Luca Brecel has stormed into a 6-2 lead over Mark Selby after the first session of the 2023 World Snooker Championship final.
On Saturday evening, Brecel was long back at his hotel room as Selby finally got the better of Mark Allen by a 17-15 scoreline shortly before 1am in the morning.
The contrasting preparations seemingly contributed to the direction of the opening session, Brecel dominating to gain a stranglehold of the best-of-35 contest.
Luca's session 🇧🇪#CazooWorldChampionshipFinal pic.twitter.com/FfSMEoRq4g
— World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) April 30, 2023
The Belgian opened up a 3-0 lead, helped by breaks of 77 and 90, before a missed red allowed Selby to get on the board heading into the interval.
When the players returned to the Crucible arena, Brecel compiled a 67 break, but Selby was able to respond with a 62 of his own to reduce the deficit to 5-2 with one frame of the afternoon remaining.
Potentially a key moment in the context of the match, Brecel took the concluding frame to extend his lead to four, heaping the pressure on Selby when they return later on Sunday.
Darren Plant
