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| May 3, 2006 | Wednesday | Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1427 |
Dott comes out winner in marathon final
SHEFFIELD (England), May 2: Scotland's Graeme Dott spoke of his relief after holding off a determined comeback from Peter Ebdon of England to clinch his first world snooker championship title, winning 18-14 in a marathon final at The Crucible.
Dott ended the penultimate session with a 15-7 lead, but Ebdon refused to give in without a fight, reeling off six frames in a row to cut Dott's advantage to just two frames at 15-13.
Dott held his nerve, however, winning three out of the next four frames to seal victory in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
“I'm just delighted to win because I'd have been absolutely devastated if I'd have lost after being so far in front,” Dott told reporters.
“I thought everything was going great until the final session because I felt fine, but Peter played so well and I started twitching. It's really hard to try and stay positive in that situation.
“I changed the way I played because I thought I was being too slow and too negative. I was trying not to lose instead of trying to win until it was 16-14, when I tried to win again.”
Dott, who had never previously won a ranking tournament, beat world number one Ronnie O'Sullivan to book his place in the final. It was sweet revenge for the 28-year-old after losing to O'Sullivan in the final two years ago.
“To win it is absolutely unbelievable,” added Dott. “All next year I will be introduced as the world champion and in everything after that, I'll be the former world champion.”
Dubai-based Ebdon, who won the title in 2002, praised Dott's performance.
“Graeme played some outstanding safety and he deserves to be world champion.
“I honestly believed I was going to come back and win it, but I left myself with just a little too much to do.
“My safety was inconsistent on Saturday, so I've got something to work on there. In 2002, when I won the world championship, my safety was as good as any part of my game.“I honestly believe in my heart that I can and will be world champion again,” he added.
Result:
Final (best of 35 frames): Graeme Dott (Scotland) beats Peter Ebdon (England) 18-14 (12-79, 62-53, 91-1, 70-48, 71-9, 32-67, 78-6, 53-20, 53-20, 63-16, 25-66, 6-124, 72-47, 51-65, 61-5, 16-92, 75-0, 0-100, 44-67, 75-41, 90-31, 70-49, 22-117, 51-66, 29-67, 38-70, 59-66, 0-84, 78-16, 17-99, 69-61, 70-31).—Reuters
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