorts Thoughts
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