Selby: I'm the master now

New Saga Insurance Masters champion Mark Selby believes winning his first major title will earn him deserved respect from his rivals.

But, perhaps more tellingly, Selby has proven to himself he has the ability and self-belief to win many more tournaments.

Selby fought back from 3-2 down to beat Wiltshire cueman Stephen Lee 10-3 in last night's showcase final at Wembley Arena, reeling off eight frames on the spin to land a welcome winners' cheque of £150,000 (€200,000).

And with his cool break of 141 in the deciding frame, he also claimed an additional £5,000 (€6,700) for sharing the highest break prize with Ireland's Ken Doherty.

“My rivals will respect me a lot more now for winning this title, but the likes of Ronnie (O’Sullivan) and (Stephen) Hendry have their own self-belief, they know how good they are,” said Selby.

“It’s not a message to them, it’s more a message to me. I’ve proven I can win tournaments and hopefully now I can win more.

“All I’ve ever wanted to do as a young child is win tournaments, that’s what I’ve wanted since I started playing the game.

“I know it’s one of the best tournaments in the world to win, it’s just a shame it wasn’t a ranking tournament.

“Winning this has done leaps and bounds for my self-belief. All I want to do now is go on and win more tournaments.”

Selby’s success also saw him re-write the record books as he became the first Masters debutant to win the tournament for 19 years.

Only John Spencer (1975), Doug Mountjoy (1977), Terry Griffiths (1980) and Stephen Hendry (1989) had previously won the event at the first attempt.

“I’ve had spells where I’ve played like that, but I don’t think I’ve ever played better than that,” added Selby.

“Under the circumstances, to perform like that was absolutely brilliant. That’s how snooker is these days. You make the slightest mistake and you usually lose a frame. The standard is so high these days you just have to take your chance every time you get it.”

“I just seemed to get in the zone from the word go. I came out at 5-3, had a century to start off and ever since then I just felt so relaxed out there.

“It felt like I was playing on the practice table. I just felt so relaxed out there, it helped going back out there 9-3 ahead. I knew that I was going to get more than one chance to win it.”

Lee paid tribute to his opponent for his impressive performance, but admitted he felt “really flat” during the match.

“I started off really badly, I felt awful this morning,” reflected Lee. “I felt really flat and was really disappointed with the way I started.

“I didn’t feel I was in a final for some reason. I had no fire in me, no power to get motivated for the final, which was bad.

“I felt good tonight, but I had no run of the ball tonight. All my hard work has been undone, but he’s played well, had a good run of the balls and is a worthy champion.

“He looked very good under pressure and closed the match out well. You’ve got to take your hat off to him.”