Peter Lines Lifts Q Tour Title in Leeds
Peter Lines has defeated Umut Dikme 5-1 in the final of Q Tour UK/Europe Event 7 at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.
Lines becomes the fifth different winner of an event on the Q Tour UK/Europe series this season and denies Dikme a second title of the campaign following his success in Germany back in October.
Both finalists, as well as sixteen others from the ranking list, have secured qualification for March’s Q Tour Global Play-Off in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where three World Snooker Tour cards will be on offer.
Heading into event seven, it was already confirmed that Michael Holt had secured his two-year tour card as the series’ top ranked player after winning three of the six events already held. Those heading to West Yorkshire still had plenty to play for, however, with players ranked between 2nd and 19th guaranteed their place at the Global Play-Off.
A total of 117 players from 21 nations entered the seventh and final event of the Q Tour UK/Europe series. The opening Friday saw the field narrowed to 64 and this was further reduced to the final eight as the event reached a conclusion on Sunday.
As seeded players, both Lines and Dikme began their tournament on the Saturday at the last 64 stage.
In his first match, Lines came from 2-0 down to defeat Oliver Sykes 3-2, before following the victory up with impressive wins over English Amateur champion Paul Deaville (3-1) and Austrian National champion Florian Nuessle (3-1).
A 4-1 victory over Ukrainian hopeful Iulian Boiko on Sunday morning saw Lines move into the last four, where he met Harvey Chandler.
Chandler charged into a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven frame contest, but the 54-year-old forced his way back to earn a decider. In a dramatic concluding frame which lasted over an hour, Lines showed all of his experience to hold himself together and clear up from green to black and reach the final.
On the other side of the draw, Germany’s Dikme reached the last day with wins over Kreishh Gurbaxani (3-0), Kayden Brierley (3-2) and Aaron Busuttil (3-0).
The German then ousted two Welshman to reach the title match. First, he came from two down to beat Tyler Rees in a tense deciding frame, and then followed this up in more comfortable fashion by defeating former professional Duane Jones 4-1.
After taking a close-fought opener on the blue, Lines then fired in a break of 95 to double his advantage in the early stages of the final.
Dikme fired back with a half-century of his own but Lines was once again two up after winning the frame before the mid-session interval to lead 3-1.
Upon the players’ return from the interval, Lines pushed on and stormed over the line with breaks of 61 and 55 to secure the title at the Northern Snooker Centre.
Attention now switches to the Q Tour Global Play-Off, which takes place on 13-15 March. Learn more about the WPBSA Q Tour.
