Mark Selby Open, losing 1–4. Selby won his first ranking title of the 2017/18 season by retaining the International Championship after surviving a fightback from Mark Allen, who trailed 3–8 and 7–9 in the final but the Englishman prevailed 10–7. As 2017 World Snooker Champion, Selby automatically qualified for the 2017 Champion of Champions. However, he lost in the quarter-finals to Luca Brecel by a scoreline of 4–6. At the 2017 Shanghai Masters, Selby crashed out to 2011 finalist Mark Williams in the quarter-finals 3–5. Selby's reign as the UK champion came to an end with a 3–6 defeat to Scott Donaldson
Mark Selby father died of cancer when Mark was 16, two months before he joined the main professional tour. Selby showed potential as a teenager, but did not consistently shine until his twenties. He began his career on the UK Tour in 1998, at the time the second-level professional tour. He reached his first ranking final aged 19, the Scottish Open in 2003, where he finished runner-up to David Gray, losing 9–7 in the final. Before that, he had also already reached the semi-finals of the 2002 China Open, despite leaving his hotel room at 2 a.m. instead of 2 p.m. for