Blake ends ten-year wait

IT WAS over ten years ago that Ronnie Blake finished as runner-up on his debut on the Cuestars Championship Tour.

Fast forward a decade and the 30-year-old from Sutton has now gone one better.

Blake, competing in his 45th Championship Tour event, beat Dharminder Lilly 2-1 to secure the seventh and penultimate leg of this season at Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth.

The pair agreed to split the £350 prize pot and play a reduced best-of-three-frames final for the ranking points because of the lateness of the hour.

Blake lost in the final of his first appearance in Swindon in October, 2015, and was runner-up for a second time in Newbury in 2018.

Welsh lad Daniel Williams chalked up the only century of the day.

The 28-year-old from Merthyr Tydfil put together a 114 break in his narrow 3-2 quarter-final defeat by Lilly.

Home player Stuart Chapman beat Dylan Beer 2-0 in the Plate final.

Blake moves up to joint third in the rankings. Mark Lloyd is already assured of the title.

There was a larger-than-expected entry of 29 for the event that was sponsored by Bournemouth-based Herman Desmier, a long-time supporter of Cuestars.

Results and rankings list are on snookerscores.net.

The Crucible Sports & Social Club, Newbury, hosts the eighth and final leg on Sunday, April 12.

Prize money: winner Ronnie Blake & runner-up Dharminder Lilly £175 each, semi-finalists Garry Coulson & Ronnie Sullivan £60 each, Plate winner Stuart Chapman £30, Plate runner-up Dylan Beer £10.

Picture: Ronnie Blake (left) and Dharminder Lilly

By Tim Dunkley and Steven Hughes