Gerard Greene
Gerard Greene reached the first ranking event final of his 21-year professional career by beating Marco Fu 4-2 in the semis of the Wyldecrest Parks Players Championship Grand Final in Preston.

 

Greene was runner-up to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Paul Hunter Classic European Tour event earlier this season and, alongside Mark Allen in the Northern Ireland team, runner-up to China at the 2011 World Cup, but it will certainly be the biggest moment of his career when he faces Judd Trump or Barry Hawkins tonight at the Guild Hall.

 

The 40-year-old based in Kent is already guaranteed £38,000, the biggest pay-day of his career, and will top that up to £100,000 if he wins the best-of-seven final which starts at 7pm. It's an amazing turnaround for the world number 66 who has slipped down the ranking list in recent years.

 

His only previous ranking semi-final was at the 2007 Grand Prix when he lost 6-5 to Fu, but today he gained revenge. Greene won a scrappy opening frame before Hong Kong's Fu levelled with a break of 64. Frame three saw Greene come from 41-22 down to win it on the colours, and he then dominated the fourth with a top run of 46 to go 3-1 ahead.

 

Fu finally found some scoring fluency and made a 121 to close the gap. But a break of 46 put Greene in charge of frame six, and though Fu got one of the two snookers he needed, a long double on the last red to a baulk corner from Greene secured his place in the final.

 

"It feels fantastic," said Greene. "It wasn't a great game, I dragged him down to my level, but it's good enough for me. As long as I keep winning I don't care. I missed a couple of balls as usual, but in the end I got the win. I always feel when I come to tournaments that I can have a good run, but it never happens.

 

"I was 3-0 down to Anthony Hamilton earlier in the week and I played well to come back to win 4-3. After that I actually felt like a professional snooker player for the first time in a couple of years, because I played well to win against a top-quality player.

 

"The money will mean the tax-man's happy and the missus is happy. I'll take the family on holiday, pay the bills, and might get a new car after that.

 

"Obviously I move up the money list, which is handy because coming here I was struggling for 64th place, so at least I've kept the tour card and next year hopefully I'll get a bit better. And I'm looking forward to the World Championship qualifiers now.

 

"I'll just try and win the final. I've got to improve a hell of a lot, but I could beat Judd or Barry. We'll see tonight."