Mark Selby successfully defended his Paul Hunter Classic title,
he’d one 12 months ago after winning the first of the EPTC events in Feurth,
Germany. But it could have been a fairy tale win for his opponent in the final,
Joe Swail, who is now classified as an amateur after falling of the tour at the
end of last season. The Northern Irishman will still be delighted to have
reached the final which should see him re-qualify for the tour next season as
the result will have propelled him towards the top of the PTC order of merit. He
had recorded fantastic wins over top 16 players Shaun Murphy and Barry Hawkins
earlier in the day but the world number 1, Mark Selby, proved too strong in the
final. Leicester’s Selby ended up winning the match 4-1 after putting himself 3-0
up after three frames. Swail pulled one back with an 82 break in frame four but
Selby knocked in an 85 to secure the title.
Selby had earlier defeated Indian player Pankaj Advani, who
had also really impressed over the weekend. Advani, who has dominated the sport
of Billiards over the past few seasons, is currently in his first year on the
tour but his results seemed to suggest he was a seasoned pro. Despite losing
4-2 to Selby in the semis, he’d earlier defeated Ryan Day 4-1 in the quarters,
Mark King 4-3 in the last 16 and most notably, knocked out former World
Champions John Higgins on Friday afternoon.
Veteran Ken Doherty had also been knocked out by Selby, this
time in the Quarters but Doherty had enjoyed a great feat in the earlier rounds
on Friday. The Irishman completed his first 147 maximum break in his last 128
match against Julian Trieber a feat he’d missed out on earlier in his career
after missing the final black.
Another player who’s now dropped off the main tour, Andrew Norman,
performed well in the competition to make the Quarter Finals, most notably
defeating Nigel Bond in the last 64. The other Quarter-Finalist was Welshman
Michael White who lost 4-1 to Barry Hawkins.
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