On This Day in 2021 – Mark Selby beats Shaun Murphy to clinch fourth world title

The 37-year-old ‘Jester from Leicester’ beat Murphy 18-15 in the final.

Mark Selby celebrates his 2021 world championship triumph in Sheffield (Zac Goodwin/PA) (PA Archive)

Mark Selby claimed his fourth World Snooker Championship title on this day in 2021.

Selby beat Shaun Murphy 18-15 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield to collect £500,000 in prize money.

A fourth world triumph took 37-year-old Selby to within three Crucible crowns of Stephen Hendry’s record of seven.

“To win it once against Ronnie O’Sullivan for the first time was a dream come true,” Selby said.

“To win it four times is something I could only have dreamed of.

“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.”

Murphy’s resolve in a high-quality encounter was finally ended by Selby breaks of 66, 68 and 120.

“Mark is super-granite, unfortunately for me,” Murphy said.

“I started well but he went into super-hard mode.”

The concluding sessions of the Championship saw a capacity crowd return to a major UK sporting event for the first time since March 2020 and the start of the coronavirus pandemic.