WORLD number one Mark Selby became the third former world champion to lift silverware in Poland’s only ranking event in the snooker calendar after beating Martin Gould in the final.

Mark Selby. Picture by Monique Limbos

The 2014 Crucible champion cruised to a 4-1 victory over the recent German Masters winner to lift the season’s final European Tour Event title and his first of the 2015/16 campaign.

Victory for Selby will certainly send a message out to his rivals that he is returning to form again ahead of the World Championships which will take place in less than two months time.

Londoner Gould, ranked 15th in the world, won the opening frame of the final before Selby hit back to win four in a row with breaks of 92, 69, 51 and 62. The Leicester star joins fellow Crucible winners Neil Robertson and Shaun Murphy as the event’s winners.

The world number one beat Andrew Higginson, Marco Fu and Sam Baird earlier in the day to secure a place a place in his first final of the season. His previous best runs came in the International and UK Championships where he reached the semi-finals.

He also came back from 3-0 down to beat Luca Brecel before bouncing back to reach the last 16 of this event.

Selby told World Snooker’s official website after lifting the titke: “I rode my luck a bit in this event, I should have lost to Luca Brecel in the last 32 when I was 3-0 down.

“But it’s rare to have a tournament where you steam-roller everyone, when you win a title you often get through a match you should lose. I will go into the next event with a lot more confidence.”