Matthew Selt (born 7 March 1985) is an English professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

player originally from

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

, east London and now living in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. He qualified for the professional tour by finishing seventh on the Pontin's International Open Series in 2006/2007. Selt played in his first professional final in 2014 at the minor-ranking Lisbon Open, which he lost to

Stephen Maguire Stephen Maguire (born 13 March 1981) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won six major ranking tournaments, including the 2004 UK Championship, and has twice since reached the finals of that event. Maguire turned professional i ...

, and has reached five quarter-finals in full ranking events. Selt won his first ranking title when he beat

Lyu Haotian Lyu Haotian (, born 29 November 1997) is a snooker player from the People's Republic of China, notable for being one of the youngest snooker players to have played in professional tournaments, aged only 14. He reached the quarter-finals of the ...

in the 2019 Indian Open final.

Career

He made an important breakthrough at the start of the 2009–10 season by reaching the last 32 of the Shanghai Masters by winning four qualifying matches, ending with a 5–4 victory over

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he rea ...

. There he faced

John Higgins John Higgins, (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won 31 career ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (39) and Stephen Hendry ( ...

, losing 5–2. He also impressed at the

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

, by recovering from 0–4 against Jordan Brown to win 5–4 and going on to beat

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 ...

Stuart Pettman Stuart Pettman (born 24 April 1975) is an English former professional snooker player and author. The Preston native has qualified for the World Championship three times, in 2003, 2004 and 2010. He beat 2005 champion Shaun Murphy in qualifying t ...

and

Fergal O'Brien Fergal O'Brien (born 8 March 1972) is an Irish professional snooker player who plays on the main professional tour since 1991. Ranked within the world's top 64 players from 1994 to 2022, he has reached his highest position of 9th in the 2000 ...

to reach the final stages of a tournament for the second time in succession. There he was drawn against

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...

who beat him 5–2.

2011/2012 season

Selt began the 2011–12 season ranked 43rd meaning he would have to win two qualifying matches to reach the ranking event main draws. He did this at the first ranking event of the season: the

Australian Goldfields Open The Australian Goldfields Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament. The final champion was John Higgins in 2015. History Australia had previously hosted the 1971 and 1975 World Snooker Championships, as well as several other high-pr ...

by beating

Adrian Gunnell Adrian Gunnell (born 24 August 1972) is an English former professional snooker player from Telford. He has reached the last-16 in four world ranking events (three in Asia, in three different seasons, and at the 2008 Grand Prix), but has yet to ...

and

Ricky Walden Ricky Walden (born 11 November 1982) is an English professional snooker player from Chester. Walden turned professional in 2000 and it took him eight years to win his first ranking title at the Shanghai Masters. He has since won the 2012 Wuxi ...

. In the last 32 he played reigning world champion

and pulled off the biggest result of his career to date by overcoming a deficit of 1–4, to triumph 5–4 and win a televised match for the first time. He then beat

5–1 to earn himself his first ranking event quarter-final, where he lost 3–5 to

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight Cue stick, cue action and his lo ...

. Selt qualified for the main draw of the

UK Championship The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican Centre, York. Ronnie O'Sullivan h ...

for the first time in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

by defeating Mark King 6–4 in the final round of qualifying. His reward was a tie against former

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Graeme Dott Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. He has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship a ...

, who beat him 6–1. He failed to qualify for any of the remaining ranking events and finished the season ranked world number 44.

2012/2013 season

At the start of the 2012–13 season Selt reached the quarter-finals of the

for the second consecutive season. He beat

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (, ; born 18 April 1985) is a Thai professional snooker player. He has won one ranking event, the 2019 Snooker Shoot Out, and finished as runner-up in the 2019 World Open. He is regarded as one of the fastest snooker playe ...

and Jamie Jones in qualifying and once in Australia he came back from 0–2 and 3–4 down to knock out the defending champion

Stuart Bingham Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former world and Masters champion. Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his professional ...

5–4. He then defeated Ryan Day 5–3, before losing to

Barry Hawkins Barry Hawkins (born 23 April 1979) is an English professional snooker player from Ditton, Kent. He turned professional in 1996, but only rose to prominence in the 2004–05 snooker season, when he reached the last 16 of the 2004 UK Championsh ...

by the same scoreline in the quarters. Selt struggled after this as he couldn't qualify for eight successive ranking events and only won three matches all year in the eight minor-ranking

Players Tour Championship The Players Tour Championship was a series of snooker tournaments comprising some minor-ranking events played in Europe, and an Asian leg comprising some minor-ranking events in Asia. The series concluded with a Grand Final, where qualification ...

events he entered to finish a lowly 104th on the Order of Merit. He rediscovered his form in World Championship Qualifying by seeing off

Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon ( ''Ṭhnwạtʹhn̒ T̄hirphngṣ̄̒phịbūly̒''; born December 14, 1993) is a Thai former professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2010 as the Asian nomination following his run to the semi-finals of ...

10–8 to be just one match away from reaching the opening round of the tournament for the first time. Selt played

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

champion

Ken Doherty Ken Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter. As an amateur, Doherty won the Irish Amateur Championship twice, the World Under-21 Amateur Championship and the World Amateur C ...

and at 9–4 ahead he looked to be heading to the

Crucible A crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. While crucibles were historically usually made from clay, they can be made from any material that withstands te ...

with ease. However, Doherty came back to trail 7–9, and when Selt lost the next frame from a position of 55–0 ahead all the momentum was with the Irishman. The match went into a deciding frame with Selt again building a 55–0 lead and this time hanging on to seal his place in the first round, where he met world number one

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the ...

, losing 4–10. He ended the campaign where he started it, ranked world number 44.

2013/2014 season

Selt failed to qualify for the opening four ranking events of the 2013–14 season, but then whitewashed

Chris Norbury Christopher Norbury (born 14 August 1986) is an English former professional snooker player. He began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2003, at the time the second-level professional tour. Norbury first entered Main Tour fo ...

6–0 to reach the first round of the International Championship, where he lost 6–3 to

Martin Gould Martin Gould (born 14 September 1981) is an English professional snooker player from Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow. He has appeared in four ranking finals and won one ranking title, the 2016 German Masters. Career Gould began his pr ...

. His best result by far in the minor-ranking

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

events came at the final tournament, the

Gdynia Open The Gdynia Open was a pro–am minor-ranking snooker tournament, which was part of the Players Tour Championship. The tournament in the 2012/2013 was split in two parts, with the first part taking place at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffie ...

as he whitewashed three opponents 4–0 and beat

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player, a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranki ...

4–1 in a televised quarter-final, before losing by the same scoreline to

in the semis. After the event, Selt stated that he had been neglecting his game for the last two years by occasionally practising two or three hours and that he believed his ranking of 50 would be 20 or 30 places higher if he had played to his true ability. He finished 32nd on the

European Order of Merit The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

, seven places outside of qualifying for the

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. His deepest run in a ranking event this season came after this at the China Open when he beat Ryan Day 5–2, before losing 5–2 to

Ali Carter Allister Carter (born 25 July 1979) is an English professional snooker player. He has twice been the World Championship runner-up, in 2008 and 2012, losing both finals to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He has won four ranking titles and briefly reached numb ...

in the last 32.

2014/2015 season

Selt progressed through to the semi-finals of the

Haining Open The Haining Open is a non-ranking snooker tournament. It was a minor-ranking part of the Players Tour Championship until 2015. History The tournament started in 2014 and was staged at the Haining Sports Center in Haining, Zhejiang, China. The ...

, losing 4–1 to

. His first win at the venue stage of a full ranking event this season came courtesy of a 6–0 whitewash over

Hammad Miah Hammad Miah ( bn, হাম্মাদ মিঞা; born 6 July 1993) is a British professional snooker player of Bangladeshi-origin. In May 2013, Miah qualified for the 2013–14 and 2014–15 professional Main Tour as one of four semi- ...

at the

. Selt then knocked out

Xiao Guodong Xiao Guodong (, born 10 February 1989) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2007 after winning the Asian Under-21 Championships. Career 2007–2010 Xiao appeared as a wildcard in the 2007 China Open, and beat t ...

and Rory McLeod both 6–4 to face

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

in the fourth round. O'Sullivan made a

147 147 may refer to: * 147 (number), a natural number * AD 147, a year of the Julian calendar, in the second century * 147 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 147 AH, a year in the Islamic calendar that corresponds to 764 – 765 CE ...

in the final frame as he won 6–0, with Selt saying afterwards that despite having numerous chances throughout the match he never settled. Selt responded in his next event by winning four matches to reach the quarter-finals of the Lisbon Open and then defeated

4–1 and

4–2 to play in his first final in a minor-ranking event. He took the opening frame against

, but went on to lose 4–2. His first quarter-final in a ranking event this season came at the PTC Grand Final after he eliminated

Oliver Lines Oliver Lines (born 16 June 1995) is an English professional snooker player who practices at Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds. He is the son of professional snooker player Peter Lines. Career Amateur Lines switched sports from football to snook ...

4–1 and

Chris Wakelin Chris Wakelin (born 16 March 1992) is an English professional snooker player from Rugby, Warwickshire. He practices in Bar 8 in Rugby. Career Early career Wakelin started playing snooker aged 8, when his parents Mark and Angie bought him his ...

4–2 and he led Mark Williams 3–1, but could not reach the first semi-final of his career as Williams would knock him out in a final frame decider. Selt's season looked to be ending in disappointment as he trailed

7–2 in the second round of

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

qualifying. However, he took eight of the nine frames upon the resumption of play and won in the final round 10–8 against

Tom Ford Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2005, having previously served as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Ford wrote and directe ...

. In the first round Selt lost another opening session 7–2 this time against

. He also went on to be 9–4 behind but then won five frames in a row which included back-to-back centuries and a 94 break. He couldn't win his first match at the

Crucible Theatre The Crucible Theatre (often referred to simply as "The Crucible") is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England which opened in 1971. Although it hosts regular theatrical performances, it is best known for hosting professional snooker's m ...

as he lost the deciding frame. Selt finished a season inside the top 32 in the rankings for the first time in his career as he was the world number 30.

2015/2016 season

In the first round of the 2015 Australian Goldfields Open,

Neil Robertson Neil Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player who is a former world champion and former world number one. The only Australian to have won a ranking event, he is also the only player from outside the United ...

fought back to 4–4 after Selt had been 4–0 up. The deciding frame lasted 55 minutes and Selt took it on the final blue and then edged past

Mark Joyce Mark Joyce (born 11 August 1983) is an English professional snooker player who lives in Walsall. He began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2003. Joyce enjoyed an outstanding amateur career, winning the European Under-19 Cha ...

5–4 to reach the quarter-finals of the event for the third time. He was unable to feature in his first ranking event semi-final as

comfortably beat him 5–1. However, Selt rose to a career-high 27th in the world rankings soon afterwards and credited his improvement in play to his coach Chris Henry, his mentor

, as well as his own personal fitness. He lost 5–4 on the final black to

in the second round of the Shanghai Masters. Despite describing his play as pretty terrible, Selt reached the fourth round of the

and recovered from 3–1 down against

Luca Brecel Luca Brecel (born 8 March 1995) is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the European Under-19 title at the age of 14 and went on to break Stephen Hendry's record as the youngest player ever to compete at the Crucible Theatre. He made hi ...

to knock him out 6–4. He also said that his 6–0 loss to

a year earlier had improved him as a player. In his first UK quarter-final he was defeated 6–1 by

, but the £20,000 in prize money he earned is the biggest of his career so far. O'Sullivan beat Selt 3–0 in the semi-finals of the non-ranking

Championship League Championship League is a professional snooker tournament, devised by Matchroom Sport. A ranking event version of the tournament began from September 2020, played similarly to its invitational, non-ranking counterpart but with some minor changes ...

. He failed to qualify for the

after losing 10–9 to

Mitchell Mann Mitchell Mann (born 26 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player. Career Junior Mann first played snooker aged 9, after being forced to quit football after a diagnosis of Legg–Calvé–Perthes syndrome, a rare disease which r ...

in the second qualifying round. His ranking over the course of the season rose five places to world number 25.

2016/2017 season

Selt overcame

Matthew Stevens Matthew Stevens (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He has won two of the game's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. He has also been a two-time runner-up in the other triple ...

5–2 and

Sam Craigie Sam Craigie (born 29 December 1993) is an English professional snooker player from Newcastle. He enjoyed a successful junior career before turning professional in 2011. Career Early career Craigie qualified for the 2011/2012 Main Tour after ...

5–4 at the World Open, before losing 5–2 to

Anthony McGill Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of retired snooker player Alan McManus. McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. He wo ...

in the third round. He only won one match at the venue stage in the next nine ranking events, before reaching the third round of the Gibraltar Open with victories over Rory McLeod and

. Selt would lose 4–1 to

. He could not qualify for the

as he was beaten 10–6 by

Hossein Vafaei Hossein Vafaei ( fa, حسین وفایی ایوری; born 15 October 1994) is an Iranian professional snooker player. He is the first professional player from Iran. He won his first professional title at the 2022 Snooker Shoot Out, beating Mark ...

in the second round.

2017/2018 season

Selt's best result for the season came in the Gibraltar Open, in which he knocked out

Liang Wenbo Liang Wenbo (; born 25 March 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player based at the Oracle Snooker Club, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England. Liang, who plays left-handed, has reached one Triple Crown final, made three Masters appearances, and ...

before losing to

Kyren Wilson Kyren Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Kettering and a five-time ranking event winner. He has been a runner-up at two of the three Triple Crown events, having reached the final at both the 2018 ...

in the last 16.

2018/2019 season: First ranking title

Selt secured his maiden ranking title at the Indian Open after beating

4–2 in the semi final and

5–3 in the final. He was unable to qualify for the

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927 Wor ...

after losing 10–4 to

Zhao Xintong Zhao Xintong (; born 3 April 1997) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Long considered one of the brightest talents in the game, he won his first ranking title (also his first Triple Crown title) at the 2021 UK Championship, defeating Lu ...

in the final qualifying round.

2019/2020 season

In July 2019, Selt reached the semi final of the Riga Masters after wins over the likes of Jimmy Robertson,

Lu Ning Lu Ning (, born 1 January 1994 in Jilin) is a professional snooker player from the People's Republic of China. Lu is among ten Chinese players currently suspended from the professional tour amid a match-fixing investigation. Career Lu's fir ...

, and Mark King before being defeated by the eventual champion

Yan Bingtao Yan Bingtao (, born 16 February 2000) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the youngest player to win the Amateur World Snooker Championship after defeating Muhammad Sajjad 8–7. Having qualified to compete on the main tour for ...

. He failed to qualify for the

again after being defeated by

Kurt Maflin Kurt Graham Maflin (born 8 August 1983) is an English-Norwegian former professional snooker player. A strong break-builder, Maflin has compiled more than 200 century breaks during his career and has made two 147 breaks in professional competitio ...

in the final qualifying round, losing 10–1.

2020/2021 season

Selt reached another semi final of a ranking event after defeating

, Kyren Wilson,

Soheil Vahedi Soheil Vahedi ( fa, سهیل واحدی, born March 15, 1989) is an Iranian former professional snooker player. Career In 2009 Vahedi entered the World Amateur Under-21 Snooker Championships in his home country in Kish, Iran in which he reached ...

, and

before losing to the eventual champion

. Most notably, his first round match against Stephen Hendry, the seven-time world champion, was Hendry's first professional match since retiring in 2012. In April 2021, after dispatching

Scott Donaldson Scott Donaldson (born 19 March 1994) is a Scottish professional snooker player. Donaldson turned professional in 2012 after winning the 2012 EBSA European Snooker Championship and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 ...

10–3 in the final qualifying round, Selt qualified for the

for the first time in 6 years. He drew Barry Hawkins in the first round and was defeated 3–10.

2021/2022 season

In the third round of the 2021 UK Championship, Selt caused a major upset by defeating third seed

6–3; he lost in the next round against

by a revers of the scoreline after leading 3–1. He also reached the quarter-finals of the next ranking event, the Scottish Open, losing in the deciding frame against eventual champion

. At the inaugural

Turkish Masters The Turkish Masters was a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament that was held for the first -- and currently only -- time in March 2022 at the Nirvana Cosmopolitan Hotel in Antalya, Turkey. The Turkish Billiards Federatio ...

, Selt reached the second ranking final of his career, notably defeating a resurgent

Ding Junhui Ding Junhui (; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 14 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (200 ...

6–5 in the semi-final. However, he lost in the final against Trump by a scoreline of 4–10. Selt reached the final qualifying round of the

where he faced

whom he had beaten in all previous professional encounters; however, from leading 6–4 Selt went on to lose 7–10.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Ranking finals: 2 (1 title)

Minor-ranking finals: 1

Non-ranking finals: 2 (1 title)

References

External links

Matthew Selt
at ''worldsnooker.com'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Selt, Matthew English snooker players 1985 births Living people People from Romford