China Open Final

Peter Ebdon proudly holds the China Open trophy after battling
to a final frame win over Stephen Maguire (pic Top147.com)

Peter Ebdon was crowned 2012 China Open Champion after his match against Stephen Maguire went the full distance. The final lasted an incredible seven and a half hours after going to a deciding frame and was eventually won by the 2002 World Champion at ten to one in the morning.

Ebdon, who nobody expected to win the tournament after a less than mediocre season so far, recorded an impressive win over Ding Junhui in the semi-finals yesterday. The 41-year-old won the first after a break of 67 but Ding came back to win the next three frames to go in ahead at the interval. However Ebdon was unstoppable after the break, taking the following five frames on the bounce to record a 6-3 victory. Earlier, in the afternoon session, Stephen Maguire eased past the inform Stephen Lee 6-2. Lee seemed out of sorts and never really got into the game and after five frames the Scot lead 3-2. He won the next three on the bounce to secure his frame in the final.

The final itself did not start off as the best of spectacles, with neither player able to string many large breaks together. Ebdon was 3-1 up at the interval and took the next two frames, the first of which lasted over and hour, with the second a quicker affair with a break of 124. The afternoon session had taken so long, that it had to be stopped after only six frames, rather than the scheduled nine.

The players returned an hour or so later for the commencement of the evening session with Maguire winning three of the four frames before the break, to make the scores 6-4 in Ebdon’s favour. The veteran took the eleventh but Maguire hit back in the twelfth but Ebdon pulled three clear again by taking the next frame. However, the Scot still had fight in him as the pace of the match began to speed and won the next three on the bounce to make it 8-8. A 300^th career centaury for Ebdon saw him go 9-8 up but Maguire forced a deciding frame by winning the penultimate frame. A break of 44 gave Peter the advantage in the final frame but a positional error allowed Maguire in however he was unable to punish, making only 24. Ebdon got another chance and took it to win his first ranking event since the China Open two years ago.

The unlikely victory was made even more impressive considering the calibre of players Ebdon defeated on his route to the final. Firstly, he defeated 15 year-old Lu Haotian then victories over top sixteen players Matthew Stevens, John Higgins, Neil Robertson and Ding Junhui to reach the last two.