Gilchrist Wins Auckland Open and Reclaims World Number One Ranking
In an all-Singapore final, Peter Gilchrist defeated Glenn Yeo 1015-284 to win the Auckland Open in New Zealand and in the process once again climbed to the top of the World Billiards rankings.
Held at the Papatoetoe Cosmopolitan Club, the tournament was a level 1 World Billiards ranking event and the first part of a double header at the venue this week.
Four-time WBL World Champion Gilchrist comfortably won all five of his round robin matches to come top of Group A and qualify for the knockout rounds. During those group fixtures he made 12 three-figure breaks – five of those being double centuries, including a 276 which stood as the highest of the competition.
In the quarter-finals he defeated recent New Zealand National Snooker Championship finalist Lawrence Millington 392-123 (180 break) and then dispatched England’s Gary Norman 915-175 in the semi-finals along with efforts of 105, 260 and 151.
Yeo qualified second from Group B with three wins from five. He then eliminated Adesh Shekatkar (New Zealand) 232-127 and Grant Haywood (New Zealand) 291-204 in the last eight and four, respectively.
However, the evergreen Gilchrist proved too strong in the two-hour final as he top scored with runs of 120, 135 and 208.
A runner-up at the season-opening Jim Williamson Open in Leeds, Gilchrist’s latest title triumph means he inches ahead of World Champion David Causier – who didn’t make the trip – at the top of the world rankings.
Attention now turns to the main event of the week with the level 3 ranked Barton McGill New Zealand Open taking place across the next three days. Gilchrist will be attempting to retain the title.
