‘That is unbelievable’ – Selby and Wu trade calamitous errors in dramatic frame
Video credit: TNT Sports
In a competitive opening session of their second-round clash, Wu had charged back after Selby stunned the Crucible crowd with breaks of 123 and 124 to initially take a 2-0 lead.
It was largely a gritty showing from Chinese sensation Wu, who went on to take a 3-2 lead, managing only 52 as his highest break in that time, with Selby struggling to register any kind of meaningful visit to the table.
Selby and Wu went on to trade another set each before a frankly absurd eighth frame – the last of the session.
Under severe threat of heading into the evening 5-3 down, Selby knocked an exemplary break of 65 to hold a handy lead over Wu.
That run was kept alive by a remarkable pink pot as The Jester played the angles to bring the cue ball back round and take the penultimate red off the left cushion.
But when his visit concluded, it was still all to play for – with Selby 65-44 ahead, one red and the colours remaining on the table.
‘How about that!’ – Selby somehow brings red into play after sinking pink
Video credit: TNT Sports
That was when a chaotic sequence occurred, starting with an uncharacteristic Selby error. He played the final red off the top cushion and was left in disbelief when it pinged off the jaw of the left middle pocket and travelled middle right, taking a slight such before hovering just over the pocket.
“What an extraordinary blunder that is,” TNT Sports commentator Foulds said. “That is unbelievable. The last player I would expect to make a mistake like that is that man.”
Next to him, Studd added: “A double whammy for Selby – first catching the initial jaw, then look at how the red caught the far jaw and came back into a pottable position. That was a calamity for Selby.”
And before the TNT Sports commentator could even finish his sentence, the Crucible crowd gasped as another major error unfolded, this time by Wu.
With the cue ball at the top end of the table, the 22-year-old nudged the red into its nearby pocket, but saw his chances of a two-frame lead crumble when he did not judge the trajectory correctly and the cue ball went in-off.
With that, Wu called an end to the opening session.
“Well, it’s game over now,” Foulds said. “Selby can’t believe [it], he was very fortunate there to get away with that.
Watch: ‘Incredible’ Vafaei foul as cue ball slams into pocket at ‘100 miles per hour’
Video credit: TNT Sports
“I know he was probably unlucky to leave it over the middle, Wu Yize, the in-off, he had to do something to avoid that really. It was going to be there or thereabouts, so a pretty dramatic end. Wu Yize had enough after that.”
Locked at 4-4, Selby and Wu continue their second-round meeting on Sunday evening – live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.
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