Out-of-sorts Mark Selby sent packing in opening round by Yuan Sijun in fraught affair at European Masters 2022

Yuan Sijun defeated Mark Selby 5-2 in a thrilling opening-round match at European Masters.

Yuan had only won four frames in his first three matches with Selby, but he won this time and sent Selby packing at the Stadthalle Furth in Germany.

Selby struggled all the way, except for a fourth frame 137. Yuan felt the jitters while trying to get through a long seventh frame. But he eventually won it in the longest-running match that evening.

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Next up for Yuan will be a second-round encounter with Jackson Page.

Fan Zhengyi, the defending champion, lost 5-1 to Michael Judge. Stuart Bingham won comfortably 5-1 over Ian Burns earlier in the day.

Selby and Yuan had their chances in a scrappy first frame. Yuan, however, managed to get over the line at 80-31 after sweeping the colours.

Yuan settled into his stride, and looked stronger early on. He kicked off a 68-break with a long red kick-start, en route to a 2:0 lead.

Yuan again took his chance in the third frame and won it 76-18 to leave Selby, with a mountain on his mind.

“He surely needs to win this frame, but nothing he does is coming off,” Eurosport commentator Dave Hendon said ahead of the fourth frame.

“His safety is loose, he’s not been able to put anything together in the way of a break, long-potting non-existent and he looks devoid of confidence. Yuan hasn’t had to do a lot to build a commanding advantage.”

Selby bounced back immediately and sealed the century break with a fine, red along the cushion. He then doubled the final red. He cleared the colours and recorded a break of 137. The deficit was reduced to two frames at mid-session interval.

Referee Desislava Bozhilova called foul and a miss against Yuan in the fifth frame after he was left snookered at Selby.

Selby won the frame, making it 3-2. Yuan was able to recover from this setback by winning another tight frame.

Yuan led 4-2 and was a frame away of victory. Yuan had a big shot for the pink, which could have steered Yuan to victory. However, he missed the long-shot before a lengthy exchange with two reds ensued.

It was well-balanced, Yuan leading 38-44, but the Chinese 22-year old missed a simple green after it looked like the match was over.

Selby surprised to find himself back at the table. He rolled the green near to the cushion, but Yuan benefited from the white going nearer the blue. Yuan was unable make the pot.

Yuan managed to sink a long green and was able to redeem himself to a certain extent. However, he could not put the brown which would have left Selby in dire need of snookers.

Selby needed to pot four more colours to force a draw, but he also attempted snookering his opponent to ensure that this would not happen.

As Yuan tried to end the match, it was getting close to 11 p.m. BST. The brown was still trying to get to sleep. Selby continued his search for a snooker.

After more than 15 minutes without any pot, Yuan finally snookered Selby, forcing the foul, before finally sinking and sealing the win.