Mark Selby sealed his fourth World Snooker Championship title after beating Shaun Murphy 18-15 in a thrilling final in front of a sold-out crowd at the Crucible Theatre.

Before the final session, Selby was taking a clear 14-11 lead and with, only four frames left to seal the win, he had his eyes on the prize.

Murphy didn’t give up without a fight and made it 16-13 at the mid-session break.

After the interval, Selby pot a fantastic break of 120 and quickly took the frame. With one more frame required to seal his win, Murphy’s hopes started to fade away.

However, as Selby missed two shots, Murphy got a chance to get on top of the game and made it 17-15.

The last frame was closely fought with both players taking risky shots.

Selby was handed the opportunity to win as Murphy missed a tricky red. The 37-year-old swiftly cleared the table and let out a loud roar after potting the final black.

Selby commented after the game: "It’s absolutely incredible. Every time you get to a world final you always try your hardest – it’s such a tough tournament to get there and you never know whether it’s going to be your last.

"I thought Shaun played fantastic all the way through the match. He’s a great, great player, a great ambassador for the game. I truly believe he’s back to where he was."

Besides now being a four-time world champion, Selby also took home £500,000 winners’ cheque and replaced Ronnie O’Sullivan as world number 2.

"To win it once against Ronnie O’Sullivan for the first time was a dream come true – to win it four times is something I could only have dreamed of," Selby said to Eurosport.

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