Stephen Maguire won the inaugural Lisbon Open after a 4-2 victory over Matthew Selt in the final on Sunday.
Selt was contesting his first final following impressive wins over Dominic Dale, Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins but Maguire’s experience proved to be the pivotal difference in the end.
Maguire’s triumph concludes an excellent month for the Scot in which his fortunes have turned around significantly.
After being dumped out of the Champion of Champions in the opening round, Maguire lamented his form and even threatened to quit the game.
Since then, though, the 33 year-old has reached the semi-finals or better in three consecutive tournaments and has now got his just rewards with a second piece of silverware of the season.
Maguire also won the Six Red World Championship during the summer but this marks his first ranking event success – albeit a minor one – since the 2013 Welsh Open.
“Apart from my first match and the final which were a bit scrappy, I played well over the two days,” said 33-year-old Maguire.
“I won’t get carried away with this and it still hurts that I lost to Judd in the semis of the UK Championship last week. But it feels good to lift a trophy again and to be the last man standing. I’ll have a break over Christmas and hopefully win more next year.”
The first ever professional tournament in Portugal was enthusiastically received by the local community, with fans flocking to the Casal Vistoso Sports Centre in Lisbon to watch many of the world’s best players.
Maguire added: “I didn’t expect to see big crowds here, but the fans were great – they made the tournament.”
The other highlight of the tournament was a 147 from Ben Woollaston – the first maximum of his career – on Friday.
The 2014/15 Kreativ Dental European Tour series comprises six events across the continent, with the top 24 in the final Order or Merit to go through to the Players Championship next March to battle for the £100,000 jackpot.
The next and final event is the Gdynia Open in Poland from February 26 to March 1.
