London Snooker
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London
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London's Finest Pool
londonsnooker.co.uk
Sunday 17 September 2023
Oliver Lawrence with the Autumn Open 8 Ball Trophy from London's Finest Pool
All photography courtesy of ©Andrew Phan - used by Pro9 with permission.
2023 TOUR - 8-Ball Autumn Open
Reporter: Dan Suh
Photographer: Andrew Phan
Last week, the 8-Ball Autumn Open brought 32 players to the table to battle it over for a top prize of £500 and a space in Masters Final at the end of the year.
The groups stage was tough to call with heavy hitters spread all across the field. 8-Ball was always going to a challenge for the 9-Ball players - different tactics, different patterns - enough to catch out those who don't practice 8-Ball.
A few surprising results in the group stages. Imran struggled to get going and found himself 4-2 down in his first match but still managed to claw his way back to a 5-4 win and eventually winning the group. Chris Seville had a couple of shaky moments in his first 2 group matches but still managed to win the group on points.
Ali Merchant looked like he had given up entirely after his 2nd group match then won his last match 5-0 but unfortunately it just wasn't enough to qualify for the last 16. Marius looked was definitely ready for this comp as he breezed through his group casually with 5-1, 5-3 and 5-0 wins.
Daniel Baker returns to the American baize after a long break from the game showing he's still a powerhouse, easily winning his group with 3 wins.
Down to the Last 16, straight knock-out and it tells a very different story. Imran has a repeat of his first group match going 5-2 down to Ramon but somehow still managed to battle his way back to make it through to the quarters. There however, he meets in form Ali, converted snooker player, where the 2 go toe to toe all the way to hill-hill but Ali holds his nerve and makes a beautiful clearance to claim the win.
Gareth 'Darkside' Esprit makes steady progress through the Summer Open winner Anthony Ginn with a 7-6 win. And Gabriel shows his continued consistency as he always makes it to the business end of tournaments.
Meanwhile, Spencer who had a very shaky start in the groups finds some form to take out Daniel Baker, then goes from strength to strength to take out a pre-tournament favourite Rod and Ali to make his way to the final. There he met Oliver Lawrence, a young player with a long history with English pool but recently picking up American Pool. After winning his group, he didn't look like stopping from there as he comfortably takes out his dad Alex Lawrence, Chris Seville and Gabriel to book his place in the final where he just looked confident and comfortable eventually walking away the champion at the end of a long day with a 7-4 win.
It was a fantastic tournament and a great pleasure to welcome 32 of the finest players to play. There's 1 more tournament left of the 2023 Tour - the Multi-Ball Winter Open on Sunday 12th November - get your entries in now to avoid disappointment and for that 1 last chance to qualify for the Masters Final in December.
Be sure to check out the live streams from this event and previous events on our Facebook page.
And lastly, a MASSIVE thank you to our sponsors who helped make these tournaments happen.
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