Not even Barry Hawkins’ white flag of surrender could stop Mark Selby in full stride during Sunday’s China Open final. With a century break from the ‘Jester’ already applying the icing to an 11–3 rout, Hawkins jokingly hurled his white face cloth to the baize, submitting to the relentless snooker machine marching around the table before him. Selby, unfazed, impudently doubled the yellow in spite of the distraction and sealed a break of 132, proof that surrender will not be tolerated by the world champion. Selby will win on his terms, and in his own uniquely cold-blooded style.

Sunday’s triumph marks a redemptive moment for the world number one. The story of Selby’s season before Beijing had been one of unlikely early-round exits, and of a failure to match the exceptionally high standards set by the 34 year-old last campaign, in which he clinched five ranking triumphs. For any other player, a haul of the International Championship title and more than £300,000 in prize money would have been considered a successful term so far, and yet for Selby it had felt like an underachievement, a meagre return from a player who grabbed the professional game by the horns last season with such force and distinction.

And for every early exit to a lesser opponent suffered by Selby as this season wore on, the three-time world champion had appeared ever more fallible, another piece of his once seemingly impenetrable armour chipped away unceremoniously with every defeat. There were signs that the wheels which had once rolled and thundered like a whirlwind were beginning to wobble, if not quite falling off.

Hawkins’ ‘white flag’ of surrender in yesterday’s final frame

But Selby, as all great sporting champions do, rose from the ashes of disparagement last week in Beijing in a manner that truly announced his return to top form. Although the week began with a rather nervy 6–4 win over Wang Yuchen in the last 128, Selby seemed to grow in stature and momentum with each subsequent victory, his head held ever higher with every potted ball, rediscovering the same blisteringly efficient form that has carried him to three world titles in the last four years.

Selby is the greatest player in the world in that no one on the tour can match his strategic nouse. No one can survive the tactical toil he inflicts upon his opponents. Few can withstand the unique ability he has to wring out all that is good and great about his challengers in a ruthless display of mechanical safety play and patient, methodical break-building, leaving nothing but a husk of a player slumped in their chair merely watching their slow painful death unfold before their withered eyes.

If Ronnie O’Sullivan is the hero of snooker’s perpetual storyline, then Selby is its chief antagonist, grinding down the very best through sheer forbearance and measured procedure. Where Ronnie at times gets frustrated when frames become bogged down in safety exchanges, Selby seems to relish such tactical battles. His ability to transition so seamlessly between furious potter and break-builder to dogged tactical warrior is the reason he has won so many titles, the reason he marched to a third China Open title in four years on Sunday, and the reason he now becomes firm favourite for the upcoming World Championships.

Beijing’s Olympic Park played host to the China Open once again

Of course, the best players deserve the best stage on which to perform, and it must be said that both World Snooker and the organisers and sponsors of the China Open are due a lot of credit for the increased prestige of this year’s tournament. A record prize fund of over £1m brought a new level of importance to this championship, and the spectators reaped the rewards, seeing two maximum breaks at the hands of O’Sullivan and Stuart Bingham, and a plethora of explosive attacking performances and nail-biting drama. The event has perfectly summed up the good Barry Hearn and co. have brought to the game through increased exposure and potential financial gain. Long may it continue.

And while the doubts had been creeping in about Mark Selby’s position among snooker’s elite, this week was a re-galvanisation of his true qualities. Over longer-format matches, like those to come at the Crucible later this month, it is hard to see how anyone can stand up to the might of the world number one. And yet snooker has a unique ability to surprise, and to birth new heroes and new characters out of the darkness when we least suspect it. If a new challenger is to emerge in Sheffield in a month’s time, they’ll be faced with an almighty tussle to wrest the title from the defending champion’s iron grip. The marker has just been laid.