Selby prepares for Ebdon spectacle

Mark Selby believes the Crucible crowd could be in for a treat when he meets Peter Ebdon in the second round of the 888.com World Championship.

The 23-year-old from Leicester booked a meeting with the 2002 champion when he recovered from 5-0 down to win 10-7 in his opening clash against 10th seed Stephen Lee.

It set up a repeat of a match at the Maplin UK Championship in York last December when Ebdon won 9-6 on his way to the title, with both players producing an outstanding quality of snooker.

Selby feels another spectacle could be in store again, especially after he knocked out a seed for the second consecutive year – with Lee joining John Higgins on his list of Sheffield scalps.

“I’m as confident as I was last year,” said the world number 28, who reached the final of the Scottish Open as a teenager.

“I’ve had a good season – I’ve been in the last 16 five times before this tournament and I’ve been working really hard on my game. When I came here last year I hadn’t won a match all season so it was a different kind of pressure.

“I’ve played some good matches this year and still lost. When I lost to Peter at the UK Championship I think I made a good break in every frame I won and Peter had a couple of centuries and a couple of 80s.

“I watched the final and after it Peter said I had given him a good run for his money, so hopefully this match can be just as good. Peter’s a great player and I’ll be expecting the same from him.”

With title-holder Graeme Dott and former champions Mark Williams and Ken Doherty already the victims of upsets, Stephen Hendry averted another shock when he hit back from 5-1 down to triumph 10-7 against David Gilbert.

Using a new cue for the first time in competition, the seven-time winner of the sport’s most prestigious tournament considered the switch to a new piece of equipment so close to the World Championship to be a gamble worth taking.

“This cue is nearer to what my original one was,” said the Scot, referring to his cue which was broken in transit on a flight to Thailand four years ago.

“I thought I would give it a try because I couldn’t have got any worse than I was playing, so I had nothing to lose.

“I tried three or four and I found this one and it’s fantastic. In practice it’s incredible. In the second frame I used it I made a 147 and in the next a 133 so that was it, it was sold. And it cost a big fat zero, as we like!”

Neil Robertson, the only man to have captured two ranking titles this season, set up a mouth-watering second-round clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan when he triumphed 10-5 against Ryan Day.

“I’ve beaten Ronnie twice this season so far and that gives me a lot of confidence,” said the 25-year-old Australian. “They were shorter matches but over the best of 25 it gives you a lot more freedom and I’ll be really up for it.”