Vafaei raced into a 5-0 lead with breaks of 105, 69, 55 and 56 before an out-of-sorts Selby won the next two frames to threaten a comeback in the second-round clash.
“I think I was a little bit lucky,” Vafaei said. “At the end I’m sorry to Mark. He’s one of our legends, total respect to him.”
Selby was equally magnanimous in defeat, saying, “I didn’t really get a chance the first two frames, Hossein played great, settled really quickly.
“I probably should have won the third frame, missed an easy black off the spot and had half a chance in the next frame, so could have easily been 2-2 at the interval. But after the interval he kicked off great again and thoroughly deserved to win the match,” the Englishman added.