The final of the Northern Ireland Open was played out this weekend at the Titanic Belfast (an exhibition space that includes the memorial to the Titanic). The final was won by Mark King.
King has been on the snooker circuit for 25 years and although he has reached two major finals (in 1997 and 2004) he has, until now, never lifted a major trophy. King’s biggest previous triumph was winning an invitational tournament, also in Ireland, back in 2004.
Then final, as the final frame contests suggests, was a closely fought affair. Hawkins, a former world championship finalist, made the early running in winning the opening two frames, the second with a break of 113. King responded in final style, winning the third frame with a break of 110; however, through some tight safety play on the part of Hawkins, King slipped 1-5 behind.
King, aged 42, recovered by winning the final two frames at the end of the afternoon session, and in the last he confined Hawkins to just one point.
King continued his good run in the evening session, compiling breaks of 62 and 100 as part of a four-frame winning streak (to make it six frames won in succession). Leading 7-5, King had to sit out a rally from Hawkins as the frames moved to seven apiece. In winning these, Hawkins made two breaks of over 70. With the first of these Hawkins had the chance of making a 147 maximum break in potting nine reds and nine black. On potting the tenth black, Hawkins missed a straightforward pot and he saw his chance of making a total clearance disappear.
The pace of the match slowed noticeably as the tension mounted. Neither player has been a prodigious winner of tournaments and they have contested few major finals. King won the fifteenth frame to move 8-7 in front. Hawkins won the next frame, a 62-minute epic, by potting the final black ball (a re-spotted black) to level the scores at eight frames-all and to set up a nervy decider.
Both players had opportunities to clinch the match. With the play fragmented, it was King who took control, sealing the decider 84 points to 33. King played fine, steady snooker throughout, perhaps not to the standard other snooker finals this season (as reported by Digital Journal) but solid match-play nevertheless.
King was awarded the Alex Higgins Trophy (named after the greatest snooker player to come from Northern Ireland). He also received a first prize of £70,000 ($90,000).
The frame scores were (King first):
Session 1:
1-85 (85), 6-118 (113), 126-11 (110), 49-80, 1-60, 14-64, 66-18, 90-1
Session 2:
95-5 (62), 101-13 (100), 83-1, 76-6 (54), 0-73 (73), 40-82 (76), 65-28, 65-72, 84-33
