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Figure after player's nation denotes 2001-02 World Snooker Ranking
REPORT
The Regal Welsh has been a great event for the 23-year-old from Leeds in England, as he reached the semifinals of the event in 1996 as a 17-year-old, won it in 1998 and, of course, made it to the final last year. This event has also been fertile ground for Doherty as he when he first won the title in 1993 he became the first Irishman to win a world ranking event, and he was the slight favorite going into the final to repeat the success he had over Hunter last year. Surprisingly for Doherty, his highest break on the way through the event to the final was just 65, though he improved on that in the first frame of the final which he secured with a 75 clearance after his opponent had misjudged a safety shot. Though any thoughts the world number four had of sweeping to victory again were quickly dashed as Hunter reeled off the next five frames helped by breaks of 72, 62 and a magnificent 141 total clearance in the sixth frame, which was the tournament's highest break and the highest break of his seven-year professional career. Doherty must have started to have thoughts about the 10-1 thrashing he suffered at the hands of Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final of the UK Championship last month, but breaks of 56 and 59 respectively helped to secure the seventh and eighth frames to just trail 5-3 after the first session's play and give him a realistic chance of winning this final — though Hunter would have been desperatyely disappointed to have not held a 6-2 lead after he missed the final black in the eighth frame. Hunter quickly took the first frame of the second session once they returned, but despite compiling a break of 54 in the next frame Doherty was able to pin him back to win the frame and again trail by two frames at 6-4. The next two frames were again shared to take the score to 7-5 in Hunter's favor, and the tension was building all around a capacity crowd at the Cardiff International Arena. Doherty then closed to within one frame as he clinched the thirteenth frame with a break of 40 after Hunter went in-off with the cue-ball attempting a safety shot. That in-off however did not faze last year's Benson & Hedges Champion, which shows the maturity of Hunter as he fashioned a super break of 44 in the fourteenth frame to move within one frame of victory.
Now only holding a one frame lead at 8-7 after being 5-1 ahead, many players could have folded under the pressure, but Hunter's tenacity and will to win swept him to victory in the next frame as he produced a break of 76. Hunter could barely stop smiling after taking the second ranking title of his professional career. "It was fantastic, I enjoyed every minute it," he said. "The first time I won this, it went to my head a bit and I went out drinking too much. I have realized now that you have to practice to win tournaments and there is no reason why I can't go on to become a regular winner. "I played really well and I could have won 9-2 but Ken kept coming back at me. I had a great chance to win 9-6 but he pinched that frame. I knew I had to win the next because I didn’t want to go 8-8 and I made a really good break. "I should have won the last frame of the first session — I missed an easy black. But I didn't let that play on my mind and I just got on with it when the second session started. "There was a bit of extra motivation for me because Ken beat me so easily in the final last year and I didn't want a repeat of that. I just went out and concentrated on my own game and tried to play the same way that I did against Graeme Dott in the semifinals. "I wasn't at my best earlier in the tournament — I had a bit of luck against Ronnie O’Sullivan and Peter Ebdon — but I think I deserved that. "Before I came to Cardiff, nothing had really gone for me. But I decided to put the rest of the season behind me and try my best. "My biggest aim is to win the World Championship and I know I need more stamina if I am going to do that. This was only a five-day tournament but it felt like two weeks." Hunter now goes to the Wembley Conference Centre in London next week to defend the Benson & Hedges he won last year, and he commented: "I'm looking forward to the Masters now. I've got a tough draw against Stephen Lee in the first round but I will go to Wembley with a lot of confidence." Doherty was frustrated to have come off second-best for the second successive tournament, having lost 10-1 to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final of the UK Championship. The 32-year-old said: "I am a bit down because sport is all about winning and you don't like to lose when you get so close. "Maybe in a few days I will look back on the tournament and realize that I did pretty well to get to the final, but at the moment I am very disappointed. I played well in the semis against Stephen Hendry and I thought I was going to do it. "I put Paul under the cosh a lot today but he kept getting out of it by knocking in a long one. The difference between this year and last was that he was much more consistent and he didn't miss many easy balls. "I'm disappointed to lose another final but he played very well and a couple of errors cost me."
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Paul Hunter celebrates his
Ken Doherty and