Summary
Dominic Dale celebrated his move to Vienna with his first tournament win in Austria. The Welshman gave a trickshot exhibition before whitewashing defending champion Richard McHugh in the final of the 3 Kings Open, the annual highlight to the start of the new snooker year in Austria.
Every tournament gets the winner it deserves. In that respect, the 3 Kings Open in Rankweil could not ask for a better winner than a full professional like Dominic Dale. The event in Austria's most western province Vorarlberg has established itself as one of the leading snooker events. It is a non-ranking tournament, but from all over the country players like to travel to Rankweil year after year. The athmosphere in the Patricks Black Seven taverne is fantastic, the price money is great [as there are hardly any other events in Austria where the winner earns some pocket money], and the quality of the organization is stunning. Their website matches, if not beats, any website from professional tournaments, and the online live-scoring tool is incredible as it not just provides results and frame scores but even makes every single break tracable.
...Dominic Dale potting his way to victory at the 3 Kings Open...
The 3 Kings Open traditionally marks the start to the new calender year for Austrian snooker. For Dominic Dale, it also marked the start to his new live. Dale recently moved from Wales to Austria's capital Vienna, where he rents an appartement with his [Austrian] girlfriend Katharina. The Welshman, who celebrated his second Main Tour victory earlier this season at the Shanghai Masters, is provisionally ranked No. 22 in the world. No surprise that Dale dominated the 3 Kings Open. Dale won all his matches with ease, beating players like Bernhard Müllner, Hans Nirnberger and, in the final, Richard McHugh, though Jack was the only player who manage to win a frame against him. Nirnberger won the opener of their seminfinal as he had a 35 clearance while trailing Dale by 31 points, but lost the next four. Dale gave away one of his funny trickshot exhibitions before outplaying McHugh in the final for a 5-0 victory. The Spaceman also posted the highest break of the event, a 107 from his quarterfinal against Müllner.
...Richard McHugh and Dominic Dale, a great winners line-up for the 3 Kings Open...
Of course, Dale won't compete in the Austrian Snooker League Grand Prix, which was dominated last season by McHugh. The Irish former pro retired from competitive snooker before the start of the current season, but showed in Rankweil what a class player he still is. He beat Germany's Karl-Heinz Beggel, Martin Kempter and Robert Bütof in the knock-out stage of the event before falling to Dale. Nirnberger also had a good run with a 3-0 victory over national champion Felix Pleschek and a 4-2 win against Belgium's routinier Hans Blankaert, while the two Roberts from the Künstlerbuero Snooker-Team met in an interesting quarterfinal, in which Bütof beat Burda 4-0. While Dale will travel abroad for the second half of the pro season, the ASL Grand Prix circuit kicks off again this weekend at SEBC in Vienna.
3 KINGS SNOOKER OPEN 2008
[Rankweil, 03/01 - 06/01]
Results:
quarterfinals:
Dominic Dale - Bernhard Müllner 4-0
Hans Nirnberger - Hans Blankaert 4-2
Richard McHugh - Martin Kempter 4-2
Robert Bütof - Robert Burda 4-0
semifinals:
Dale - Nirnberger 4-1
McHugh - Bütof 4-2
final:
Dale - McHugh 5-0
Break list:
- 107, 93 Dominic Dale
- 89 Hans Blankaert
- 81, 78 Dale
- 64 Robert Burda
- 61 Dale
- 59 Blankaert
- 57 Dale, Martin Kempter
- 56 Dale
- 52 McHugh
Click here for full tournament results.
© text: Eric Willemsen [Vienna] / pictures: www.3Kings.at
