Following on from my post from Wednesday, the final matches in the various events taking place at Pontin’s this week have been completed with some surprising results. Full results and frame scores can be accessed here at GCS.
Pontin’s Open
The main event at the festival was surprisingly taken by Bolton’s Craig Steadman who played brilliantly on the final day to win his final two matches without losing a single frame. Having beaten some talented players earlier on such as World U-21 finalist Anthony McGill and former main tour player Gary Wison, he produced the performance of the week to thrash world number 35 Ricky Walden 4-0 in the first semi-final.
In the final he came up against another quality player in Leo Fernandez who himself had played some good snooker to reach the final. He had no answer for Steadman whoever who won the match 5-0 win some style, highlighted by a well taken break of 95.
What about Stephen Craigie I hear you ask? Well his run surprisingly came to an end at the last 16 stage when he lost out to Andy Rogers 3-1. Indeed Rogers recorded another impressive result in taking out young Michael White (who had not lost a frame up until that point), in his next match before running out of of steam against Fernandez in his semi-final. White did at least make two centuries in the tournament, including the highest break of the competition of 123.
Under 20’s
Although White could not make it past Fernandez in the main event, he again made a century in the U-20 event which he went on to win in some style with a 3-0 win over Accrington’s Farakh Ajaib. Again the Craigie brothers fell short of the final, though Sam played well to make the quarter-finals before losing out to Ajaib. Stephen meanwhile lost out a round earlier to Otterbourne’s Nick Jennings.
Pontin’s 20-40’s
This event was won by Wallsend’s Gary Wilson who certainly had to earn his trophy having survived a number of close matches throughout the event. Arguably the best of these was his semi-final victory over Leo Frenandez who again managed to perform well up until this point. With Wilson winning 3-2 however, it was he who would go into the final to play Eastleigh’s Mike Finn in what proved to be a high quality match. Although Finn recovered from losing the first two frames to make it 2-1 however, Wilson finished off the match in fine style with a break of 102 to take the title.
Pontin’s Masters
The senior event was won by Colin Norton who won a close contest with Steve Meakin 3-2, taking the last frame by just nine points. Having beaten former Masters finalist and PIOS player Mike Hallett in the previous match, it is safe to say that his victory was fully deserved one.
Pontin’s Plate
The fifth and final event of the festival was to be won by another ex-tour player, Wallasey’s Robbie Williams who beat Stuart Mann from Essex in the final. The highlight of the final came in the second frame when Williams made a break of 105 to move 2-0 ahead and although Mann got one back, Williams was to run out a 3-1 winner.