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Mark Selby edges closer to World Championship title

:Headline: Mark Selby edges closer to World Championship title:
Mark Selby leads 14-11, with 18 the target for victory.
Sports Mole

Mark Selby moved four frames away from winning his fourth world snooker title after preserving his three-frame lead over Shaun Murphy at the end of the penultimate session of their Crucible final.

Selby repelled a flashy Murphy fightback to clinch the crucial final frame of the session and go 14-11 in front ahead of the conclusion of their best-of-35 battle on Monday evening.

Each player summoned a century but neither displayed their best form in a session in which Selby's fighting spirit cancelled out Murphy's flamboyant if somewhat erratic break-building bids.

Ultimately it was Murphy who will have headed back to his dressing room more disappointed, having blown his chance of narrowing the deficit to a single frame following a sloppy break-off shot in the final frame of the afternoon.

Resuming 10-7 behind, Murphy had drawn first blood with a promising break of 77 and looked odds-on to make it 10-9 when he got the snooker he required, only to leave the black dangling over the middle pocket.

Selby duly potted it to re-establish his three-frame lead, but failed to punish Murphy for a poor safety in the next, a missed black of his own giving the 2005 champion the chance to clear the colours and pull back the deficit again.

Mark Selby preserved his three-frame lead over Shaun Murphy (Zac Goodwin/PA)

A coolly-dispatched break of 107 put Selby in full control at the interval and, when Murphy missed a rash long red upon the resumption and saw his opponent stretch his advantage to four, it seemed for the first time that Selby had made the vital move.

But just as in his semi-final, where he recovered from a 10-4 deficit to beat Kyren Wilson, Murphy raised his game with his back against the wall, a superb 100 bringing him back to 13-10 and a brilliant long red helping him over the line in the next.

But the fist-pump with which Murphy greeted his reduction in arrears proved premature, as Selby gleefully swept up a long red from Murphy's poor break-off, and his subsequent 62 ultimately proved enough to leave the Leicester man in full control.

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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Arsenal28204470244664
2Liverpool28197265263964
3Manchester CityMan City28196363283563
4Aston Villa29175760421856
5Tottenham HotspurSpurs28165759421753
6Manchester UnitedMan Utd28152113939047
7West Ham UnitedWest Ham2912894650-444
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton2811985044642
9Wolverhampton WanderersWolves28125114244-241
10Newcastle UnitedNewcastle281241259481140
11Chelsea27116104745239
12Fulham29115134344-138
13Bournemouth2898114152-1135
14Crystal Palace2878133348-1529
15Brentford2975174154-1326
16Everton2887132939-1025
17Luton TownLuton2957174260-1822
18Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest2967163551-1621
19Burnley2945202963-3417
20Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd2835202474-5014
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