But as Mark Selby picked up his second pot of the season in Thailand yesterday, the
man from Leicester looks like he's really got the bit between the teeth to sweep the board this year.He beat Ricky Walden 8-6 in the six-reds final after knocking out Barry Hawkins, Joe Perry, Jamie Jones and Stuart Pettman earlier in the knock-out phases.
He's playing with the kind of confidence that should place him among the favourites for the top prizes later in the season.
Maybe my claims are a little premature but it's been quite some time since I've seen a player hit top form at such a consistent level so early in the season, like Selby has.
No player has dominated a season for so long, namely because it's so difficult with the quality and depth of the circuit we're belssed with right now.
But for a long time we've seen Selby produce the form you'd expect from a real big-match player without doing it all the time
So far this season, he's shown he can deliver away from the biggest stage too.If we're to see a season dominated by anyone, Selby would be my number one contender. He's such a confidence player and as hungry as ever.
But it is worth noting he'll come up against sterner tests than Walden this year, no offence.
He did beat Jamie Cope, Michael Holt, James Wattana and Darren Morgan on route ot the showpiece though. But you'd not expect him to be threatening at the latter stages of the main ranking events when it matters
Elsewhere, reigning champion Jimmy White fell at the last 16 hurdle to Alfie Burden, and Stuart Bingham, who impressed in the group stages, was stunned by Passakom Suwannawat in the last 32.
The biggest other shocks included Peter Ebdon being beaten by Noppon Saengkham and Mark Williams losing to Burden as well.
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