Selby wants more

Mark Selby insists he did not feel any nerves as he won the Masters, despite it being his debut in the tournament and his first major title success.

24-year-old Selby showed he is a class act when making the World Championship final at the Crucible last year, and he delivered on some of that promise by taking the famous Masters title at Wembley Arena.

Selby had showed throughout the tournament that he would not be fazed by making his debut in such an illustrious competition, as he beat Ken Doherty, Stephen Maguire and Stephen Hendry all in deciding-frame 6-5 victories.

There was no need for such nail-biting drama in the final though, as Leicester cueman Selby dominated with eight frames on the bounce handing him a fine10-3 win over Stephen Lee.

After becoming the fifth player to win the Masters on his debut, Selby says that he did not feel any nerves at all.

Relaxed

"I seemed to be in the zone, I felt relaxed from the word go," said Selby.

"It was as if I was playing on the practice table. There were no nerves at all at the end, in the last frame I just wanted to win it in one visit.

"In fact I was so relaxed I didn't realise I had a chance to make the high break, and ended up equalling it with 141.

"Getting to the world final at the Crucible gave me the self-belief and my confidence has come on leaps and bounds since then.

"I think other players will respect me more now that I've won a major tournament, and it's also given me the belief that I can win more titles.

"Since I was a kid, all I've wanted to do is win tournaments, and there's no reason why I can't win more this season."

Lee down

Beaten finalist Lee was bitterly disappointed by his defeat, saying that he could not fire himself up enough against Selby.

"It's very disappointing because I felt awful today, totally flat," said the Wiltshire potter. "There was no fire or adrenaline there.

"I didn't celebrate at all, but maybe the semis took it out of me. All of my hard work has been undone.

"I felt better going into tonight's session but Mark settled first and he's a worthy champion. He looked good under pressure and I was impressed by the way he got over the line.

"The way he moves across the shot when he's cueing up, I've never seen anything like it. But he delivers the cue straight and hits the ball really well.

"I can take something out of the tournament because I played well under pressure to get to the final. I was up against non-attacking players and you get dragged down.

"I'm going to be more attacking and let my arm fly for the rest of the season, I'm looking forward to the next few tournaments."