Peter Ebdon's eighth world ranking title came after a typically hard fought battle, which he finally edged 10-8 against John Higgins.
The new Bank of Beijing China Open champion is one of the most resolutely determined match players the game has ever seen.
Ebdon would have been at home against the likes of Cliff Thorburn, Terry Griffiths and Dennis Taylor - hard as nails cueists of days gone by.
To win another title 16 years after his first ranking triumph is a considerable achievement given his rotten form all season.
It shows what can be achieved with hard work and commitment.
And it further cements his place as one of snooker's greatest ever champions.
28 comments:
well said Dave
question:
how many times in the last two seasons has stephen hendry lost to the eventual winner in a world snooker event (including masters)?
can you list them and the scorelines he lost to?
So... it's been 16 years since Peter won his first ranking title.
What player holds the record for the most years between his first and last ranking title? It shouldn't be long before that record is held by Ronnie?
Anyway, great win for Peter! Let's see now if that was a last rattle before his decline out of top-16, or if it was the beginning of something bigger?
To anon, Hendry lost to Selby in the Welsh 08, Walden in Shanghai, Higgins in the Grand Prix, Ebdon here, Selby in the Masters 08 and ROS in the Worlds.
On Peter though, great achievement, really didn't think he still had it in him to win, a tournament, particularly a best of 9. Happy to be wrong though, he's been a great player over the last 15-20 years and fully deserves it.
thank you very much matt. much appreciated
one more thing if you or anyone could oblige....
that is 6 WS tournaments out of the last how many (going back to the first one in that list lost) that hendry has lost to the eventual winner?
he may be missing more these days,but i doubt you will find a player with a similar ratio in the same period. also believe a few of the matches were close too?
thanks again
Great result for Peter. He seems to get a lot of disrespect and I'm really glad he won today.
Off the top of my head that's 8 of of the last 13 if you include Murphy in the Malta Cup too. Yeah a lot of those were close too, particularly the ones against Selby and Walden.
Thanks a lot, Eurosport, Paris marathon instead of snooker final-well done, indeed.:)) Anyway, nice to see Peter back, congratulations!
Glad he was able get back on form, especially after having a divorce, not too long ago.
I was delighted to see Peter Ebdon play positively during this tournament, even if he will always be a bit of a grinder. To be able to get good initial reds - be they long or just tricky - is a tremendous asset and one that is often lost by players in the latter part of their careers. So respect is due, although I still find him a bit weird with the staring and the intensity.
Counting ranking events + Masters for the last two seasons, the following players either won the event or lost to the eventual winner at least 4 times:
O'Sullivan, Maguire: 7
Hendry, Selby: 6
Carter, Doherty, Harold, Higgins, Murphy: 4
thanks andrew, but what i was specifically wanting was players whod lost to eventual winners only, without the winners lumped in to the stats.
hopefully someone will have just that information on its own...
OK - omitting players who won each event, the figures become:
Hendry: 6
Maguire: 5
Doherty, Harold, Selby: 4
Carter, Day, Higgins, Lee, Murphy, O'Sullivan: 3
Job well done Peter! i'm really glad for him, he deserved it! now let's see how he will do in world championship!
In response to Sparky, here's a list of the players who've had the longest gap between first and last ranking titles:
1 Jimmy White - 18 years, 90 days (12 Jan 86 to 11 Apr 04)
2 Stephen Hendry - 17 years, 104 days (25 Oct 87 to 6 Feb 05)
3 Peter Ebdon - 15 years, 156 days (31 Oct 93 to 5 Apr 09)
4 Ronnie O'Sullivan - 14 years, 273 days (28 Nov 93 to 31 Aug 08)
5 John Higgins - 13 years, 362 days (23 Oct 94 to 19 Oct 08)
6 Steve Davis - 13 years, 284 days (20 Apr 81 to 29 Jan 95)
7 Ken Doherty - 13 years, 5 days (31 Jan 93 to 5 Feb 06)
8 Mark Williams - 10 years, 58 days (27 Jan 96 to 26 Mar 06)
Hendry can go top of this list at any time by winning another ranking event, as it's now well over 21 years since his first.
As for the point about O'Sullivan taking over this record, he'll do that if he wins a ranking event any time after March 27th 2012.
Incidentally, the record for the shortest gap between first and last ranking titles (obviously not including those who've only won one) is held by Doug Mountjoy at 50 days - 27 Nov 88 to 15 Jan 89.
I'm pleased for Ebbo. I think he's good for snooker and one of the great modern day grinders who still has enormous passion for the sport.
Andy
Sparky,
Jimmy White won the ranking tournament called the Mercentile Credit Classis in 1986, and won the Daily Record Players Championship in 2004. That is a difference of 18 years. I'm not sure who can beat that.
Stephen Hendry won his first in 1987 (Grand Prix) and his last in 2005 (Malta Cup), a gap of also 18 years.
Winning a title 16 years after his first?
Shows you how little snooker has actually moved on!
Yep, Jimmy W totally slipped out of my mind when I tried to figure out who has the biggest gap.
Anyway, thanks for the stats!
Surprising that Jimmy White didn't win a ranking event between 1981-1986 when he made world semi-final's in 1982 and final in 1984.
If Steve Davis wins a tournament next season that will be 28+ years between ranking titles. Now that would be an achievement ;-)
And it's not been 10 years since Davis won his last ranking event has it??? wouldn't that mean Davis wins??
It has, time flies eh? The last came at the Welsh Open in 1995 I think.
Did have the Masters in 1997 of course but that's not a ranking event.
An out of blue triumph, the greatest battler I have known, but he has not been great for the game though and he is not quite a great player but not far off.
jamie - how do you work out that Ebdon is not good for the game? Do you just want potters and break-builders? I don't!
Ebdon is 'bad' because he is slow. It's not the shot time on difficult shots and situations I'm talking about but the time he takes on obvious shots. You sometimes feel like yelling at the tv, telling Peter the next four shots.. "pot the black, stay on the red, then take the black and keep position on the red for the middle pocket. Come on man!!!" I can't be the only one.
I find his cue action un elegant plus he takes too much time and his antics in 2005 v Ronnie were a disgrace. Having said that it is good to have them thereas I would love if it Ronnie gave him a masterclass this year, they can meet in the quarter finals.
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