EPTC 4 - the last day
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| Stephen Lee - the 2010 EPTC 4 champion |
But let’s not get sad about this for I must start my story about the last day of the EPTC 4 event. As always it’s been a true battle, for as we come close to the final stages, the pressure is bigger and the tension rises, but our players are used to this, so they stood still and tried to play at their best.
The one who did it the most but also had been the luckiest (for we all know that in snooker a bit of luck is needed) was Stephen Lee. The Big Lee took on the Scot Stephen Maguire in the final, for a 4-2 scoreline to lift the trophy.
The day started with the Last 16 round, a round where we saw Mark Selby losing 4-2 to Anthony Hamilton, Gerard Greene losing by the same result to Liam Highfield and the Irish Ken Doherty being eliminated by Joe Jorgia also with a 4-2 scoreline.
Stephen Lee won the tight battle against Andrew Norman 4-3, Mark Davis hammered Peter Ebdon by a 4-1 score, Liu Chuang did the same with "The Magician" Shaun Murphy, Graeme Dott defeated Ben Woollaston 4-3 and Stephen Maguire reached the quarter-finals after winning 4-2 over the highly talented youngster Jack Lisowski.
Into the quarter-finals the 4-2 scoreline dominated in most of the matches, as Mark Davis lost to Stephen Lee by this score, Liu Chuang was sent home by Joe Jorgia and Stephen Maguire was beating Anthony Hamilton by the same result. The only tight battle in this round (or, let’s just say the tightest battle, for all of them were) was the one between Liam Highfield and Graeme Dott, ended on a 4-3 score in favor of Liam.
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| Stephen Maguire, the EPTC 4 runner-up |
A big final for both players, great snooker ahead but with Lee firing in breaks of 62, 68, 43 and 45, Maguire didn’t stand a chance to win this EPTC title. Final score: 4-2 and so Stephen checks another victory in a ranking event.
Although it always makes me sad to see a player lose and in this case I know that Maguire has worked real hard to get to this point, I’m really happy for Lee, for he is a terrific player who’s "shine" was overshadowed lately. He is the winner of the 1998 and 2001 Grand Prix, the Regal Scottish Open from 2002 and the Welsh Open from 2006. He is no a stranger to the ranking titles, but lately he was not in such a good form. It` s nice to see him back on track, though and I hope this will bring him back his lost confidence so he can produce more performances like this...and even more important ones.
The plate competition picked its winner also, as the final between Barry Pinches and Michell Man, ended on a 3-0 scoreline, in favor of Barry.
And here you have the century breaks made by the players: Stephen Maguire(136,133,103,100), Sam Baird (133), Mark Selby (132), Graeme Dott (132, 129,119), Joe Perry (130), Ali Carter (128,106), Kyren Wilson (128), Joe Jogia (127, 120), Xiao Guodong (125,119), Alan McManus(124), David Grace (123), Andrew Norman (116), Liu Chuang (112,103), Andrew Pagett (112), Mark Joyce (111), David Grace (110), Jack Lisowski (110), Anthony McGill (110,102), Fergal O'Brien (110,100), Andy Hicks (110), Marcus Campbell (110), Mark Davis (108,107,100), Gerard Greene (108,101), Liam Highfield (107,103), David Gilbert (107,103,102), Judd Trump (107), James Brown (107), Martin Gould (105), Steve Davis (105), Andrew Higginson (105),Ben Woollaston (102), Stuart Bingham (102), Liu Song (101), Jimmy White (100).
As I’ve said before, it was a good and very entertaining competition, even if Power Snooker was on this weekend too and many of us turned their telly on ITV 4, to watch the boys playing speedy snooker. Still, classic snooker must not be forgotten or unwatched, for look what amazing turns can happen in a "mini-tournament" like the EPTC! It’s great fun to watch and I really give all my sincere thanks to the SWSA`s boys for having the idea of broadcasting some matches. This is what people need! More televised snooker! We love the EPTC/PTC series, but we want to be able to see them also! ;-)
In the end I want to congratulate Stephen Lee for winning the EPTC 4 event but also congratulations to all the players involved in this tournament! Each and every one of them have worked real hard so they deserve our respect and admiration :-)
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