China Open 2012: Peter Ebdon won his second China Open title after 2009, beating Stephen Maguire by 10-9 in the marathon final.
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| Peter Ebdon won China Open 2012 |
The 41-year-old led Maguire by 5-1 with two tons after the afternoon session, which nine frames should be played instead of six but the session ended after frame 6 due to slow progress of the match.
Maguire started his fightback at the night session, trailing Ebdon by 4-6 at the mid interval. However, Ebdon went 8-5 up before The Scotsman won three frames in a row to level 8-8 for the first time in the final. Despite of losing three in a row, the 2002 World Champion got the match point 9-8 with 103 but it did not stop the footsteps of Maguire to force a decider. In the deciding frame, Ebdon won by 62-24 to capture his second China Open title.
This is Ebdon's first title in 36 months. He also ensured a place in this year's Premier League, he said: "I'm delighted to win. To be perfectly honest, I feel a little bit embarrassed because I didn't handle the pressure very well today, and I feel that Stephen played better than I did, and I feel that he deserved to win. I'm delighted to win, but disappointed with my performance and that I didn't handle things better tonight.
"I was feeling pretty tired at the end. I felt deflated because I knew I didn't handle myself very well out there. I'm not used to having leads like that. Obviously it's been a long time since I've been in a final, maybe it's to be expected. But I've been playing really well this week. My focus and concentration was good. My preparation has been really, really good. I just expected more coming into the final session this evening. But I'm absolutely delighted that I've won this fantastic tournament again. It's only my ninth professional ranking event win in 20 years as a professional.''
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| Stephen Maguire |
Maguire, gracious in defeat, said: "If I'd lost 10-1 or 10-2, it would have meant I wasn't even part of the match. I just tried hard tonight to make a match of it, to make sure Peter won it, not gift him the title. Which eventually I did. I can take a lot of fighting qualities out of it.''
