Fisher bosses over Bennie for crown

Such was the confidence and composure of Fisher that the normally nonchalant Steven Bennie too was left distraught. Bennie’s showing was of course disappointing for his supporters, who were gradually falling to Fisher’s magical cueing.

Bennie’s famous seven century breaks in the tournament were confined to the semifinals and earlier, as Fisher began with no signs of early blues. Interestingly, in snooker parlance too, Fisher skirted the blues, picking on the pink and black to build his breaks to race ahead 6-0. Bennie, termed as the Scottish hurricane, was left lost in Fisher’s avalanche.

An all-round avalanche it proved, from Fisher, beginning with the long pull-back for the black following the first red of the match, through the astute safety to leave nothing to Bennie when faced with a tight red at 14-0 in the third frame, the splendid canon to break the bunch while trailing 14-60 in the fourth, to the superb 66 to wrap up the fifth frame. It was not that Steven Bennie didn’t get his opportunities to escape the onslaught, but only that the Scotsman made a mess of his position every time he seemed to show glimpses of his famous touch.

With fortune and the flow of balls favouring the proverbial brave, in today’s context Luke Fisher, there was not much difficulty for the English lad to consolidate his early initiatives, with a little help from his rival’s lapses, and gain a whopping 8-1 lead by the interval the sole success in the first session for Bennie coming only through a `sold’ red by Fisher, in the seventh frame.

Bennie displayed tremendous grit and determination to remain focussed while turning a 9-15 deficit into a 83-15 triumph in the seventh frame, but couldn’t avoid the inevitable at the break.

The resumption saw Bennie get into his groove in flash. A prudent 30 and 40 in the 10th, a sensible 30 in the 11th put Bennie back on level terms with Fisher, in terms of mental framework. But material gains wise, Fisher nudged ahead compiling his own 68 in the 12th frame. That compilation coming with the help of three blacks, five pinks, a blue and a yellow looked all set to touch the three-figure mark, but ceasing abruptly on the final red, eventually ended as Fisher’s highest break in the match.

Results (Final Best of 21 frames): Luke Fisher (Eng) bt Steven Bennie (Scot) 11-5 (83-22, 74-36, 64-38, 70-60, 90-35, 68-0, 5-83, 71-41, 75-0, 29-70, 21-71, 72-19, 8-74, 67-22, 0-92, 47-35).

Bennie replied with a 74 in the next frame, but his highest, a 92, was to follow a little later, when he actually faced `match-frame’, down 4-10. Capitalising on an indiscreet safety, Bennie began with a bang picking a black, then going into the baulk for the green before returning to the top to pick up five blacks, four pinks, and two blues before the penultimate red kicked off the top-right pocket. That effort spoke for Bennie’s competence to build big breaks indeed, but unfortunately for him it was rare and sporadic. And more importantly, on Saturday, truly Fisher’s day under the sun, it had come too late.