Zhao was the dominant player throughout the weekend at the Snookerhallen in the Swedish capital as he won eight matches and compiled eight century breaks, including the historic maximum, en route to the title.
The victory secures the 27-year-old Chinese cueist a spot at the 2024/25 Q Tour Global play-offs next year, where three World Snooker Tour (WST) two-year tour cards will be on offer.
As a non-seeded player, Zhao began the event on the Friday and he completed routine 3-0 wins against Belgium’s Daan Leyssen and Poland’s Michal Kotiuk to book his place in Saturday’s last 64 stage.
There he faced 14-year-old Shaun Liu from Hong Kong China, who gave the former UK champion a stern test early on in the contest – levelling the game at 1-1 with a half-century before taking frame three down to the final black.
Zhao was able to pot the decisive black to restore his lead before moving one away from victory in the best-of-seven frame contest at 3-1.
Frame five saw a moment of history on the Q Tour as the man from China compiled a magical maximum break, the first ever to be achieved on the Q Tour, before receiving rapturous applause from the watching audience at the Snookerhallen venue.
The powerful scoring continued from Zhao in the last 32, as he scored breaks of 111, 128 and 80 to defeat Luke Pinches confirm his place in the final day of a Q Tour event for the first time.
The 27-year-old began the final day in style with another century, this time a 118, as he overcame former professional Peter Lines 4-1 in their first competitive meeting since the last 16 of the 2021 UK Championship.
Whitewash victories over France’s Nicolas Mortreux and Poland’s Mateusz Baranowski followed to set up a final meeting with Craig Steadman, who defeated Alfie Davies, Peter Devlin and Steven Hallworth on the final day to reach the title match.
It was Steadman who had defeated Zhao 4-3 in the last 64 stage of the previous Q Tour Europe event in Sofia, Bulgaria last month and he once again provided the Chinese cueist with his toughest test of the tournament.
Trailing 2-0 after Zhao opened the match with a break of 112, Steadman hit back to restore party at 2-2 in a race to four.
A stunning break of 136, Zhao’s eighth century break of the event, moved him one frame away from the title but Steadman once again hit back with a 93 to force a final frame decider.
Ultimately, however, it was deservedly Zhao’s weekend as he wrapped up the victory with a break of 82.
Following his victory, Zhao said: “Coming to Sweden, I just wanted to get used to this feeling of playing in tournaments again. I wasn’t aiming to be the champion but I just wanted to get back to playing competitively again.
“I haven’t changed my practice schedule, I still practice as usual and play against professionals. I think my scoring in the last few days is within my capability and I know I can score well.”
Looking ahead, Zhao said: “I will select which events I want to play in on the Q Tour but right now it is all about getting that tournament feeling and I am pleased to be getting that feeling back.”
Zhao Xintong only returned to competitive snooker very recently. The first WPBSA event he played in after his ban ended was the 2024 Q-Tour Event 2. In that event, he had played three matches, losing to Craig Steadman in the last 64. Craig of course is a very experienced former professional and Zhao, certainly, wasn’t match sharp. Obviously he has been working hard since and this is the result.
Not everybody is happy to see Zhao back, but I am. Everybody makes mistakes and we have to remember that Zhao was not found guilty of match fixing. What he was found guilty of was to not report the match fixing schemes he was aware of and to bet on snooker. Now regarding the first of those two breaches of his contract, we have to consider two things. The first is that the younger players really felt threatened by Liang Wenbo and Li Hang. They were genuinely scared of them. Also, as Lewis has mentioned many times in the past, all those young players know each other since childhood. Because of the “one child per family” rule in operation in China back then, they are all “only children”, they have no siblings. Their childhood friends therefore are the closest they have to a brother or a sister. The “snooker kids” he grew up with are effectively his brothers. Therefore having to “grass on them” was a big no-no.
I’ m wishing Zhao the best and I hope to see him back on the main tour next season … that’s where he belongs. The tour needs players like him, who offer the fans an attractive brand of snooker and play with a smile on their face.
Congratulations Zhao and good luck for the future
Mink has won the 2024 Women Snooker Australian Open
World number one Mink Nutcharut has defeated Ng On Yee 4-3 following a thrilling final match to win the 2024 Australian Women’s Snooker Open for a second time at Mounties, Sydney.
Five years on from claiming her first ever title on the World Women’s Snooker (WWS) Tour, Mink repeated her success against friend and rival Ng with a dramatic black ball success to lift her first crown since the Belgian Open back in January.
Her eighth success overall, the victory sees the Thai star join Ng as a multiple Australian Open champion and consolidate her position at the top of the world rankings.
It was to prove a hard fought final day as having secured her place in the semi-finals with wins against Dianne Spring and Jessica Woods following the group stages, Mink was to face a stern test from Mongolia’s Narantuya Bayarsaikhan in the last four.
The world number 19 – who was competing in a ranking semi-final for the first time having defeated Yee Ting Cheung 3-2 in the quarter-finals – would lead Mink throughout their contest and was one ball away from securing a maiden final in the sixth frame.
Mink, however, was able to win a black-ball battle to force a last frame decider, during which she produced her best snooker of the match to ultimately prevail and reach her first final of the season.
There she would face world number two Ng On Yee, who had made serene progress to the final without the loss of a single frame and had notably top scored with a stunning break of 133 during the round robin group stages against Australia’s Christine Firth.
The title match would prove to be another match full of drama as the first four frames were shared, Mink scoring breaks of 50 and 43, with Ng compiling runs of 52 and 57 during the second frame.
From that point on the final would become a tense affair as both players saw the winning line, Mink first moving to within one of victory by winning a 50 minute long fifth frame, before Ng returned the favour in frame six to force a final frame decider.
Both players would ultimately have their chances, Ng unfortunate to pot a red from the blue during a composed first scoring visit, before the contest eventually came down to the final black to decide the champion. While both players would have opportunities, it was Mink who would sink the winning ball to seal her second victory in Australia and lift the Clive Edwards Memorial Cup.
The dramatic final was a fitting end to a week to remember in Sydney which saw a record 27 entries contest the main title at Mounties. As well as victory for top ranked Mink, the event also saw notable runs for Narantuya Bayarsaikhan and Thailand’s Narucha Phoemphul, who both reached their maiden ranking event semi-finals, with several further players also breaking new ground at the tournament.
The Challenge Cup tournament for players who did not reach the quarter-finals saw Australia’s Kathy Blunden claim victory with a 2-0 success against China’s Shuangyu Jia.
World Women’s Snooker would like to thank everyone who contributed to another hugely successful event. This includes our partners at the Australian Billiards and Snooker Council, led by President Alex Render, Tournament Director Frank Dewens and Head of Referees Gary Knight, as well as our host Mounties and event sponsor The Snooker Shop.
The 2024/25 season continues with the Women’s Snooker Masters from 22-24 November 2024 at Frames Sports Bar, Couldson, England. Enter now via WPBSA SnookerScores.
There may not have been any professional snooker played yesterday but it still was a very busy day on the baize.
Indeed we had the last day of the 2024 Women Snooker UK Championship AND the 2024 Seniors Snooker 900 in Hull. I’ll post about the latter later today on my “Seniors blog”.
China’s Bai Yulu has ended the reign of Reanne Evans at the Taom UK Women’s Snooker Championship following a 4-0 final victory at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.
Record 12-time champion Evans was looking to extend a run which had seen her lift the title on four successive occasions, but it was reigning world champion Bai who dominated the title match to lift her third title on the World Women’s Snooker Tour since May 2023.
The 21-year-old Chinese star becomes the first winner of the UK Championship other than Evans and Ng On Yee in 12 years and the first player to win the world and UK titles during the same calendar year since Evans in 2019.
The victory will also see Bai rise to a new career-high world ranking of fourth position, behind only Mink Nutcharut, Ng and Evans.
Having been seeded through to the last 16 stage as reigning world champion, Bai progressed to the final with victories against Emma Powers-Richardson, recent US Open finalist Anupama Ramachandran and world number one Mink Nutcharut.
Awaiting her would once again be top seeded Evans, who survived a scare in the last 16 stage from India’s Amee Kamani to win 3-2, before she saw off So Man Yan and compatriot Rebecca Kenna – who had defeated Ng On Yee in the last eight – to set up a repeat of last year’s Leeds final.
In 2023 it had been Evans who ran out a 4-1 winner, but it would be a different story a year on as Bai quickly earned a 2-0 lead, before claiming a crucial third frame on the pink to move to within one frame of the title. Bai was not to be denied as she edged a final close frame to claim her first victory since her world title win in March and further cement her reputation as one of the leading Tour players.
Bai also achieved the highest break of the tournament with a run of 99 during her semi-final victory against Mink Nutcharut.
Side Tournaments
The Under-21 side tournament saw 13-year-old Ellise Scott claim her second successive junior title following her breakthrough win at the British Open back in May.
England’s Scott did not win a match during the group stages of the main competition, but enjoyed a successful run in the Under-21s with victories against Daisy May Oliver, Zoe Killington and Chloe Payne.
The Seniors side-tournament saw England’s Tessa Davidson lift her 12th over-40s crown following victory against Sarah Dunn in a repeat of the 2022 final in Leeds.
Davidson – who remains unbeaten at Seniors events since November 2023 – defeated Maureen Rowland, Mhairi Mackay and Dunn to win her second UK seniors title.
The Challenge Cup tournament for players who did not reach the quarter-finals saw Jasmine Bolsover lift her first WWS Tour title in nine years following a 2-1 success against Amee Kamani.
Winner of the Under-21 and Plate competitions at the 2015 World Championship, Bolsover won five matches during the final day under the six-red format to secure victory.
World Women’s Snooker would like to thank everyone who contributed to another hugely successful event, most notably our title sponsors Taom Billiards, our long-standing hosts at the Northern Snooker Centre and of course the players and officials without whom the event would not have been possible.
The 2024/25 season continues with the Australian Women’s Snooker Open from 5-8 October 2024 at the Mounties venue in Sydney, Australia.
Some of the matches can be found on WWS Youtube Channel
Congratulations Bai Yulu
I have no doubts that Bai is currently the best female snooker player on tour. For now she is finding it difficult, but she was able to compete very successfully on the youth CBSA tour, against the boys. I hope she adapts in the UK, and gets the support she needs. It would be great to see her develop and reap some success.
Christian Richter wins the 2024 IBSF World U17 Men Snooker Champion
Christian Richter from Germany has clinched the IBSF World Under-17 Men’s Snooker Championship 2024, defeating Thailand’s Lomnaw Issarangkun 4-1 in the final held today at KSBA, Bengaluru, India. This marks Christian’s first international snooker title.
Christian entered the knockout stage as the 7th seed and made an impressive start by overcoming Germany’s Paul Arthur Jeroch 3-1, highlighted by a standout break of 91. He then proceeded to beat India’s Jabez Naveen Kumar 3-0, with breaks of 44 and 67, securing his first international medal.
In a challenging semi-final, Christian faced last year’s runner-up, Riley Powell from Wales. Despite Riley’s century break in the second frame, Christian stayed composed, winning the match 4-2 with a break of 60 in the first frame and strong counterplay throughout.
In the final against the 2nd seed Lomnaw Issarangkun, Christian set the pace with opening breaks of 44 and 67 to lead 2-0. Lomnaw won the third frame but couldn’t catch up as Christian maintained his focus and won the next two frames effortlessly to secure the title.
The presentation ceremony was attended by IBSF Vice President Jim Leacy, IBSF Treasurer and Tournament Director Joseph Lo, BSFI President S. Balasubramaniam, and other officials from the Indian Federation, along with Shri Daulat B. Chhabria, the title sponsor.
Congratulations Christian!
Note that the “seeding” mentioned above is based on the results in the group stage and not on a kind of “IBSF ranking system”.
Meanwhile, the under-21 event is underway and still in the groups phase. Both “under-17” finalists are playing in this one as well. You can follow that event here.
Andres Petrov defeated Ryan Thomerson 4-3 in a dramatic final at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds to win the first WPBSA Q Tour Europe event of the 2024/25 season.
The Estonian cueist came through a record-breaking Q Tour field in West Yorkshire to secure the title and take an early lead in the Q Tour Europe ranking list after the first of seven events to be held across the continent.
Petrov, who made history in 2022 by winning the EBSA European Championship to become his country’s first ever professional, showed his determination on the final day by coming from 3-1 behind in both the quarter and semi-finals before firing in two century breaks in a final which also went down to the wire.
A total of 154 cueists, a new record for a Q Tour event, embarked on the famous Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds as the first two days saw 106 players battle it out to join the 48 seeded competitors in the last 64 stage on the Saturday.
A number of notable names fell during a high-quality first two days, including recent former professionals Adam Duffy, Rebecca Kenna and Victor Sarkis.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Scot Jack Borwick made headlines by compiling a stunning tournament high break of 139 in a 3-0 victory over Daniel Bagley, before following this up with a 3-1 win against former professional Kuldesh Johal to make it to the last 64 – ultimately succumbing to the experienced Craig Steadman at this stage.
As one of the seeded competitors, eventual champion Petrov entered the fray on the Saturday and back-to-back 4-2 wins over Rodions Judins and Halim Hussain saw the Estonian book his place in the final day.
A relatively comfortable 4-1 victory over Hamim Hussain, the brother of Halim, put Petrov into the quarter-finals where he would face 48-year-old Simon Bedford on the Northern Snooker Centre’s main table.
Despite a break of 61 in the third frame, Petrov found himself 3-1 down and on the brink of defeat to Bedford in the last eight.
Success on a respotted black in frame five saw the Estonian reduce his deficit to one and, from here, Petrov showed his battling qualities to earn the victory in a deciding frame.
Petrov would need to call upon these qualities once more in the semi-finals against Simon Blackwell, as the Englishman charged into a 3-1 lead with back-to-back half centuries. Again, however, Petrov refused to accept defeat and forced a decider by taking a dramatic sixth frame on the final black before getting over the line in the seventh by a 71-0 scoreline.
This set up a title match contest with Australia’s Ryan Thomerson, who had similarly been relegated from the main tour at the end of the last season, after he had defeated Ryan Davies 4-1 in the semi-finals.
Having started on the Thursday, Thomerson had impressively advanced through eight rounds to reach the final with notable victories over former professionals Harvey Chandler, James Cahill and Steven Hallworth.
But it looked to be Petrov’s day when the man known as ‘The Tallinn Lamborghini’ raced into a 3-0 lead with breaks of 121, 90, 55 and 51 to move just one frame away from lifting the title.
Thomerson had already proved to be a fighter across the weekend, coming from 3-1 down to earn victories over both Chandler and Hallworth en route to the final, and after taking the fourth frame on the last black he then compiled a break of 72 to reduce his deficit to just a single frame.
In frame six, Petrov moved 62-0 ahead and looked certain to get over the line but a steely clearance of 64 from Thomerson saw him dramatically force a decider having trailed 0-3.
The man from Estonia saved perhaps his most majestic break of the weekend for the most important moment as he compiled an outstanding clearance of 119, his second century of the final, to win the title.
Petrov was visibly emotional following the victory having played 26 out of a possible 28 frames on a final day full of drama.
The tournament success means that Petrov makes the perfect start as he aims to make an instant return to the World Snooker Tour (WST) with the top ranked player at the conclusion of the campaign earning an outright two-year tour card.
On Yee Ng produced a stunning performance over the week-end to win the 2024 Women Snooker US Open Championship. Mind you… she didn’t lose a single frame all week-end and made 7 breaks over 50 during the event.
Hong Kong China’s Ng On Yee has defeated Anupama Ramachandran 4-0 to complete a dominant performance at the WineCellars.com US Women’s Snooker Open and earn her 21st ranking event title at Ox Billiards, Seattle.
The victory sees the world number two ranked player continue her rich vein of form on the World Women’s Snooker Tour, which has seen her lift titles in Albania, the UK and now the United States during 2024.
It was a particularly impressive showing throughout the three day event as she did not drop a single frame throughout, matching her feat at the 2018 World Championship. She also compiled the four highest breaks of the competition, highlighted by a run of 90 during the round robin stages.
Having seen off Frances Tso and Tessa Davidson in the knockout rounds to reach her sixth final from the last eight events, Ng would face India’s Anupama Ramachandran, who enjoyed a breakthrough event in Seattle.
The 22-year-old notably ended the title defence of Mink Nutcharut with a deciding frame win at the quarter-final stage, before toppling 2022 runner-up Rebecca Kenna to reach her first ranking final on Sunday.
The final would prove a step too far, however, as three-time world champion Ng dominated from the outset. Breaks of 52, 43 and a further 43 propelled her to a 2-0 lead, before a sublime 73 clearance took her to within one of the title. Ramachandran would have a chance in the fourth frame, but a further clearance of 83 would seal the match and the title for Ng, who finished the match with a pot success of 95%.
Side Tournaments
In the Seniors side-tournament it was England’s Tessa Davidson who won her 11th crown since her bow in the over-40s category in January 2022 to consolidate her position at the head of the Seniors rankings.
The 55-year-old defeated Tour debutant Kara Cox in the semi-finals, before seeing off Canadian veteran Maryann McConnell 2-0 to seal the title and cap a successful week which also saw her reach the semi-finals of a main ranking tournament for the first time since the 1999 British Open.
There was also consolation for McConnell in the Challenge Cup tournament for players who did not reach the quarter-finals of the main event. The 74-year-old won a close contest 2-1 against home player Kaarin Lysen to take home the winning trophy.
World Women’s Snooker would like to thank everyone who contributed to another hugely successful US Women’s Snooker Open, including title sponsors WineCellars.com, our hosts at Ox Billiards and of course the players and officials without whom the event would not have been possible.
The 2024/25 season continues with the return of the Taom UK Women’s Snooker Championship from 6-8 September 2024 at the Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds, England.
The Ox Billiards in Seattle is an beautiful club, run by passionate and very welcoming people. The coverage has been excellent. Table one was streamed throughout and you can watch the action again on the club’s YouTube page.
I have no doubts that On Yee wants to get back on the main tour and wants to give a better account of herself as well now that she has a better understanding of the Tour and what it takes to succeed on it.
Tournament information including the draw and format for the first event of 2024/25 WPBSA Q Tour Europe is now available to view via WPBSA SnookerScores.
The event will take place at the Northern Snooker Centre, England with a record 154 players in the draw. This means that 34 matches must be played on Thursday 15 August, with the remaining rounds to be played from 16-18 August.
Q Tour Europe will be made up of seven tournaments and is part of the expanded WPBSA Q Tour Global, which will for the first time incorporate regional events held around the world, each offering access to an extended Q Tour Global Playoff at the end of the season.
154 entries is impressive, of course it is, but for this event held at the excellent Northern Snooker Center in Leeds, England, nearly two third of the field in English (98 out of 154 if I counted correctly). I wish it was different but I’m not surprised. Where I am surprised is that there is only ONE player from Ireland, and only three from Northern Ireland. How come??? Nepal has two !!! Germany has 5 players in the draw.
I counted two female players in the draw: Rebecca Kenna who certainly can play and Corina Maracine form Romania, who played in numerous PTCs in the past but who, as far as I remember, never won a match in them.
There are players in the draw, amongst the top seeds, who have already withdrawn, notably Paul Deaville, Dylan Emery and Kayden Brierley. Deaville and Emery are due to play in the Xi’an Grand Prix of course and that’s surely the reason for their withdrawal. It’s a shame through as it puts them at a disadvantage in the Q-Tour right from the off.
Six Champions Crowned at Shanghai Disability Snooker Invitational
Six champions from three different nations won titles at the second staging of the WDBS Shanghai Disability Snooker Invitational in Shanghai, China last weekend.
A combination of cueists from China and international invitees made up a field of 31 players who competed across six classification groups at the two-day event.
The tournament was preceded by a special welcome banquet at the Steel Convention & Expo Centre where the event was formally opened by Miss Xue Sasa, Vice Governor of the Baoshan District, alongside key officials from the Shanghai and Baoshan District government and the Shanghai Billiards and Snooker Association.
Among those in attendance at the formal opening of the event were WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson, who delivered a keynote speech, as well as former world champions Stephen Hendry and John Higgins.
On the baize, it was Thailand who saw the most success as their cueists picked up the gold medal in three of the six competitions held across the weekend.
There was success for a duo of 2023 World Abilitysport Games bronze medalists in Group’s 1 and 2 as Numpol Thongpusawan and Surasit Loisaratrakul overcame Gary Swift and Tony Southern to secure the title and gain revenge on the Englishmen, who had both defeated them in the semi-finals of the Games back in December.
Boonmark Voranipit made it a hat-trick of gold medals for Thailand by defeating England’s David Church 2-0 in the final of Group 4 – bouncing back from defeat to Church in the initial group phase to earn the title.
Poland’s Adam Wilk picked up the sole gold medal for a European cueist as he beat Hong Kong China’s Andy Lam in a tense deciding frame of the Group 3 final, while there were titles from two Chinese players as Lu Yun and Yang Junhui defeated fellow countrymen Xue Wen and Mo Quanhu on home soil to win the gold in Group’s 5 and 6.
WDBS would like to thank the Shanghai Disabled Persons’ Federation, Baoshan District, Shanghai Sports Federation, Shanghai Billiards Association, Baoshan Disabled Persons’ Federation, Baoshan Sports Association, Guizhou Weboo Sports Co., Ltd, Lushan Hengkang Slate Co., Ltd and all the co-organisers for their support with the 2nd Shanghai Disability Invitational.
Make sure you have a look at the gallery, and, if some day you have the opportunity to attend one of those WDBS events, please do. You won’t regret it. Those gals and guys are amazing and so is the creativity they show in seeking and finding solutions and implements that help them overcome their disabilities.
Champions were crowned across four classification groups last weekend as the new WDBS season got underway with the second edition of the German Open in Rüsselsheim, Germany.
A total of 21 players competed in the event at SC Breakers in Rüsselsheim, including a record five German cueists, as three reigning champions defended their crowns while there was a first time winner of the German Open in the merged Group 6-8 competition.
On the Saturday morning, WDBS was delighted to welcome special guests Rouven Czylok (President of Billiardsport in Hessen), Annette Tettenborn (Rüsselsheim Head of Sports and Exercise) and Patrick Burghardt (Mayor of Rüsselsheim) to the WDBS German Open.
Germany’s Hannes Hermsdorf dropped just a single frame across seven matches as he claimed the Group 3 title on home soil for the second consecutive year.
Six competitors entered the Group 3 competition as the world’s top three (Kal Mattu, Joe Hardstaff and Kit Kennedy) were joined by group debutant Peter Hull as well as Hermsdorf and 89-year-old Cezar Pereira Vaz from the host nation.
Both Hermsdorf and Hull made impressive starts to the season with four straight victories to secure qualification for the knockout stages, before the German player overcame his English opponent 2-0 in their final group stage match to take top spot.
On the final day, Hermsdorf whitewashed Hardstaff to book his place in the final where he would once again face Hull after the Englishman battled past world number one Mattu 3-1 in the last four.
The 31-year-old German moved within one of the title by taking the first two frames of the best-of-five contest. Hull wasn’t going down without a fight, however, and took the third on a respotted black to reduce the deficit.
Ultimately, however, Hermsdorf was too strong on the table as he won the fourth frame by a 59-15 scoreline to win the German Open title for the second time.
David Church defeated Nigel Brasier 5-2 in the Group 4 final in Rüsselsheim to defend the title he won last year.
For Church, who recently travelled to China to compete in the Shanghai Disability Snooker Invitational, it marked a first ranking event title since last year’s German Open as the world number three dominated the group.
A trio of whitewash victories over Steve Cartwright, Andy Johnson and Brasier in the initial group phase, which also saw him make the weekend’s overall highest break of 63, meant Church booked his place in the title match.
There, he would meet Brasier, who had earned his place in a second consecutive ranking event final with impressive 3-0 wins over Johnson and Cartwright.
Despite losing 3-0 to Church on the previous day, Brasier made a strong start to the best-of-nine frame final as he moved into a 2-1 lead.
Church was able to take the fourth to restore parity heading into the mid-session interval before finding his form at the perfect time after the break to win three consecutive frames and complete the defence of his German Open title.
Dave Bolton won his seventh WDBS title but was forced to battle to defend his German Open crown in Rüsselsheim.
Bolton, world number two Dalton Lawrence and Belgian Open finalist Dave Waller were joined in Group 5 by German WDBS debutants Christian Hirth and Michael Becher.
The two home nation cueists made dream starts to life on the WDBS tour with victories over Waller and Lawrence respectively and both were able to secure their place in the semi-finals at their maiden event.
Hirth impressively topped the group stage with one of the surprise results of the weekend as he inflicted only a second ever defeat in a WDBS ranking event on Group 5’s top ranked player Bolton.
After losing the first frame of a semi-final contest against Becher, Bolton found his form and fired in breaks of 51, 44, 40 and 33 to complete a 3-1 victory and book his place in the final.
There, he looked certain to face a rematch against Hirth as the German moved into a 2-0 lead over Lawrence in their last four. However, the English two-time ranking event winner battled back to force a decider before taking the match on the final ball.
Lawrence’s battling qualities continued to show in the title match as, despite breaks of 42 and 30 from Bolton, he was able share the first four frames and force another match to a decider.
This time, however, Bolton proved too strong when it mattered as he took the decider by a scoreline of 73-23 to successfully defend his German Open crown.
Mike Gillespie defeated Ronnie Allen 3-0 in the Group 6-8 final to win the German Open for the first time in his career.
Due to entry numbers, the Group 6, 7 and 8 classification groups were combined into a single event of six cueists and it was two competitors from the visual Group 7 that reached the title match.
Group 7’s world number one Gillespie and 80-year-old Welshman Allen were the dominant players in the initial group phase, both earning whitewash victories in four matches before Gillespie overcame his Welsh opponent in their group stage meeting.
Group 6B cueists Oliver Hanson and Lee Hague completed the semi-final line-up but Gillespie and Allen proved too strong in Sunday’s knockout stages as they set up a final meeting with 3-0 and 3-1 victories respectively.
The 63-year-old Englishman continued his fine form when it mattered most as he impressively secured a 3-0 victory in the final to win the German Open title without dropping a single frame across the weekend.
Dave Waller bounced back from a disappointing start to the weekend to claim Challenge Cup glory at the German Open.
The Challenge Cup event sees competitors who do not qualify for Sunday’s knockout stages compete for the title and Group 5’s Waller overcame Kit Kennedy and German debutant Dominik Dobrowolski to reach the final.
There, he would face Blake Munton from Group 8 after the 28-year-old Englishman defeated Steve Cartwright 2-1 in the semi-finals.
The hard fought best-of-three frame final went all the way but it was Waller who won the deciding frame to win his first title on the WDBS tour.
WDBS would like to thank everyone at SC Breakers and all the players, referees and officials who helped to make the 2024 German Open a success.
The tour continues next month with The Cube UK Disability Championship at Barratts in Northampton. Enter now.
Calabrese arrived as the man in form having won the previous Q Tour event and finishing top of the series ranking list in the previous season.
He began his tournament with a 3-0 victory over Paul Balzer before showing stunning form to defeat Robin Beggs 3-0 with back-to-back century breaks of 106 and 102.
The Australian cueist was forced to battle through two deciding frames against Ian Barber and Paul Norris to reach the semi-finals and then overcame Chi Kin Yueng with a whitewash win to book his place in the title match.
There he would face Kerde, who had beaten Justin Sajich, Gary Nunn, Shaun Dalitz, Xavier Daw and finally Steve Mifsud in a deciding frame to set up a meeting with Calabrese.
Breaks of 78 and 56 helped Calabrese storm into a 3-0 lead and move one frame away from the title, but Kerde battled back to take the next two and reduce his deficit to just a single frame.
It was too little too late for Kerde, however, as Calabrese was able to get over the line in the sixth frame and secure more Q Tour glory.
The WPBSA Q Tour Asia-Pacific series continues in September with Event 3 in Auckland, New Zealand.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 