Mark Selby mounted an impressive comeback from 8-5 down to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-8 in snooker's Welsh Open final.

The Leicestershire potter secured his second major title in the space of a month following his victory in the Masters at Wembley in January.

Selby's battling performance epitomised his new-found mental strength as he frustrated O'Sullivan and clawed back the deficit earlier established by the Londoner, who looked close to his fluent best midway through the match.

A run of brilliant breaks in the eighth (108), ninth (93) and tenth (135) frames helped pull O'Sullivan clear of Selby, who appeared to be struggling to keep up.

But Selby rallied and despite going three frames behind with O'Sullivan one away from victory, he battled hard to win the final four frames in a row and take the Welsh Open trophy.

Afterwards, however, O'Sullivan was less than gracious in victory, saying he thought Selby's tactics were "very negative".

"I play an attacking game and try to grab it by the scruff of the neck," he said.

"I got away with it early on but Mark was very tactical."

He continued: "I don't know if Mark's talented - he plays a very negative game. He doesn't take a ball on unless he's going to leave it safe.

"It makes him tough to play because you know you're in for long frames and long bouts of safety.

"It's hard to get a rhythm against someone like that, but I can't grumble because I had my chances."
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