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| The Yixing Open is Joe Perry's first ranking event win. |
Joe Perry secured his first ever ranking event title by
defeating Mark Selby 4-1 in the final of the Yixing Open, to secure the opening
Asian Tour event of the season.
Perry won the opener with a top run of 70 and also took a
closely-fought second, winning it on the final pink and black. A 69 break aided
him to a 3-0 lead and although Selby pulled the next one back, he was unable to
stop the man from Cambridge who took the fifth with brown to pink.
Perry’s only other notable title came back in 2008 when he
won the inaugural Championship League, coincidentally beating Selby in that
final too. Had Selby won this final, it would have sent him back to the top of
the world rankings but the result means he is still narrowly behind Neil
Robertson.
Perry had earlier beaten Alan McManus 4-2 in the semis and Cao
Yupeng 4-3 in the quarters and had also recorded a decent 4-2 victory over an
in-form Robert Milkins in the last 16 on Friday.
Selby whitewashed another Chinese quarter-finalist Liu Chuang
before defeating Scottish teenager Scott Donaldson, again 4-0, in the semis.
Donaldson has had an excellent start to the season, reaching the quarters in
last week’s Bulgarian PTC, and came through a final frame decider to come
through his quarter-final against Tian Pengfei. The day’s other quarter-final
saw McManus defeat Yu Delu 4-1.
The tour now moves 50 miles east to the first major ranking
event of the season, the Wuxi Classic, which begins on Monday. One notable
absentee is Selby who lost out to Andrew Pagett in qualifying so Robertson will
have the chance to build his lead at the top of the list.
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