Fairytale run in snooker's new English Open ends for Chris Wakelin after heavy defeat to Stuart Bingham - The Rugby Observer

Fairytale run in snooker's new English Open ends for Chris Wakelin after heavy defeat to Stuart Bingham

Rugby Editorial 15th Oct, 2016 Updated: 27th Oct, 2016   0

CHRIS Wakelin’s fairytale week at the English Open came to a nightmare conclusion on Friday evening and the Rugby potter is already looking to right the wrongs of his heavy defeat.

Wakelin shocked five-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan en route to the quarter-finals at EventCity, Manchester but found world No.2 Stuart Bingham a step too far in the last eight – going down 5-0.

The world No.70 was appearing in a fourth quarter-final of his career – and a second at a ranking event – but struggled to cope with the occasion as he failed to win a single frame.

His first chance at redemption comes next Sunday at the International Championship in China but against Bingham, the 24-year-old claims a slow start cost him dearly.




“I went out there feeling really confident, started off well and got in the balls,” explained Wakelin.

“I missed a 99 out of 100 shot on the pink in the middle and after that steadily got worse and worse.


“I couldn’t settle and get any momentum. I’m very disappointed after how I played all week – to put in a performance like that is frustrating as well as disappointing. It’s one of those days you have to put down to experience.

“The good news is I fly to China on Wednesday, so I’ve got something to practise for all weekend and a lot of wrongs to right.

“It’s my fourth career quarter-final and it’s by far the worst of my performances in them – it’s probably one of my worst performances ever.

“It’s not something I’m going to dwell on too long. The tournaments start again next week, so I’ve got four or five days to practise and prepare myself for that.”

Wakelin earned £10,000 for his week’s work at the English Open and in addition to the incredible victory over O’Sullivan, he also downed Allan Taylor, Anthony McGill and Xiao Guodong.

That victory over Taylor in round one saw Wakelin recover from 3-1 behind to triumph 4-3, and he believes the whole week demonstrated his battling qualities.

“I’m still really pleased with how this week has gone especially considering I was 3-1 down in the first round and I could quite easily have gone out at that stage,” added Wakelin.

“I’ve held myself together and come from behind in three of the matches I’ve played in, so it shows I’ve got that fight in me. The tank was just empty in the end.”

PLEASE LEAVE IN FINAL PAR – Watch the English Open LIVE on Eurosport 1 and Quest, featuring daily studio analysis from Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White and Neal Foulds.

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