February 09, 2017

SIMON WHITLOCK took victory in the year's second Coral UK Open Qualifier with a 6-4 defeat of Gary Anderson in Saturday's final in Wigan. 

Australian star Whitlock backed up his two Players Championship victories in the latter stages of 2016 with a promising start to 2017 as he scooped the £10,000 first prize in the second of six UK Open Qualifiers.

The former European Champion is now assured of a top 32 spot for March's Coral UK Open Finals at the Butlins Minehead Resort following a superb display at the Robin Park Tennis Centre.

Whitlock dropped only three legs as he defeated Latvian newcomer Madars Razma and Alan Tabern Jnr in his opening two games before then seeing off Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena 6-4.

He then knocked out Friday's Qualifier One winner Peter Wright 6-3 in the last 16, before overcoming two other rivals in the world's top 16 - Ian White and Dave Chisnall - to reach the final.

After sharing the opening six legs of the final with Anderson, Whitlock broke with the aid of a 180 in leg seven before powering home a 154 finish - with the Scot waiting on 20 - to lead 5-3.

Anderson responded on tops, but was unable to force a decider as Whitlock closed out victory with a 94 finish.

The world number two had defeated Ryan Searle, Luke Woodhouse, Chris Quantock, Jamie Lewis, Brendan Dolan and Jelle Klaasen on his way to the final, as he picked up £5,000 in prize money to ensure his own top seeding for Minehead.

Chisnall's run to the semi-finals including deciding-leg victories against James Wade and Steve Beaton, while Klaasen was pushed all the way by John Henderson and recent PDC Tour Card winner Richard North.

Beaton won through to the quarter-finals for the second successive day, with his run including a notable triumph over World Champion Michael van Gerwen in the last 32.

Northern Ireland's Dolan and Stoke's White also reached the last eight alongside Bristol's Ryan Palmer, a former PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour finalist who enjoyed his best-ever run on the PDC ProTour by defeating Mareno Michels, Andy Jenkins, Richie Corner, Steve Lennon and Mark Barilli.

Two-time UK Open champions James Wade and Raymond van Barneveld were also amongst the last 16 on the day.

Sunday sees the treble-header weekend conclude with Coral UK Open Qualifier Three (12pm start), which will be streamed live online through www.livepdc.tv for all PDCTV-HD Subscribers worldwide, as well as through a series of bookmakers' websites.

February 11, 2017

2016 UK Championship Last 128

2016 Northern Ireland Open Last 64

2016 International Championship Last 64

2016 English Open Last 128

2016 European Masters Last 128

2016 Shanghai Masters Last 96

2016 World Open Last 128

2016 Indian Open Last 128

2016 Riga Masters Last 16

• 6 Ranking event wins including: 1993 Welsh Open, 1997 World Championship, 2001 Welsh Open, 2006 Malta Cup

• Doherty started the 2015/16 season strongly, reaching the last 16 of the 2015 Riga Open on a run which included a 4-1 victory over Mark Selby.

• The Dubliner also reached the last 32 stage of the 2016 German Masters and 2016 Welsh Open.

• He made the first 147 break of his career in 2012 at the Paul Hunter Classic in Germany.

• Doherty’s most recent ranking event win came at the 2006 Malta Cup. The Irishman claimed wins over the likes of Stuart Bingham and Stephen Maguire before scoring a stunning 9-8 victory over John Higgins in the final.

• The crowning glory of his career to date came in 1997 when he ended Stephen Hendry’s five-year unbeaten streak at the Crucible with an 18-12 victory in the final.

• He became the first player to win the world title at junior, amateur and professional level. Doherty was welcomed home by some 250,000 fans on the streets of Dublin and voted Ireland’s Sports Personality of the Year.

• The Irishman reached his second world final a year later, but suffered an 18-12 defeat at the hands of John Higgins.

• His third final came in 2003, when he made a remarkable fightback against Paul Hunter, winning 17-16 from 15-9 down. He fell just short in the final after 18-16 loss to Mark Williams.

February 11, 2017

Heavy-scoring Barry Hawkins fended off a gallant Ryan Day fightback to land the 2017 World Grand Prix title at the Preston Guild Hall on Sunday.

Hawkins had sailed into a 9-3 lead, only for Day to hit back with four frames on the spin before the left-hander got over the line to secure the £100,000 top prize.

The Ditton cueist fired in five century breaks in a clinical display of break-building on the way to clinching the third major ranking title of his career.

"I was gone!" joked Hawkins. "That's probably the best I've played in a while to get to 9-3 but full credit to Ryan, he stuck in there."

"I was just delighted to get a chance and I just about held myself together at the end there. 

"If I'd have lost that last frame I don't know what I'd have done to be honest.

"I'm absolutely over the moon with the way I played today against such a great player," added the 37-year-old.

It was Day who took the opening frame of the final with the aid of a break of 55, before Hawkins hit back with a 53 to level up.

The left-hander, though, pulled clear with back-to-back tons as he followed up a sublime 114 break with a 102 in frame four to move 3-1 ahead.

Day claimed a close-run fifth frame, but only for 'The Hawk' to blast home a break of 129 to restore his two-frame cushion.

A break of 54 saw Welsh ace Day close the gap once again, but Hawkins continued his prolific break-building with a 141 total clearance to make it 5-3.

He then followed up with an impressive 97 break to culminate a pulsating afternoon session and duly picked up from where he left off as the two players returned in the evening.

Hawkins registered century number six with a break of 128 to extend his lead after the restart and kept a shell-shocked Day in his seat again in the proceeding frame with an 85 break to make it 8-3.

A fifth straight frame went the way of Hawkins as he clinched frame 12 to move to the verge of victory, leaving Day without a pot to his name after three frames of the session.

Day, however, stopped the rot in style with a break of 87 to force a mid-session interval and sustained the momentum after the restart with an 84 to trail 9-5.

Hawkins remained frozen out as Day helped himself to further breaks of 92 and 75 to pile on the pressure, but Hawkins held on to edge over the line in a close-run seventeenth frame, prompting an outpouring of emotion.

"Barry played really well in the first session," admitted Day. "I tried to get off to a good start tonight but you can't do a lot when you're sat in your chair.

"My game's in pretty good shape - it's been a long time since I've been in a big final so hopefully this is a platform I can build on."

Defeat extends Day's wait for a first major title, following on from his runner-up spots at the 2007 Malta Cup, 2007 Shanghai Masters and 2008 Grand Prix.

Both players will now head on to Cardiff to compete in the Welsh Open which begins on Monday