Monday 16 July 2012

Australian Goldfields Open 2012 - Barry Hawkins Downed Ebdon To Victory


Australian Goldfields Open 2012 - Barry Hawkins downed Peter Ebdon in the final by 9-3 to capture his first ranking title. 

Barry Hawkins downed Peter Ebdon
The Shoot-out Champion beaten likes of Matthew Stevens and Mark Davis en route to make his first ranking final while convincing Peter Ebdon edged out top players Ding Junhui, Shaun Murphy and Marco Fu to reach his second final this year, after China Open in April.

Ebdon who was chasing for his tenth ranking title found himself 1-4 down to Hawkins as his opponent made breaks of 57, 74, 106 and 116. The 2002 World Champion reduced the gap to 3-5 by winning two frames out of the three in the first session. 

However, Hawkins showed no signs of nerve. The 33-year-old did not let any frame slipped during the night session, winning four frames required with 133, 74 and 51 to win his first ranking title. He pocketed a cheque of  73000 for winner's and highest break prize. 

Barry Hawkins
"Winning my first ranking event feels quite strange," said Hawkins, one of the circuit's most popular players. "I don't think it has sunk in yet, I feel quite calm. It'll probably sink in more when I get home and see the family. I'm delighted obviously and it could be a big moment in my career hopefully. I just can't believe it, I'm speechless.''

He added, "Even during the good times there's still doubt, you start questioning yourself thinking am I ever going to win a big tournament. I've come close quite a few times but that was quite a few years ago now, and I hadn't reached a quarter-final for a while so obviously the confidence was lacking a little bit. I've been working with Terry Griffiths, just like Mark Davis, for the last year or so and I won the Shoot-Out since I started working with him, I don't know if it was a coincidence or not. But now I've won this so obviously I'm doing something right. Fingers crossed that it isn't the last one.''

Peter Ebdon, the runner-up
The runner-up expressed his disappointment, "I didn't have a very good day at all today, nothing really went for me and I really struggled out there today in all departments and it's very disappointing. It's not often that would happen to me in a final but every credit to Barry, I thought he played really, really well. His all-round game was very good, he scored very heavily, his long-game was good, touch, feel, cue ball control, it was all there today.''

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