Wayne Martin secures his 6th Eastwood Open title
Eastwood Open 6
Eleven players fought it out at Phoenix Cue Sports for the £50 first prize. The popular round robin format was used again which provided all but one competitor with at least three matches. The top two players in the three-man group and the top three players in the four-man groups progressed to the quarter-finals.
Group A
This three-man group was tough on Stephen Lally, who found himself up against the sublime talents of Nav Hussain and James Harrison. The matches were completed in record time, allowing Harrison to fill up on Big Macs whilst he was waiting for the other groups to finish.
Group B
The draw was tough on debutant Paul Wainwright who found himself in the “group of death” which included the defending champion Wayne Martin, Mike “Lucky” Langdon and Jamie Cope’s practise partner Jason Stockton. Martin progressed to the quarters without dropping a frame and Stockton was also on form, knocking in the day’s highest break of 77.
Group C
Fourteen year old George Downs will have learned a lot from his tournament debut despite struggling to compete with Butler, Trout and Castel-Nuovo who were all pretty evenly matched.
Knockout Stage
Quarter-finals
Nav Hussain 3-1 Steve Butler
Butler was looking favourite to go 2-1 up in this match after a 35 break put him 40 odd in front, however Hussain had an outrageous fluke on the yellow which set him up for a frame winning 53 break and Butler never recovered.
Wayne Martin 3-0 Mike Langdon
Martin went into this match having not dropped a frame all day and he ended the match with that record still intact. Martin had breaks of 46 and 35 and Langdon never really got going.
Jason Stockton 3-0 Joe Trout
Trout was playing well but Stockton played even better, making breaks of 54 and 50 to ease into the semi-finals.
James Harrison 3-2 Danny Castel-Nuovo
Easily the match of the round as Castel-Nuovo was just edged out by Harrison.
Semi-finals £10
James Harrison 3-2 Jason Stockton
Harrison scraped past Stockton on a re-spotted black at the end of a titanic battle.
Wayne Martin 3-1 Nav Hussain
Martin squeezed past Hussain in a tense match that was often dictated by good long potting and the run of the balls. Martin was quickly into his stride with breaks of 27 and 38 to win the first frame. Hussain fought straight back with a break of 39 in taking the next. Hussain was in front again during the next frame and looked to have the frame won following two crucial flukes. Martin however pinched the frame to go 2 -1 up. The fourth frame was decided on a re-spotted black with Hussain going 18 in front with 18 left. Hussain crucially fluked a snooker on the blue but Martin swerved around the pink, double kissed the blue into the pocket and then cleared the colours and the re-spotted black that Hussain missed with his attempt.
Final £50 / £30
Wayne Martin 3-1 James Harrison
This proved to be a high quality final with both players showing form. Martin was in first with breaks of 25 and 52 to win the first frame. Harrison struck back with breaks of 27 and 49 to win the second. Harrison was in front following a 32 break in the next, however Martin fought back and cleared the table with 35 to take the frame. The fourth frame was scrappy but Martin held it together to win the frame on the black for his sixth straight Eastwood Open title.
Highest Breaks
Jason Stockton 77,58,54,50,35
James Harrison 69,49,39,32
Nav Hussain 53,53,40,39,38,37,33
Wayne Martin 52,46,38,37,35,35,35,32
Mike Langdon 47,32
Steve Butler 37,35,35