Sutton does the double!

2018 UKPT Event 4 - Daventry

Karl Sutton waited many years for his first tour win, but he didn’t need to do so for his second as he put on another majestic performance this weekend, picking up the title at the fourth tour in Daventry.

Sutton started his pursuit, as chance would have it, against the same first round opponent as tour 3, Royton’s John Maugham. Sutton put on a great potting display in this match, taking out some fantastic finishes and taking the match 7-1. He then faced former tour winner, Ian Duffy, someone who presents a tough task to any player. Sutton showed the form he’s in at the moment by taking this match 7-0! Howitt, Clack and Davis followed with no one managing to get close to Sutton. This set up a fantastic semi final against Shaun Storry. It was Storry’s first time in a tour semi final but the cueist from Ipswich is no newcomer to pressure situations, having taken titles in multiple cue sports disciplines. He was also coming off the back of an impressive win against former World Master’s champion Josh Kane in the previous round, so this was sure to be close. Storry didn’t hit top gear in the early frames and Sutton was able to punish some mistakes and take a 6-3 lead. Storry was not ready to give up the fight though and pulled out some great finishes to level the match at 6-6. Sutton’s dream of a double was starting to disappear as Storry was clearing up for a 7-6 lead, but an unexpected missed black provided an opening for Karl and two clearances later he took the match and set up his second final appearance.

On the other half of the draw, Lee Kendal was making short work of the majority of his opponents. Kendall has been in imperious form this season, taking the title at the first tour in Blackpool and following this up with a semi-final appearance in tour 2. Only Ross Smith in the last 32 was able to push Kendall all the way with Kendall just edging the match 7-6. He met Wigan’s Kris Hampson in the semi-final who had come back from 6-3 down to win 7-6 against the ultra-consistent Ben Flack, no mean feat. Hampson, however, could not stop Kendall from making his second final of the season, thus setting up a great match between England’s longest serving Captain in Kendall and arguably their most in form player in Sutton.

The final proved to be a tale of two halves with Kendall playing some faultless pool to take a 5-1 lead. You would be forgiven for writing Sutton off with such a mammoth task at hand but with the form he’s in he simply needs the smallest of opportunities to establish himself in the match. When the opportunity presented itself for a clearance from the break in the seventh frame, he took it and never looked back, reeling off 7 frames on the bounce to take the match 8-5 and win his second consecutive title. The question now, can Sutton take the title at the last tour of the season and equal Tom Cousins’ amazing achievement of the 2017 season of 3 consecutive tour wins? Make sure you’re watching on October 20^th to find out!

TOUR RESULTS