Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Ding Junhui captures 2009 UK Championship

Pukka Pies UK Championship 2009China's Ding Junhui won the 2009 Pukka Pies UK Championship.

The final against Scotland's John Higgins was a very tight affair, until Ding took it 10-8 after a 75 in the final frame.

Stephen Maguire (Scotland) and Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) lost out in the semifinals.

Ding received £100,000 for the victory and Higgins got £46,000 for his runner-up spot.

Stephen Lee and Mark Selby tied for highest break of the tournament with 141, for which they shared $5,000.

This was the second UK and fourth ranking title for Junhui. He's previously won the 2005 China Open, the 2005 UK Championship, the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy. Higgins was looking for his third UK title and 21st win in ranking events.

In his four wins Ding has defeated the four greatest players of the last 30 years; Stephen Hendry (Scotland), Steve Davis (England), O'Sullivan and now Higgins.

Murphy moves from ninth to sixth in the provisional rankings. The top two remain the same. Higgins stays on top, followed by O'Sullivan. Neil Robertson (Australia) sits in third.

The event took place at the Telford International Centre, Telford, England 5-13 December, 2009. It was the third ranking tournament of six on the 2009/2010 Main Tour. Next up on the snooker calendar is the Masters which starts 10 January 2010.

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Sunday, December 13, 2009

USA wins back Mosconi Cup

Mosconi Cup 2009USA defeated Europe 11-7 to win the 2009 Mosconi Cup.

The US team was in front all the way, leading 4-1 after the opening day, 7-2 after the second and 9-5 after the third. On Sunday Shane Van Boening sealed the deal by defeating Ralf Souquet (Germany) 6-2.

Europe was heavy favorites coming into the event with two straight wins and a team packed with world champions. USA now have 12 wins in total to Europe's 4.

The teams:
  • USA
    • Nick Varner (non-playing captain)
    • Johnny Archer
    • Corey Deuel
    • Oscar Dominguez
    • Dennis Hatch
    • Shane Van Boening
  • Europe
    • Alex Lely (non-playing captain, Netherlands)
    • Darren Appleton (England)
    • Niels Feijen (Netherlands)
    • Thorsten Hohmann (Germany)
    • Mika Immonen (Finland)
    • Ralf Souquet (Germany)
The event took place from December 10-13 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, USA. Matches were singles, scotch doubles and scotch quintuples with alternate break. Next year's Cup will be held in Europe.

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Jozef Philipoom wins first career title in 2009 Hurghada World Cup

Jozef Philipoom (Belgium) won the World Cup event in Hurghada, Egypt.

In a roller-coaster final Philipoom defeated Swedish legend Torbjörn Blomdahl 3-1. The frame scores were 3-15, 15-14, 10-15, 15-11 and 15-0.

Turkey's Tayfun Tasdemir and virtually unknown Ruben Legazpi from Spain lost out in the semifinals.

This was the 45-year-old Belgian's first World Cup title. His previous best was second in Sluiskil earlier this season.

He received €5,500 for the victory and Blomdahl got €3,500 for second place.

Defending champion Daniel Sanchez from Spain lost 2-1 to Legazpi in the quarterfinals.

Sanchez had the highest general average among the 56 competitors with 1.873. His 2.523 was the highest single match average in the final stage. The Spaniard also tied Kyung-Roul Kim (South Korea) and Marco Zanetti (Italy) for highest run with a maximum 15.

Frédéric Caudron's fifth place finish secured his victory in the 2009 World Cup Ranking. Blomdahl and Philipoom moved into a tie for second place, from fourth and seventh place respectively. Last year's winner Dick Jaspers (Netherlands) finished in seventh position.

The win moved Philipoom from 12th to eighth in the World Players Ranking. Blomdahl improved from fourth to second. Caudron is the new leader with former No.1 Jaspers in third.

The event took place 6-12 December 2009 at the Sunrise Garden Beach Resort, Hurghada, Egypt. It was the final of five events in the 2009 World Cup. The next season opens in Antalya, Turkey, 15-21 February 2010.

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Sunday, December 06, 2009

Gray wins 2009 Costa del Sol Open, Souquet captures overall title

2009 Costa del Sol OpenMark Gray won the 2009 Costa del Sol Open in an all-English final.

Gray defeated Karl Boyes 8-6 in the final to earn the €5000 first prize. Boyes received €3000 for second place.

In the semi finals Gray beat home player Francisco Diaz-Pizarro 8-5. Boyes defeated Mateusz Sniegocki (Poland) by the same scoreline.

This was Gray's first Costa del Sol Open title and second win in total, from two finals. It puts him at No.16 on the all-time list.

Boyes' previous beat was third in the 2008 German Open. Sniegocki was looking for his first final in his third semi-final appearance. It was Diaz-Piarro's first ever Euro Tour start.

2007 overall winner Gray moves from ninth to fifth in the final Euro Tour Ranking. Boyes jumps from 24th to 12th.

Ralf Souquet (Gemany) "only" managed a ninth place finish this time but still held on to the lead to claim his second straight and record fifth Tour title. He also picked up the trophy in 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2008. Imran Majid (England) and Niels Feijen (Netherlands) finished in second and third place respectively.

The tournament was played 3-5 December at Hotel Alay, Benalmadena, Spain. It was the last event of seven on the 2009 Euro Tour. First up on the 2010 Tour is the French Open which runs from 10-14 February 2010.

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Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Immonen crowns amazing year with victory at the 2009 World 10-ball Championship

2009 World 10-ball Championship
Mika Immonen from Finland won the 2009 World Ten Ball Championship.

The Finn won a one-sided final against Lee Van Corteza (Philippines) 11-6. Immonen received $60,000 for first place while Van Corteza got $30,000 for finishing second.

In the semifinals Immonen overcame Antonio Lining (Philippines) 9-7 while Van Corteza downed David Alcaide (Spain) by the same score. There was no bronze match this year so they both tied for third and won $15,000 each.

2009 champion Darren Appleton (England) had a fairly successful title defense, reaching the quarterfinals before losing 9-6 to Alcaide.

Exactly as last year the event was dominated by the European and Asian contingent. Amazingly this year they grabbed the 32 first spots on the leaderboard! There were 18 Asians and 14 Europeans.

This was Immonen's second world title. He also won the 2001 9-ball world championship.

It was the third World Tour win of the year for the fabulous Finn after also having captured the Qatar Open and the US Open.

Immonen now dominates the WPA rankings, ahead of Ralf Souquet (Germany) and Appleton.

This will be the only men's world championship of 2009. For the second year in the row there will be no 9-ball world championship.

The tournament was staged from 25-30 November 2009 at the World Trade Center, Manila, Philippines.

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