Aaron Busuttil became the first player from Malta to win a Q Tour event after beating 17 year-old Edward Jones 4-0 in the final in Sofia on Thursday.
The 35 year-old produced a remarkable run at the Princess Hotel in the Bulgarian capital, dropping just three frames across his final six matches after opening the tournament with a 4-2 victory.
Busuttil followed that opening win by reeling off six successive victories without dropping more than a single frame in any match.
He defeated Riley Powell 4-1 in the quarter-finals before seeing off Sybren Sokolowski 4-0 in the last four.
Jones, meanwhile, defeated Paul Deaville 4-3 in the last 16 before a 4-0 quarter-final success over Tomasz Skalski.
The Englishman then edged out Dean Young 4-2 in the semi-finals to reach his first ever Q Tour final.
However, it was Busuttil who dominated the title decider, winning all four frames to collect the £6,000 top prize.
“I’m over the moon, I can’t believe it to be honest,” Busuttil said. “I was just playing one frame at a time from the very beginning and this happened.”
“I won the European Six-Reds Championship earlier in the week, which gave me some confidence. I wasn’t doing anything different specifically, I just kept going.”
Q Tour Event 1 winner Sanderson Lam was unable to make it back-to-back finals, losing 4-3 to Dean Young in the quarter-finals.
Lam remains at the top of the Q Tour rankings following his victory in Leeds, but Busuttil’s success has moved him into second place on 11,175 points.
Jones rises to third with 8,175 points, while Mark Joyce, Farakh Ajaib, Dean Young, Sybren Sokolowski, and Brian Ochoiski complete the top eight.
As in previous seasons, there are seven events on the Q Tour European schedule this campaign.
The top-ranked player at the end of the campaign will earn a two-year ticket onto the World Snooker Tour, while further places will be available at the Q Tour Global Play-Offs where an additional three professional cards will be on offer.
The next event takes place in Germany from October 22nd to October 25th.
Q Tour Event 2
Selected Results
Last 16
Sanderson Lam 4-3 Krzysztof Czapnik
Dean Young 4-1 Sebastian Milewski
Tomasz Skalski 4-1 Ryan Davies
Edward Jones 4-3 Paul Deaville
Mark Lloyd 4-2 Mark Joyce
Sybren Sokolowski 4-3 Brian Ochoiski
Aaron Busuttil 4-1 Matvei Lagodzinschii
Riley Powell 4-2 Velian Dimitrov
Quarter-Finals
Dean Young 4-3 Sanderson Lam
Edward Jones 4-0 Tomasz Skalski
Sybren Sokolowski 4-3 Mark Lloyd
Aaron Busuttil 4-1 Riley Powell
Semi-Finals
Edward Jones 4-2 Dean Young
Aaron Busuttil 4-0 Sybren Sokolowski
Final
Aaron Busuttil 4-0 Edward Jones
Rankings (Sept 25)
- Sanderson Lam – 13,430
- Aaron Busuttil – 11,175
- Edward Jones – 8,175
- Mark Joyce – 7,300
- Farakh Ajaib – 7,000
- Dean Young – 6,580
- Sybren Sokolowski – 6,580
- Brian Ochoiski – 5,830
- Paul Deaville – 5,830
- Mark Lloyd – 5,110
- Patrick Whelan – 5,110
- Haris Tahir – 4,900
- Ryan Davies – 4,800
- Sebastian Milewski – 4,800
- Riley Powell – 4,605
- Shachar Ruberg – 4,080
- Tomasz Skalski – 3,430
The full rankings list is available at snooker.org.
Featured photo credit: WPBSA
Thank you for this David Caufield. Aaron Busuttil is the third Maltese player to have the privilege to reach the level of the World Snooker Tour.
Proset Aaron.