Mark Selby won the invitational version of Championship League Snooker for the third time on the trot on Wednesday at the Mattioli Arena.
The reigning UK champion beat Wu Yize 3-1 in the final to emerge as the competition’s last man standing again in his hometown of Leicester.
Selby began the round-robin phase of the Winners’ Group slowly on Tuesday, losing his opening league fixture to Tom Ford.
But the 42 year-old won four out of his five remaining round-robin matches to finish in second place and comfortably qualify for the knockouts.
Elliot Slessor had topped the initial league part with a record of five victories and a single defeat.
However, the Englishman’s attempt to land a maiden piece of silverware as a professional ended in a high-scoring 3-2 defeat to Wu in the semi-finals.
The other last-four clash saw Selby dominate Si Jiahui, with breaks of 104, 101, and 94 contributing to a 3-0 rout of the young Chinese.
Against Wu in the final, Selby took the first couple of frames, scoring an excellent century break of 128 to move to within the brink of glory.
International Championship winner Wu kept his fight alive with a 69 in the third frame, but Selby quickly responded with a run of 92 to clinch the triumph.
Success adds to his victories in the same competition in 2024 and 2025 as he becomes the first player to win the Championship League three times on the spin.
It’s also Selby’s third title of the ongoing 2025/26 campaign, adding to his earlier wins at the Champion of Champions and the UK Championship.
The four-time world champion collects the £10,000 top prize, although he won quite a lot more than that through the various bonuses that are on offer throughout the tournament.
Featured photo credit: WST
I make it a 44th career title for Selby, the standout player of this season so far.
In the modern era, only Ray Reardon, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Selby have won the same event three times or more consecutively.
Selby had achieved this feat before, arguably, winning three China Opens in a row, albeit not in successive years, as he skipped one edition during his run.
The Jester leads the Century charts for this term with 59.
Dave Hendon has called it as a 43rd title for Selby. I believe he’s discounting an event in Warsaw that was part of series of events promoted by John Higgins and Pat Mooney under the name World Series of Snooker. I did feel uncertain about this being a recognised title but they were never deemed exhibitions.