Lines Lifts Leeds Seniors Title

Peter Lines defeated Simon Bedford 4-3 at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds to win the third English Seniors Tour event title of the season.

• Results

The 55-year-old ex-professional came through a field of 64 cueists in West Yorkshire to secure his maiden English Seniors Tour crown with six straight victories across the weekend.

It continues an impressive season so far for Lines, who won a WPBSA Q Tour Europe title in Vienna, Austria earlier this year and currently leads the series ranking list in the race for a two-year World Snooker Tour (WST) tour card after four events.

After trailing to John Snape 2-1 in his opener, the former ranking semi-finalist then incredibly won 15 consecutive frames at the Northern Snooker Centre.

This included back-to-back whitewash wins over event two winner Robert Marshall and then Andy Yates to book his place in the final day.

A further 4-0 success over recently-crowned European Seniors champion Craig Steadman set up a semi-final meeting with 41-year-old Steve Donner, who had reached this stage of an English Seniors Tour event for the first time by beating Jon Wibberly 4-2.

Donner led 2-0 in the race to four, opening the contest with a break of 69, but Lines then pulled away by taking four frames on the bounce to reach a first English Seniors Tour final of his career.

Fellow former professional Bedford was the opponent in the title match after he had downed Ian Martin and Neal Jones on the final day with the loss of just a single frame.

A break of 83 in frame two saw Lines move 2-0 ahead but Bedford quickly hit back with a contribution of 74 before restoring parity by taking the fourth.

A crucial fifth frame saw both players compile half-century breaks, but it was Lines’ visit of 69 that saw him move one away from victory.

Bedford still refused to go down without a fight and he forced a decider on the main table at the Northern Snooker Centre, but it was Lines who was able to hold his nerve and take the all-important final frame by a 58-28 winning margin.

The English Seniors Tour continues on 13-14 December at the Landywood Snooker Club. Enter now via WPBSA SnookerScores.