Mark Selby of both the Masters and Welsh Open to Ronnie O'Sullivan, but won the Gdynia Open with a 4–1 victory over Martin Gould. Before the World Championship Selby withdrew from the PTC Finals and China Open due to personal reasons. He beat Robert Milkins 10–6, Sam Baird 13–11 and Kyren Wilson 13–8 to face Marco Fu in the semi-finals. Selby drew level at 12–12 thanks to winning a 76-minute frame, the longest in Crucible history and went on to win 17–15 with an excellent snooker on the brown in the final frame. He took a 6–0 lead over Ding Junhui in
2018 World Snooker Championship They included Ronnie O'Sullivan (five titles: 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012–13), John Higgins (four titles: 1998, 2007, 2009, 2011), Mark Selby (three titles and two-time defending champion: 2014, 2016–17), Mark Williams (two titles: 2000 and 2003), Shaun Murphy (one title: 2005), Graeme Dott (one title: 2006), Neil Robertson (one title: 2010), and Stuart Bingham (one title: 2015). O'Sullivan was making his 26th consecutive appearance in the final stages of the World Championship since his debut in 1993. This is one short of Stephen Hendry's record of 27 consecutive appearances and four short of Steve Davis's record of 30 total appearances. Five