Mark Selby defeats Neil Robertson to win his third Masters title

Mark Selby won his third Betfair Masters title with a 10-6 victory over the defending champion, Neil Robertson, at Alexandra Palace in London.

Selby, the winner in 2008 and 2010 and last month's UK Championship victor, was made to work for his £175,000 first prize in the best-of-19 final after the Australian top seed Robertson responded from 8-3 down with wins in three successive frames.

Selby, though, was able to hold off the fightback and see out victory to join five others who had won the tournament three times or more. The 'Jester from Leicester' joined Cliff Thorburn, Stephen Hendry, Paul Hunter, Steve Davis and Ronnie O'Sullivan, whose presence on semi-final day ignited whispers of him launching a world title defence later this year.

The 29-year-old Selby, after his £125,000 win in York in December, is the first to win back-to-back majors since Mark Williams 10 years ago. Only three players had successfully defended the Masters title, with Robertson aiming to emulate Thorburn, Hendry and Hunter. But Selby started the faster, brushing off the effects of his semi-final defeat of Graeme Dott, when he responded from 4-1 down to triumph 6-5 in a contest which finished after midnight.

Selby raced to a 3-0 advantage, the third frame featuring his first century break of the final, 102. The Australian, who made six centuries en route to the final, responded with a break of 78 as he opened his account before the mid-session interval.

A break of 84 saw the Leicester man take the fifth frame and he added the next to take a 5-1 advantage before Robertson took the last two frames of the afternoon session. Selby began the evening session quickly, with a break of 67, to go 6-3 up. He edged a scrappy 10th frame and ruthlessly punished poor safety play from Robertson to take the 11th with a break of 32.

Again Robertson reduced the arrears, breaks of 74 and 83 moving him within three of Selby at 8-5. But Selby held his nerve to complete a 10-6 victory.