Dott Masters UK Champion
Graeme Dott beat fellow Scot, John Higgins in a quick-fire, high quality first round encounter in the Ladbrokes Mobile Masters at Wembley.
Despite winning twice at the London venue, the first tournament of the year has offered slim pickings to Higgins, with the three-time world champion, often coming unstuck in the first and second round, claiming that he struggles to adjust to the unique atmosphere.
The 2006 world champion signalled his intent with a break of 115 in the opening frame before opening up a two-nil lead in less than twenty minutes with runs of 65 and 36 in the next.
Higgins won the third with a break of 68, but Dott’s two frame lead was restored before the interval with another frame winning contribution of 79.
The ‘half time’ break seemed to benefit world number one, Higgins, and just twenty minutes after the mid-session interval, he had levelled the scores at 3-3 with breaks of 73 and 55.
The seventh frame was the first ‘scrappy’ affair and lasted over half an hour. Dott, sometimes unfairly renowned for his tenacious spirit rather than his attacking style of play dug deep and moved ahead once again.
In frame eight, free-flowing scoring resumed as Higgins levelled with a break of 70.
With the match in the balance, both players realised the importance of frame nine. Each took his turn of making uncharacteristic errors but once again, it was Dott who had the resolve to clear from brown to black to snatch another 30-minute dual.
Dott found himself one up with two to play and appeared to relax once again. A mid-frame break of 48 proved more than enough to secure his win and set up a quarter-final match with Ding Junhui after the Chinese number one had earlier beaten the in-form Mark Williams by six-frames-to-four.
