The 45 year old Anthony Hamilton found himself 5-2 down to Ali Carter but a magnificent performance from Hamilton saw him not only claw his way back into the match, but go on to win with breaks of 118, 73, 74 and 70.
Before the match tonight, Hamilton had to battle with Mark Williams, Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins and Stuart Bingham to get to the final. The world No.66 beat 5 of the top 16 players in the world to win his first career ranking title which has span more than 25 years.
After claiming victory Hamilton said;
“Dreams are made of this stuff.
“It’s been a fantastic week and I just can’s ask for any more than this.
“I don’t know what to do with the trophy because I’ve never had one.”
In the first session of the match, it look as though Ali Carter was going to run away with the match after taking the first three frames. Even at 5-3 at the end of the first session, the odds were on Carter to win who already won four previous snooker ranking titles.
After a brilliant performance from Hamilton, Carter said;
“Anthony played really well. He thoroughly deserved it.
“I’m delighted for him.”
Before the evening session begun, Ronnie O’Sullivan commented that Hamilton is one of the best players in the world on the practice table, but struggles to bring that form to the match arena’s.
Last year Anthony Hamilton almost fell off the tour with a string of bad results and only remained on the snooker tour due to a wild-card.
Only recently, Hamilton made it to the semi final of the Northern Ireland trophy where he lost to Barry Hawkins in a final frame decider.
Only 2 months later, Hamilton has gone on to win his first ranking title.
O’Sullivan, Hamilton, Higgins etc grew up on the amateur snooker scene in or around the same era and know exactly how good they are.
