OVERSEAS NEWS
AUSTRALIA
Australian Open Championship
West Australian Matthew Bolton has won his second consecutive Australian Open Billiards title, at the age of just 21. The event was played from 14th-20th May in the VIP Matchroom at Super 8 Entertainment Centre in Brisbane.
Bolton´s performance in the six hour final was one of the finest displays of billiards seen in Australia for many years, defeating Victorian David Collins in the final 3,083-959. It included a break of 649, the highest break made at an Australian Billiards Championship since 1961, as well as a 364, three other breaks over 200 and five more breaks over 100. This gave him an average of around 46 points every time he walked to the table.
The 2,124 point difference in scores is a testament to Bolton´s dominance in the match. David Collins was undefeated in his round robin group, and won his quarter final and semi final matches convincingly, but the amount of time he was kept away from the table in the final made it impossible for him to develop a rhythm. The match began with a few small breaks, then after fifteen minutes Bolton began a break with some work to do before attaining ‘top of the table´ position—receiving a ten hazard warning before moving the yellow ball behind the spot. Once the balls were in position they were rarely out of control, and the break grew to 364. Left with a very thin cannon to hold position, or an in-off yellow for open play, Matthew opted for the cannon and narrowly missed, which left the score at 450-10. The score at the end of the first two hour session was 725-165, with Matthew on a break of 34. A few members of the crowd were a little slow in settling down, which broke Bolton´s concentration and brought the break to an end at 36.
Twenty minutes into the second session the 649 break began, which was played almost entirely at the top of the table. The hundreds rolled by in quick succession as he passed the earlier mark of 364 and his high break from last year of 452. With the break at 497, the red was sitting near the top cushion and the white placed awkwardly, needing to cue over the yellow. Bolton steeled himself and potted the ball, then clenched his fist and whispered "Yes" as he reached 500.
Collins attempted to come back later in the session, but could only achieve one century break in the match with a 153. At the end of the second session the scores were 1,785-642. Matthew continued his dominance in the final session with three double centuries and 1,288 points for the session, passing the 3,000 mark in the last five minutes of the match.
In his victory speech, Matthew said that he felt "more humble than proud" to have beaten Collins by such a margin, and admitted: "Even I didn´t know I could play that well." Collins had nothing but praise for Bolton in his speech, and said "the scary thing is, I think he´s getting better." With a player of this standard at such a young age, Australian billiards looks set for a strong future.
Results (knock-out stages)
Australian National Championship
David Collins defeated Matthew Bolton six games to three to win the Australian National Billiards Championship which, as last year, was played using the 50-up multiple game format. The event was staged alongside the Australian Open Championship and followed on from the session play of the time-limit event, making it a long day those players involved in the final stages of both competitions. Finishing 4 hours play in the semi-finals of the "Open" Bolton—who was then scheduled to play his best of eleven final in the "National"—was heard to remark "Now 50-up, that's the last thing I want to do". There was a 3 way tie for the highest break, a 54, which was achieved by Matthew Bolton, David Collins, and Tim Walters. Defending champion, Robby Foldvari, did not enter this year.