Barry Pinches the win from Ronnie O’Sullivan
In snooker, many expect a Ronnie O’Sullivan win, but obviously Barry Pinches didn’t read the script.
The man from Norwich defeated O’Sullivan 4-3 in the final of the fourth event of the Players Tour Championship to collect the top prize of £10,000 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield.
O’Sullivan only dropped four frames and was the form player en route to the final, beating the likes of Dominic Dale, Marco Fu, Judd Trump, Mark Selby, Ken Doherty and Ryan Day.
Pinches though enjoyed a fine win over Mark Williams in his semi-final clash and had a fairly easier passage to the final, overcoming Liu Song, Matthew Selt, Jak Jones and Chan Ze.
Three-time world champion O’Sullivan took the opening frame with a break of 60, but Pinches hit back immediately with a knock of 50 to level the match. O’Sullivan then took a 3-1 lead with contributions of 83 and 58, but Pinches claimed frames five and six to go only one behind.
Looking like he would take the victory, O’Sullivan broke down on a break of 47 when 26 points ahead, and Pinches held his nerve to clear the table and take the match to a deciding frame. Momentum fully with the 40-year-old, Pinches took the title with a match-winning clearance of 64 to upset the odds.
“I'm not usually very good in deciding frames so I was delighted to make a good break,” said the player, officially ranked 57 in the world.
“I've made a couple of technical changes this season, but the main reason my results have been good is that I'm enjoying the game, and practising hard because I've always got something to work towards. To come to these PTC events and play in terrific conditions against top-class opponents is just fantastic, I can't praise these tournaments enough.”
Pinches earned less than £20,000 on the circuit last year, but already in these four events he has clocked up a total of over £17,000. “The money is very significant for me, and so are the ranking points,” he said.
The man who has never been beyond the quarter-final stages of a ranking event heaped praise on his opponent as well.
“I'm also really pleased to beat Ronnie as I'd lost all three matches we'd played before. It's great to see him supporting these events, he doesn't need the ranking points but he just gets a buzz from playing the game.”
Tags: