He progressed to the main draw of the 2005 World Championship, losing 5–10 to John Higgins in the first round. He then faced Higgins in the first round again at the 2006 World Championship, this time defeating the reigning Grand Prix and Masters champion 10–4, before being eliminated in the second round by Mark Williams. Selby reached the final of the 2007 World Championship, where he was defeated 13–18 by Higgins. He beat Stephen Lee 10–7 in the first round, after winning eight successive from 0–5 behind to lead 8–5. He defeated former World Champion Peter Ebdon 13–8 in the second round, with five centuries (three of them consecutive) to reach the quarter-finals, where he beat Ali Carter 13–12, from 11–8 ahead and 11–12 behind, in a third-round match that lasted well over nine hours. He won his semi-final match 17–16 against Shaun Murphy, after trailing 14–16, in another deciding frame that he took with a 64 break. In the final, John Higgins led 12–4 after the second session, but Selby won all six frames played in the third session on Monday afternoon before time ran out due to the length of the frames; he was therefore only 10–12 behind entering the final session, and closed to within one frame at 13–14 before eventually losing the match. Higgins pointed out in his victory speech that Selby was "the most improved player on the tour". Selby's performance in the 2006–07 season earned him a place in the top 16 for the first time for the 2007–08 season, where he was ranked 11th. His victories over Lee, Ebdon, Carter and Murphy at the 2007 World Championship also won him the inaugural 888.com Silver Chip award for outstanding performance, awarded by the Snooker Writers' Association. Next season, he made it to the semi-finals in the 2007 Shanghai Masters, but was defeated by Dominic Dale, who went on to win the tournament. Selby also had a strong run in the UK Championship, reaching the semi-finals as well, where he met the eventual winner of the event, Ronnie O'Sullivan. Selby led 7–5, but fell 7–8 behind before levelling the match at 8–8; however, O'Sullivan made a 147 break in the deciding frame to win 9–8. 2008–2011 On 20 January 2008, Selby won his first major tournament, the Masters at Wembley Arena in London. En route to the final, he had edged out Stephen Hendry, Stephen