Matthew Selt

Selt at the2015 German Masters
Born	(1985-03-07)7 March 1985 (age 40) Romford,London, England
Sport country	England
Professional	2002/2003, 2007–present
Highestranking	20 (February 2016)[1]
Current ranking	35 (as of 24 March 2025)
Century breaks	214 (as of 29 March 2025)
Tournament wins
Ranking	1

Matthew Selt (born 7 March 1985) is an English professionalsnooker player. He qualified for the professional tour by finishing seventh in the Pontin's International Open Series in 2006/2007. Selt played in his first professional final in 2014 at the minor-rankingLisbon Open, which he lost toStephen Maguire, and has reached five quarter-finals in full ranking events. Selt won his first ranking title when he beatLyu Haotian in the2019 Indian Open final. In February 2025, aWorld Snooker disciplinary inquiry into Selt's behaviour at the 2024 Saudi Masters imposed a suspended sentence of three months, fined him £10,000 and made him pay the governing body's costs in bringing the case; Selt apologised unreservedly for his actions.^[2]

In 2008, Selt was cleared by aWPBSA tribunal over allegations that he had bribed an opponent to lose a match at the 2007International Open Series.^[3]

He made an important breakthrough at the start of the2009–10 season by reaching the last 32 of theShanghai Masters by winning four qualifying matches, ending with a 5–4 victory overSteve Davis. There he facedJohn Higgins, losing 5–2. He also impressed at theGrand Prix, by recovering from 0–4 againstJordan Brown to win 5–4 and going on to beatJimmy White,Stuart Pettman andFergal O'Brien to reach the final stages of a tournament for the second time in succession. There he was drawn againstStephen Hendry who beat him 5–2.

Selt began the2011–12 season ranked 43rd meaning he would have to win two qualifying matches to reach the ranking event main draws.^[4] He did this at the first ranking event of the season: theAustralian Goldfields Open by beatingAdrian Gunnell andRicky Walden.^[5] In the last 32 he played reigning world championJohn Higgins and pulled off the biggest result of his career to date by overcoming a deficit of 1–4, to triumph 5–4 and win a televised match for the first time.^[6] He then beatStephen Hendry 5–1 to earn himself his first ranking event quarter-final, where he lost 3–5 toShaun Murphy.^[7] Selt qualified for the main draw of theUK Championship for the first time in2011 by defeatingMark King 6–4 in the final round of qualifying.^[8] His reward was a tie against formerworld championGraeme Dott, who beat him 6–1.^[9] He failed to qualify for any of the remaining ranking events and finished the season ranked world number 44.^[5][10]

At the start of the2012–13 season Selt reached the quarter-finals of theAustralian Goldfields Open for the second consecutive season. He beatThepchaiya Un-Nooh andJamie Jones in qualifying and once in Australia he came back from 0–2 and 3–4 down to knock out the defending championStuart Bingham 5–4.^[11][12] He then defeatedRyan Day 5–3, before losing toBarry Hawkins by the same scoreline in the quarters.^[11] Selt struggled after this as he couldn't qualify for eight successive ranking events and only won three matches all year in the eight minor-rankingPlayers Tour Championship events he entered to finish a lowly 104th on the Order of Merit.^[11][13]

He rediscovered his form inWorld Championship Qualifying by seeing offThanawat Thirapongpaiboon 10–8 to be just one match away from reaching the opening round of the tournament for the first time.^[14] Selt played1997 championKen Doherty and at 9–4 ahead he looked to be heading to theCrucible with ease. However, Doherty came back to trail 7–9, and when Selt lost the next frame from a position of 55–0 ahead all the momentum was with the Irishman. The match went into a deciding frame with Selt again building a 55–0 lead and this time hanging on to seal his place in the first round, where he met world number oneMark Selby, losing 4–10.^[14][15] He ended the campaign where he started it, ranked world number 44.^[16]

Selt failed to qualify for the opening four ranking events of the2013–14 season, but then whitewashedChris Norbury 6–0 to reach the first round of theInternational Championship, where he lost 6–3 toMartin Gould.^[17] His best result by far in the minor-rankingEuropean Tour events came at the final tournament, theGdynia Open as he whitewashed three opponents 4–0 and beatJudd Trump 4–1 in a televised quarter-final, before losing by the same scoreline toShaun Murphy in the semis. After the event, Selt stated that he had been neglecting his game for the last two years by occasionally practising two or three hours and that he believed his ranking of 50 would be 20 or 30 places higher if he had played to his true ability.^[18] He finished 32nd on theEuropean Order of Merit, seven places outside of qualifying for theFinals.^[19] His deepest run in a ranking event this season came after this at theChina Open when he beatRyan Day 5–2, before losing 5–2 toAli Carter in the last 32.^[17]

Selt progressed through to the semi-finals of theHaining Open, losing 4–1 toStuart Bingham.^[20] His first win at the venue stage of a full ranking event this season came courtesy of a 6–0 whitewash overHammad Miah at theUK Championship. Selt then knocked outXiao Guodong andRory McLeod both 6–4 to faceRonnie O'Sullivan in the fourth round. O'Sullivan made a147 in the final frame as he won 6–0, with Selt saying afterwards that despite having numerous chances throughout the match he never settled.^[21] Selt responded in his next event by winning four matches to reach the quarter-finals of theLisbon Open and then defeatedJudd Trump 4–1 andBarry Hawkins 4–2 to play in his first final in a minor-ranking event.^[20] He took the opening frame againstStephen Maguire, but went on to lose 4–2.^[22] His first quarter-final in a ranking event this season came at thePTC Grand Final after he eliminatedOliver Lines 4–1 andChris Wakelin 4–2 and he ledMark Williams 3–1, but could not reach the first semi-final of his career as Williams would knock him out in a final frame decider.^[23] Selt's season looked to be ending in disappointment as he trailedJimmy White 7–2 in the second round ofWorld Championship qualifying. However, he took eight of the nine frames upon the resumption of play and won in the final round 10–8 againstTom Ford.^[24] In the first round Selt lost another opening session 7–2 this time againstBarry Hawkins. He also went on to be 9–4 behind but then won five frames in a row which included back-to-back centuries and a 94 break. He couldn't win his first match at theCrucible Theatre as he lost the deciding frame.^[25] Selt finished a season inside the top 32 in the rankings for the first time in his career as he was the world number 30.^[26]

In the first round of the2015 Australian Goldfields Open,Neil Robertson fought back to 4–4 after Selt had been 4–0 up. The deciding frame lasted 55 minutes and Selt took it on the final blue and then edged pastMark Joyce 5–4 to reach the quarter-finals of the event for the third time.^[27] He was unable to feature in his first ranking event semi-final asMartin Gould comfortably beat him 5–1.^[28] However, Selt rose to a career-high 27th in the world rankings soon afterwards and credited his improvement in play to his coach Chris Henry, his mentorStephen Hendry, as well as his own personal fitness.^[29] He lost 5–4 on the final black toJudd Trump in the second round of theShanghai Masters.^[30] Despite describing his play as pretty terrible, Selt reached the fourth round of theUK Championship and recovered from 3–1 down againstLuca Brecel to knock him out 6–4. He also said that his 6–0 loss toRonnie O'Sullivan a year earlier had improved him as a player. In his first UK quarter-final he was defeated 6–1 byMark Selby, but the £20,000 in prize money he earned is the biggest of his career so far.^[31][32] O'Sullivan beat Selt 3–0 in the semi-finals of the non-rankingChampionship League. He failed to qualify for theWorld Championship after losing 10–9 toMitchell Mann in the second qualifying round.^[33] His ranking over the course of the season rose five places to world number 25.^[34]

Selt overcameMatthew Stevens 5–2 andSam Craigie 5–4 at theWorld Open, before losing 5–2 toAnthony McGill in the third round. He only won one match at the venue stage in the next nine ranking events, before reaching the third round of theGibraltar Open with victories overRory McLeod andStephen Maguire. Selt would lose 4–1 toJudd Trump. He could not qualify for theWorld Championship as he was beaten 10–6 byHossein Vafaei in the second round.^[35]

Selt's best result for the season came in theGibraltar Open, in which he knocked outMitchell Mann,Liang Wenbo before losing toKyren Wilson in the last 16.^[36]

Selt secured his maiden ranking title at theIndian Open after beatingJohn Higgins 4–2 in the semi-final andLyu Haotian 5–3 in the final.^[37] He was unable to qualify for theWorld Snooker Championship after losing 10–4 toZhao Xintong in the final qualifying round.^[38]

In July 2019, Selt reached the semi-final of theRiga Masters after wins over the likes ofJimmy Robertson,Lu Ning, andMark King before being defeated by the eventual championYan Bingtao.^[39] He failed to qualify for theWorld Snooker Championship again after being defeated byKurt Maflin in the final qualifying round, losing 10–1.^[40]

Selt reached another semi final of a ranking event after defeatingStephen Hendry,Barry Hawkins, Kyren Wilson,Soheil Vahedi, andChris Wakelin before losing to the eventual championJudd Trump.^[41] Most notably, his first round match against Stephen Hendry, the seven-time world champion, was Hendry's first professional match since retiring in 2012.^[42] In April 2021, after dispatchingScott Donaldson 10–3 in the final qualifying round, Selt qualified for theWorld Snooker Championship for the first time in 6 years.^[43] He drew Barry Hawkins in the first round and was defeated 3–10.^[44]

In the third round of the2021 UK Championship, Selt caused a major upset by defeating third seedJudd Trump 6–3;^[45] he lost in the next round againstBarry Hawkins by a reverse of the scoreline after leading 3–1. He also reached the quarter-finals of the next ranking event, theScottish Open, losing in the deciding frame against eventual championLuca Brecel. At the inauguralTurkish Masters, Selt reached the second ranking final of his career, notably defeating a resurgentDing Junhui 6–5 in the semi-final.^[46] However, he lost in the final against Trump by a scoreline of 4–10.^[47] Selt reached the final qualifying round of theWorld Championship where he facedThepchaiya Un-Nooh whom he had beaten in all previous professional encounters; however, from leading 6–4 Selt went on to lose 7–10.^[48]

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2019	Indian Open	Lyu Haotian	5–3
Runner-up	1.	2022	Turkish Masters	Judd Trump	4–10

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2014	Lisbon Open	Stephen Maguire	2–4

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2002	WPBSA Open Tour – Event 6	Stuart Bingham	4–5
Winner	1.	2016	Haining Open	Li Hang	5–3

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2002	English Under-18 Championship	Gary Wilson	5–8[50]

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