Highfield Wins Maiden Q Tour Crown
Liam Highfield defeated Dylan Emery 4-3 to win the seventh and final WPBSA Q Tour Europe event of the season at the Landywood Snooker Club in Walsall, England.
The victory marks Highfield’s first title on the Q Tour and guarantees his place at the Q Tour Global Play-Offs in Turkey next month where three World Snooker Tour (WST) two-year tour cards will be on offer.
The 34-year-old Englishman, who is aiming for a quick return to the professional circuit after his 14-year unbroken spell came to an end last year, joined the three-day event on the Saturday as one of the 48 seeded cueists at the Landywood Snooker Club.
His campaign began with a tough test against fellow former professional Craig Steadman, who had already reached a Q Tour Europe event final in Sweden earlier in the season. The two players went blow for blow in a high-quality contest but a quartet of half-centuries, including a top break of 92, was enough for Highfield to secure the victory in a decider.
A 4-1 win over fellow countryman Ryan Davies earned Highfield his place in the final day for the fourth time this season and he began the Sunday in style with a whitewash of Josh Thomond to reach the quarter-finals.
Back-to-back 4-2 victories over Kuldesh Johal and Alex Clenshaw, the latter from 2-1 behind, saw Highfield book his place in a Q Tour Europe final for the first time.
Welshman Dylan Emery was his opponent in the title match after he proved to be one of the standout performers across the weekend.
Emery, who won the second Q Tour Europe event of the campaign, compiled the tournament high break of 140 against Anton Kazakov on Saturday evening and followed this up by overcoming former World Snooker Federation champion Ashley Hugill to earn a place in the last eight.
There he faced 14-year-old Shaun Liu, who had provided one of the stories of the event by picking up consecutive victories over former professionals Steven Hallworth and Harvey Chandler.
The Hong Kong China cueist came close to adding another scalp against Emery as he led 3-2 in the best-of-seven frame contest. Emery was able to hold his nerve, however, and take the last two frames before once again showing his battling qualities in the semi-finals to defeat Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko in a decider having trailed 3-1.
It had been a day full of drama and a high standard of snooker at the Landywood Snooker Club and the title match proved to be no different.
In a match that featured a half-century break in every frame, Highfield stormed into a 2-0 lead with breaks of 93 and 69 and then moved one away from victory at 3-1 with a further contribution of 59.
Emery wasn’t going down without a fight, however, and visits of 83 and 87 forced a final frame to decide the victor.
All you want in a decider is a chance and when Highfield’s arrived he took full advantage by hitting a 91 clearance to secure the first Q Tour title of his career.
The 2024/25 WPBSA Q Tour season comes a close next month as the Global Play-Offs are staged in Antalya, Turkey on 11-13 March. Full details will be announced in due course.
