Bingham wins again

Stuart Bingham does it again!

Stuart Bingham won the first edition of the Asian Players Tour Championship (APTC 1) from Zhangjiagang, China after beating Stephen Lee 4-3 in the final. 

This title comes after Bingham defeated Peter Lines 4-0 in the final of the Pink Ribbon tournament held at the South West Snooker Academy form Gloucester.

The first edition of the APTC started with no less than two days of cue-crossings between players who seemed to have the same name (aka. Zhang), but until the end the amateur players made room for those who have a name in the snooker business.

Still, I can't help of noticing some pretty stable and cool performances from both Zhang Anda and Chen Zhe, the Chinese players reaching the semi-final stages after quite a run, or Tian Pengfei and Mei Xiwen, who survived up until the quarter-finals and the Last 16 respectively.

The finalists: Stu and Stephen

So, even though we had a myriad of Chinese player in this APTC,  the final battle was given between Stuart Bingham and the mighty powerful Stephen Lee. 

Although Stu was the one who broke the ice with a top break of 51, Lee was going to be the player to move two points forward as he easily captured the next couple of frames.

Bingham pulled back a frame with a bit of help from a 67 break to draw level, but once again Lee was taking charge of the match’ faith, this time with a 87 for a 3-2 lead.

The decider started after the reigning Australian Open champion levelled the scoreline at three apiece with a 63, the last frame proving to be quite a thrilling one, the man from Basildon, Essex clearing the blue, pink and black for the final victory of 4-3.

Before reaching the final, Bingham had to face Yang Qingtian, whom he beat 4-3, Jin Long, whom he hammered 4-1, Liu Shuai, whom he mercilessly crashed 4-0, Ding Junhui 4-3 and Michael White 4-2, while his opponent, the grand Stephen Lee had to knock down names like Shi Hanquing by 4-1, Lin Yongzhi 4-0, Zhao Xintong 4-3, Tian Pengfei 4-2 and Chan Zhe 4-2.