Report
"The Wizard of Wishaw," John Higgins, won
his second German Open title, his seventh ranking title overall, and his first of the season
by beating John Parrott 9-4 in the final. He
is rewarded with �50,000 for his efforts and becomes
the second player this season to surpass �100,000 in earnings.
Ronnie O'Sullivan was the first.
Parrott gets �26,000 for his runner-up position and
Stephen Hendry gets the �3,000 highest break
prize for his 130 total clearance in the quarter-final loss to Parrott.
Higgins was always in control in this final. His 5-3 lead after the first session was a bit
fortunate though, as he fluked the last two reds in the final frame and eventually clinched it on
the black. Parrott's only consolation was that he had made the highest break of the session, a 102
in an earlier frame. After the interval it was the Liverpudlian who got the first chance, but he
missed an easy pink and Higgins stepped in with a well-controlled 80 break. Parrott was also ahead
in the second frame of the session, with a 49 break, but the Scot eventually won that frame as
well, with the aid of a 52. He also won the next to lead 8-3. Parrott stopped the rot to
make it 8-4 before Higgins closed the match in style with a 105. The Scot is now 5-3 up in career
meetings with Parrott and moves back up to No.2 in the Embassy rankings.
Semi-finals
John Higgins reached his second ranking
final of the year by beating his long-time rival
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-4 in the semis.
Parrott continued to make waves overseas as he beat world champion
Ken Doherty 6-4 to reach yet another final
outside Britain. He has previously won titles in eight countries.
The match was a very scrappy affair and they almost looked like club players at some stages. They
both improved towards the end of the match though, and Parrott was clearly the best and certainly
deserved his victory.
Quarter-finals
John Higgins scraped through to the
semi-finals with a 5-4 victory over
Anthony Hamilton. He grabbed the deciding
frame after Hamilton missed a long red.
John Parrott beat
Stephen Hendry 5-3 in their quarter-final
clash and improved to 14-19 in head-to-head meetings with the Scottish No.1. He's usually been the
best when they've met outside Britain though, and holds a 8-3 advantage.
After Parrott lost the third frame to go 2-1 down everything seemed to go against him. He potted
the last blue and left Hendry needing two snookers, but then he failed to hit the pink as he was
snookered by the black. In his next shot he went in-off and Hendry potted pink and black for frame.
Nobody would be surprised if he broke down after making such blunders, but Parrott replied
wonderfully and won the next two frames to go 3-2 up. He won the last of those two frames with a
splendid 103 after Hendry missed an easy red.
Hendry isn't the one to give up without a fight either. He made a historic tournament-best 130
total clearance in the next frame to level at 3-3. The break was historic because it was his
400th(!) in professional competition. No one else has managed 300 ... This feat didn't impress
Parrott though, as he won the last two frames to book a place in the semi-finals.
Ronnie O'Sullivan advanced to the
semi-finals after fluking the final black in the final frame
against Tony Drago from Malta. A few shots
earlier Drago had missed the black by a whisker. After
the first session it looked like Ronnie would run away with the match as he was leading 3-1. Due
to some bad play from O'Sullivan and some great pots from Drago the score was soon 3-3 and later
4-4 before the final battle began.
World champion
Ken Doherty also struggled to a 5-4 win
after being 2-0 and
3-1 down against Scotland's unsung hero, Jamie Burnett. Jamie, who is a stablemate of
Stephen Hendry, took the first frame with a
solid 94 break and looked unstoppable whilst Doherty could hardly pot
two balls in succession. After the interval things changed though and it took a deciding frame
to resolve who was to win. In the last frame Burnett looked like the champion after he was in
perfect position with only the colors left. He missed a somewhat tricky green though after poor
positional play. Doherty eventually got the final saying to move into his first ranking semi-final
of the season.
Results
(Players are English unless stated)
Final
John Higgins (Scotland) 9-4 John Parrott
83-28, 1-92 (86), 14-67, 69-21, 72-44, 57-27, 0-102 (102)
59-48, 80-5 (80), 80-49 (54), 80-14, 53-67, 109-25 (105)
Semi-finals
John Higgins (Scotland) 6-4 Ronnie O'Sullivan
91-10, 0-92 (92), 64-7, 52-51, 77-4, 58-78 (50,78),
73-24 (69), 0-103 (55), 4-74 (63), 117-2 (56,61)
John Parrott 6-4 Ken Doherty (Ireland)
55-54, 5-68, 64-0, 0-84 (80), 60-1, 5-68 (50),
6-106 (52,54), 117-9 (85), 82-1 (82), 74-0 (68)
Quarter-finals
Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-4 Tony Drago (Malta)
John Higgins (Scotland) 5-4 Anthony Hamilton
John Parrott 5-3 Stephen Hendry (Scotland)
Ken Doherty (Ireland) 5-4 Jamie Burnett (Scotland)
First round
Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-2 James Wattana (Thailand)
Tony Drago (Malta) 5-3 Quinten Hann (Australia)
Anthony Hamilton 5-2 Jason Ferguson
John Higgins (Scotland) 5-2 Martin Clark
Stephen Hendry (Scotland) 5-2 Jimmy White
John Parrott 5-3 Stephen Lee
Jamie Burnett (Scotland) 5-4 Gary Wilkinson
Ken Doherty (Ireland) 5-2 Shokat Ali (Pakistan)
Final Qualifying Round
Played at Hereford Leisure Centre, England, September 1997
Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-2 Graeme Dott (Scotland)
James Wattana (Thailand) 5-4 Dave Harold
Tony Drago (Malta) 5-4 Steve James
Quinten Hann (Australia) 5-3 Mark J Williams (Wales)
Jason Ferguson 5-1 Peter Ebdon
Anthony Hamilton 5-3 Ian McCullch
Martin Clark 5-3 Steve Davis
John Higgins (Scotland) 5-0 Brian Morgan
Stephen Hendry (Scotland) 5-0 Paul Wykes
Jimmy White 5-2 Alan McManus (Scotland)
Stephen Lee 5-3 Chris Small (Scotland)
John Parrott 5-2 Lee Walker (Wales)
Gary Wilkinson 5-3 Nigel Bond
Jamie Burnett (Scotland) 5-1 Alain Robidoux (Canada)
Shokat Ali (Pakistan) 5-2 Darren Morgan (Wales)
Ken Doherty (Ireland) 5-3 Billy Snaddon (Scotland)
Related Pages
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Results |
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