A Big Mac that will not be swallowed

Not getting a century break, despite building four breaks over 80, might be a bit of a disappointment to him. Everything else went for Richard McHugh again last weekend as he put in another classy performance to underline his total dominance in Austrian snooker these days. The former Irish professional won the third Austrian Snooker League Grand Prix of the season at the BLZ, the Billard Leistungszentrum Innsbruck in his hometown in Tyrol.

McHugh, who had already been in unbeatable fashion at last month's event in Vienna, dropped just two frames in six matches. He lost one in the round-robin stage to compatriot Dermot Nulty, and one in the semi-finals against Hans Nirnberger. Otherwise, he recorded all whitewashes, including a 5-0 demolition of reigning national champion Bernhard Müllner of Vienna in the final. In the provisional rankings, McHugh now shares the top spot with Müllner.

Probably when he suffers a complete off-day, but otherwise it is very unlikely that McHugh gets beaten in Austria in the near future. With his consistent high level of play, Big Mac stays well out of reach for all his contenders. Until one of them closes the gap, they will have to fight for no more than second places.

It was Bernie Müllner who "won" this battle for a second place in Innsbruck. Müllner is probably the best of the rest right now. In September, he had claimed this season's first ASL Grand Prix title in Wels [where McHugh did not compete]. And earlier this month, he had won four group matches at the IBSF world amateur championship in Amman, Jordan, just failing to qualify for the knock-out stages. In Innsbruck, Müllner did not drop a single frame until his quarter-final encounter with Felix Pleschek of Top Snooker Graz, which he won on the final black in the decider, 3-2. He went on to beat 15 Reds clubmate Ebrahim Baghi [who competed in the seniors championship in Jordan] in another close match, 4-3. Baghi had reached the semis after upsetting Innsbruck's Nulty by 3-1 in a high-class quarter-final match.

In the other half of the draw, Vienna's Nirnberger had a good run of results. Until the semi-finals, Jack got through quite easily, only conceding a single frame in his quarter-final against Sebastian Hainzl. He then met McHugh in the semis, but winning a single frame was not enough by any means to get the Irishman scared. Nirnberger finally ended up third in the tournament as he outplayed Baghi in a match between the two losing semi-finalists, 4-1.

3. ASL GRAND PRIX 2006/07

[Innsbruck, 18/11 - 19/11]

Results:

quarter-finals:
Richard McHugh - Ulrich Dominik 3-0
Hans Nirnberger - Sebastian Hainzl 3-1
Bernhard Müllner - Felix Pleschek 3-2
Ebrahim Baghi - Dermot Nulty 3-1

semi-finals:
McHugh - Nirnberger 4-1
Müllner - Baghi 4-3

final:
McHugh - Müllner 5-0

Break list:

- 88, 87, 86, 83 Richard McHugh
- 68 Hans Nirnberger
- 61 Dermot Nulty
- 59 Nirnberger
- 58 Bernhard Müllner
- 56 McHugh
- 55 Sebastian Hainzl, McHugh
- 53 Felix Pleschek
- 50 Müllner

Click

herefor full tournament results.

© text & photo: Eric Willemsen [Vienna]