It wan't only Selby who was well prepared for the battle on hand as, when it comes to 6-red snooker, his rival Walden had a higher pedigree of capturing the 6-red International title at the same venue two years ago.
Though Selby is ranked much higher at No. 9 than Walden's No. 20 spot in the world professional rankings, there was a large number of those in the crowd who were fancying a victory for Walden on Saturday.
It was always going to be tough fight and it did turn out to be one.
"I had been in a very confident mood coming to this tournament after my victories in the 2010 Masters and last Players Tour Championship event," said Selby, who is nicknamed 'Jester from Lester' by the British media.
He added: "I like 6-red snooker because it is anybody's game and it could have Ricky's way as well. However, that is the reason that we were being a bit cautious out there and the match was a bit scrappy at times.
"Obviously, the pressure mounted on me as he narrowed the margin late in the match, but all I needed was to hang in there and wait for just one opening. It was quite a relief to cross the winning line.
“I think frame nine was the turning point. I needed a snooker with a red left, forced Ricky into missing one, and cleared up to lead 6-3 on the black.
“I would say it again that 6-red snooker is definitely exciting and rewarding. Maybe we should have more of it in the UK.”
Walden said: “I agree with Mark, losing frame nine was a sickener and I did well afterwards to close the gap from three to one.”
Selby had set the early pace by taking the first two frames of the final, winning the second one with the help of a fine break of 63. And when Walden started showing his mettle, it seemed that Selby's edge would fizzle out soon.
However, grabbing the ninth frame put Selby back in the driver's seat and he widened the gap to 7-3. Walden put up a fight and took three frames in a row to reduce the deficit to just one frame.
Selby got the chance he had been for in the 14th frame and he did not let slip.
Walden received 800,000 baht in prize money for finishing runner-up.
FINAL FRAME SCORES: Mark Selby (ENG) bt Ricky Walden (ENG) 8-6 (60-7, 64(63)-0, 7-47, 54-5, 1-41, 39-27, 6-39, 71(71)-0, 42-30, 44-4, 0-62(58), 9-41, 12-40, 56-17) |
