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
Mark Selby of the bookmakers' favourites for the title, Selby was defeated 10–8 in the first round by Mark King. The following year in the Welsh Open quarter-final, he was handed a writ by a member of the audience, supposedly his former manager George Barmby. Selby reached the final of the Masters again where he was runner-up to Ronnie O'Sullivan, and also reached the quarter-finals of the 2009 World Championship, losing 12–13 to Higgins, who again went on to win the title. He opened the 2009/10 season with two first round defeats, before coming from 4–8 down to beat Jamie Cope 9–8