Chris Wakelin ‘left with sour taste’ after Mark Selby win, reckons Stephen Hendry

Chris Wakelin had a brilliant opening day at Champion of Champions, beating Barry Hawkins and Mark Selby, but Stephen Hendry is not sure he will be ‘over the moon’ despite the success.

The first group of the non-ranking event was played on Monday as Wakelin downed Hawkins 4-1 and Selby edged Shoot Out champion Alfie Burden 4-3.

That meant the winners clashed in the evening for a place in the semi-finals and Wakelin pulled off the upset with a 6-2 victory over the four-time world champion.

It was not a classic contest, with both players struggling for any kind of fluency and break-building proving very difficult.

The Monster won the match with a high break of 56 and only one other half-century, while the Jester from Leicester managed one 50+ effort over the eight frames.

Hendry acknowledged that any group win at the Champion of Champions is a fantastic day at the office, but does not think Wakelin will be thrilled with the performances, pointing out that he left the door ajar for Selby in the final frame by missing a straightforward black.

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Asked if he was impressed, Hendry said on ITV4: ‘Not really. Ok it was a great victory for him but he’ll have a little bit of a sour taste the way he’s won the match.

‘He missed the black off the spot there and Mark Selby could have easily won that frame and it would have been really tough for Chris to get over the line. He’s been gifted the pink over the hole by Mark Selby.

‘He made less mistakes, less unforced errors than his opponent so he won’t be over the moon, but great victory. Fair play to him, he won ugly tonight.’

Wakelin did admit he had some luck in his win over Selby, but was still delighted to down the defending champion, who he regards as possibly the greatest in history.

‘Really drained. Mark and I practiced together for a good 7-8 years, we haven’t for a few years now but I know how good he is,’ said Wakelin after the win.

‘He gets this stigma all the time about being a bit negative, but he is just one of the best scorers there’s ever been. To the purists out there Mark Selby probably is the greatest of all time, so to have him as a good friend and practice partner, mentor in years gone by, I’m really grateful for all the time that he gave to me back in those times when I was struggling. I’m delighted to get the victory today.’

Wakelin explained how a change in cue shortly before the tournament made things tricky for him, saying: ‘I don’t think you can put anything down to Mark tonight, it was me being not good but very lucky.

‘I changed back to my old cue four days ago because mine got warped on the way out to China, so trying to adjust to that, I’m just guessing on a lot of safety shots and long pots. When I’m trying to time the ball the white is just not going where I expect it to.

‘I think 90 per cent of the time tonight where I’ve hit one not quite right I’ve got lucky. I saw Mark shaking his head and getting a frustrated towards the end and I can’t say I blame him.’

He added on Selby: ‘Mark and I we don’t practise together anymore but in years gone by he gave up so much time for me, gave me so much advice and I’ll always be eternally grateful for that because he’s one of the best there’ll ever be.’

The Scottish Open champion has previously expressed that he doesn’t think Hendry ‘rates’ him and feels a bit underappreciated by the seven-time world champ.

Speaking at this year’s World Championship, Wakelin said: ‘Someone who doesn’t rate me at all is Stephen Hendry. Every single Players event, whenever I’m playing a match on TV he always says the other guy is going to win. I laugh about it every time and it gives me a lot of pleasure to just go out there and do my thing.

‘He obviously doesn’t rate me at all because I’m not world number one or world champion in the past, but it’s my job just to go out there and focus on my game. You’re always going to have critics in this sport as you do in every sport so it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.’

Wakelin will face the winner of Tuesday’s group in the semi-final, with Neil Robertson playing women’s world champion Panchaya Channoi and Judd Trump taking on Jak Jones in the afternoon.

In the bottom half of the draw, Wednesday’s group features Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Shaun Murphy and Wu Yize vs Chang Bingyu, before Thursday’s action including Zhao Xintong against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Kyren Wilson playing Ali Carter.

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