Jordan Brown claims sensational Welsh Open win

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Antrim man Jordan Brown scored a sensational win at the Wales Open, beating Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-8 in the final on Sunday night.

Brown had beaten Mark Selby in the quarterfinals and Stephen Maguire in the semifinals, but he was the clear loser going into it.

The 33-year-old’s best previous performance in a qualifying event came at last month’s German Masters, where he reached the round of 16.

Nonetheless, he produced another remarkably composed performance to surpass Rocket and become the fourth Northern Irishman to win a qualifying title, after Mark Allen, Denis Taylor and Alex Higgins.

The world number 81, who started the tournament as a 750-1 outsider, stood his ground to clinch a 9-8 win and become the lowest ranked winner of a qualifying title in more than a quarter of century.

A brilliant 74 break in the decider sealed the victory and completed a spectacular turnaround for a player who nearly fell off the tour last year after a series of poor results.

Brown had shown a glimpse of how he would take him to the final when he reached the first quarter-finals of his career at the German Masters.

But few could have anticipated his week at Celtic Manor, in which he won four straight games in the decider of the final draw, culminating in beating Selby in the quarterfinals, before sweeping Maguire 6-1 in the last four.

Seemingly insensitive to nerves, Brown built a 4-1 lead against O’Sullivan, who only managed to bring his first session deficit to 5-3 after two consecutive centuries.

Brown, who had scored a century earlier in the game, was inevitably pressured by the favorite early in the final session, and breaks of 68 and 61 sent O’Sullivan to the lead for the first time in the game. at 6-5.

Undeterred, Brown took advantage of the next two to move within two frames of victory at 7-6, and although O’Sullivan leveled again, the world champion showed frustration by cutting a simple pink in the next, and the brilliant punt 56 from Brown to Blue took it within a title frame.

Usually O’Sullivan responded with a 119 punt to force a decider, but a long red from Brown gave him his first chance at the decider and brilliantly executed his shot at winning the £ 70,000 winner’s check.



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