Carter wins Paul Hunter Classic 2015

Ali Carter beat Shaun Murphy 4-3 to lift the crystalline Paul Hunter Classic trophy in Furth, Germany. 

The Captain had to face a revived Murphy who crawled back from being led 3-1 and dramatically won the 6^th frame on the black.

This is actually the first ranking title that "The Captain" wins since the 2013 German Masters, but more importantly the first one since he got back on the Main Tour after defeating cancer (twice). 

First one in the grand final, Carter hit in breaks of 61 and 33 to get the opener, to which Murphy replied with a top break of 72 to draw level. 

Still, runs of 54 and 39 were guaranteeing the Essex-man to regain his leading position, while a 30-minutes and hard-fought 4^th frame was leaving him just one away from victory. The Captain was ready for take off as the scoreline went 3-1 in his favour.

But as expected Murphy fought back and he did it in style by hitting a tremendous 83 break during frame five and winning the following one on the black after being 56-7 down.

However, his long potting just wasn't there when he needed it and that surely made a difference in the end. 

Carter started the last frame by missing a red which left Murphy with a huge chance, but be broke down on 21, this allowing "The Captain" the opportunity to wrap it up. And with a sublime 95 clearance he did just that.

The players hugged each-other, while an overexcited crowd gave the champion a standing ovation.

An emotional Carter talked with Rolf Kalb about the fact that:  "A year ago, I was trying to stay alive, really!" 

"Today it was about the bigger picture, about what Paul suffered with and what I suffered with last year. It's bigger then me winning the tournament ... it's for everyone out there who's facing a battle like we did."

 

Alan, Paul Hunter's father was the one to hand Carter the crystal trophy while the audience acknowledged the magnitude of the moment and rewarded the winner and the runner-up with applause.

Later on, on his Twitter account, Ali wrote: "What do we all think of that then!!!? Can't believe I've won again after everything I've been through. #special"

Next tournament in the snooker calendar is of course the Six Red World Championship that will take place in Thailand between 07-12 September.

Happy birthday Steve Davis!

We are delighted to celebrate the one and only Steve Davis - Mr Interesting, who is turning 58 today!

As many of you already know I do have a soft spot for "The Nugget", hence the fact that I have no idea what to write in this birthday piece. It's always hard with the ones you admire, isn't it?

Anywaaaay, putting that aside I guess there isn't really much to say about Davis who is undoubtedly one of snooker's finest ambassadors, players, gentlemen and the list could go on.

His dominance during the 80s is still something to be remembered and cherished. If you really think about it there aren't many players who can brag about achieving such a thing and I sincerely doubt it will happen in the near future.

Along with the likes of Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan, Steve Davis has written his name on snooker's hall of fame for being the top player for more than a decade.

Nowadays, with more and more players getting a genuine interest in snooker and with such a high standard it would be almost impossible to even dream grabbing a seat into this select gang of dominant players. Still, one never knows what may happen in the future.

Steve Davis has recently published his autobiography, a must-read for every snooker lover out there so if you really want an honest, funny and extremely well-written book, be sure to buy it. I made some sort of review on it, a few months ago so you can also check that out.

Happy birthday Steve Davis, thank you for making snooker more interesting and basically getting me into starting this blog! ;-)

Happy birthday Judd Trump!

Today we are celebrating "The Ace in the Pack" Judd Trump who is turning 26!

To talk about Judd's achievements up until this age is clearly unnecessary, for we all know what a tremendous player he is, but I can't miss on mentioning the fact that many have regarded him as the one player most suitable for the position of carrying the "fast & furious" way-of-playing-snooker-torch from his predecessors (O'Sullivan, White, A. Higgins).

Truth be told, Trump is an entertainer and snooker is getting really "naughty" when he is at the table. He's had some really interesting snooker encounters with Ronnie over the years and I think we can all agree, it was a genuine delight to see them play.

Last season saw Trump lifting the Australian Goldfields Open trophy, getting the runner-up spot in both the UK Championship Final and Champion of Champions, only to take revenge of the man who robbed him of those two chances and win the World Grand Prix against the one and only Ronnie O'Sullivan.

To these he also added a great run in the Crucible madness, where he reached the semi-finals before losing to the current world champion, Stuart Bingham.

Now, with the new season barely started, we wish Judd all the best and of course, to lift as many trophies as possible. 

Happy birthday Joe Perry!

A day after Mavis the Dark got his birthday cake, we are partying again with "The Gentleman" of snooker, Joe Perry!

"The Fen Potter" is turning 41 today and we would very much like to send him our best wishes along with the traditional "Happy birthdaaaaaay!"

As many of you already know, last season was a great one for Perry, the birthday-boy winning his first major ranking title - The Players Championship Grand Final after defeating Mark Williams 4-3.

We were delighted for the man, although we were extremely annoyed to see there was no trophy handed to him (it finally arrived in his possession after quite some time) and we are rooting to see him keep the good work going during this new season as well.

Happy birthday champ!

Happy birthday Mark Davis!

Another snooker player is celebrating his birthday this month, so we are very happy to wish a genuinely heartfelt "Happy birthday" to Mark Davis!

The player nicknamed "Dark Mavis" is turning 43 today, but Mark is far from being a dark person. Always a great character on and off the table, Mavis gets a bit darker only when the green, green baize of home is calling his name :-P

A three-time Six-Red Championship winner Davis reached the semi-final stages of the Australian Open twice and he’s recently qualified for the 2015 Shanghai Masters tournament after closing a really tight snooker deal with the dangerous Tian Pengfei, 5-4.

Happy birthday champ and wishing you a great run in Shanghai!

Happy birthday Shaun Murphy!

We are very, very happy to celebrate "The Magician" of snooker, Mr Shaun Murphy who is turning 33 today!

Murphy is the proud owner of the triple crown, for he conquered the World Championship title in 2005, the UK Championship title in 2008 and the Masters prestigious trophy a few months ago!

Last season saw "The Magician" back on track, more focused than ever and with a cue action that left his opponents in awe. He reached the final of the World Championship, which although he did not win, was a perfect display of stamina and guts.

Many happy returns champ and may the freshly started season be a tremendous one for ya!

Hawkins conquers Riga Open trophy

Barry Hawkins beat Tom Ford 4-1 to lift the 2015 Riga Open trophy and start the new snooker season with his right foot.

In a full packed arena with a crowd entertained by a very loud and funny MC, Barry managed to cash no less than 25,000 euros and bring his contribution to raising the popularity of snooker outside the UK's borders.

Starting his day with a similar 4-1 victory against Michael White, followed by a 4-2 against Alan McManus and another 4-1 against Graeme Dott, "The Hawk" from Kent met his rival, Tom Ford in the warm applause of the audience.

Ford on the other hand, had begun his day with a 4-2 scoreline obtained by playing Rory McLeod, a thrilling 4-3 victory against Matt Selt (match dramatically won on the black!) and 4-1 against Ben Woollaston.

The final started with Tom's wonderfully cued 67 break which was enough to give him the opener, but sadly enough for him things stopped developing during the following frames.

Hawkins was sure to respond with a break of 65 in no time and take full advantage of Tom's missed black during the third frame (down on 40), thus the scoreline went 2-1.

A pretty scrappy forth frame was showing Hawkins as favourite to win, thanks to a 57 break, but when the 2012 Australian Goldfields Open champion gave 7 penalty points, due to a miss, and left a free ball, things looked bring and shiny for his opponent who needed three snookers up until a second ago.

Still, Ford overcut the black and minutes later made the same mistake as his opponent, granting penalty points and a free ball. It was 3-1.

The last frame was a more fluent one, Hawkins using a break of 62 to seal his victory thus proudly winning the 2015 Riga Open title. 

Nice touch, especially since his last trophy was the 2014 Players Tour Championship Grand Final. Well done, Hawk!

Plus, he gets a place in the Champion of Championships tournament!

LIVE snooker will return to us at the end of this month (26-30 August), as we travel to Germany for the ET 2 - aka. Paul Hunter Classic, but until then we also have the Shanghai Masters qualifying rounds, taking place as Barnsley between 5-9 August.