Day time continues in Wels, Austria

At least Ryan Day wins non-ranking tournaments. The 28-year-old Welshman featured in three Main Tour finals since 2007 but lost them all; just a week ago he was beaten 9-7 by John Higgens in the Grand Prix final in Glasgow. Last Sunday, however, he went all the way in Wels, Austria, and beat Jamie Cope 6-4 in the final to win the €30,000 prizefund Austrian Snooker Open 2008. Day also beat Cope on his way to that Grand Prix final. His streak of good results, including his first quarterfinal appearance at a world championship in May, earned Day a third place on the World Snooker provisional rankings and he is a more than worthy winner of Austria's annual snooker highlight. Cope topped the high-break board, which included 28 centuries, with a magnificent 143 total clearance to edge Dominic Dale's 142 and Shaun Murphy's 140, while Cope also had breaks of 136 and 132.

...Winner Ryan Day concentrating on his next shot...

The qualifiers in Prestatyn for the Bahrain Snooker Championships started the day after the Austrian Snooker Open which forced some (semi-)professional players to pull out of the event. Jimmy White, who was even on the event's advertising banner, skipped the trip to Austria to avoid disturbing his preparations, although The Whirldwind lost his opening qualifying match against Peter Lines 5-2 on Tuesday. Among a field of big names, Austria's Robert Burda did well to reach the last 16; at that stage, players like Mark King, Michael Holt, Matt Couch and defending champion Tom Ford had already been eliminated. Burda lost to Malta's Alex Borg. Another impressive achievement from an Austrian point of view was Hans Nirnberger's 102 break, but that didn't help him survive the round-robin group stage. Nirnberger lost to pro's Barry Hawkins and Jimmy Michie and was also defeated by former Austrian national champion Felix Pleschek. Other great results came from Austrian youngsters Paul Schopf and Manuel Urban, who both held Dominic Dale to a 1-1 draw, while Thomas Auer recorded the same score against Barry Hawkins.

...Former world champion Peter Ebdon was edged by Jimmy Michie 2-3 in the last 16...

Three former world champions lost in the round of the last 16: Mark Williams was upset by Matt Selt - who went on to beat Judd Trump as well - 1-3, Peter Ebdon was edged by Jimmy Michie 2-3, and Shaun Murphy went out against Jamie Cope 1-3. Ryan Day defeated good old Dene O'Kane in the quarterfinals before eliminating Jimmy Michie 5-3. The same scoreline applied to the other semifinal, where Jamie Cope saw off Matt Selt. Finally, Day coped well with the pressure in the final and closed out the victory in 10 frames.

Many players used the Austrian Snooker Open as their final preparation for the subsequent IBSF world amateur championships, which take place at the same venue in Wels. The worlds have a great lineup as usual. The best amateur players from all over the world gather in Austria, and the draw even includes some very interesting former pro's, like James Wattana, Dene O'Kane, Darren Morgen and Kirk Stevens, who used to dress up all white in the early 80's and became only the third player to compile a maximumbreak in professional competition when he hit a 147 against Jimmy White in the 1984 Benson & Hedges Masters semifinal. More on the IBSF world amateur championships soon on Maximumbreak.

AUSTRIAN SNOOKER OPEN 2008
[Wels, 23/10 - 26/10]

Results:

quarterfinals:
Ryan Day - Dene O'Kane 3-0
Jimmy Michie - Alex Borg 3-1
Jamie Cope - Lasse Munstermann 3-0
Matt Selt - Judd Trump 3-2

semifinals:
Day - O'Kane 5-3
Cope - Selt 5-3

final:
Day - Cope 6-4

Break list:

- 143 Jamie Cope
- 142 Dominic Dale
- 140 Shaun Murphy
- 136 Cope
- 132 Cope, Matt Selt
- 131 Peter Ebdon
- 128 Stuart Bingham
- 126 Ryan Day
- 120 Mark King
- 119 Mark Williams
- 115 Selt
- 114 Bingham
- 110 Michael Holt
- 109 Judd Trump
- 106 Cope, Trump
- 105 Selt
- 104 Murphy
- 103 Williams, Jimmy Michie, Michal Zielinski
- 102 Dale, Hans Nirnberger
- 101 Barry Hawkins
- 100 Bingham

Click here for full tournament results.