Wattana challenges world champion in final

[SNOOKER] Thailand's James Wattana, ranked world No. 33, has earned a crack at the 25,000-pound top purse of the Euro-Asia Masters Challenge 2007 in Hong Kong.

Wattana was to face reigning world champion John Higgins, the skipper of the European team, in the final which was to be played late on July 15 night at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium.

Wattana, winner of the same tournament in 2003, had a face-off with Higgins in their first round battle on July 14 and, as far as the Thai is concerned, there is little to be gained from the upshot. Higgins had breaks of 80 and 68 to blank Wattana 2-0 in the match.

However, the two wins recorded over Stephen Hendry of Scotland and Ding Junhui of China the day before proved enough to carry Wattana in the semifinals.

Wattana faced Marco Fu in the semi-final after the latter had limited Ronnie O'Sullivan to just 13 points in their final group match to top the section.

But Fu had to give second-best to a resurgent Wattana who won 2-0 to set up a final against world No.1 Higgins, who handed Ireland's Ken Doherty a 2-0 hammering in the other semifinal.

Results

John Higgins 2 James Wattana 0 (80(80)-0, 73(68)-7)

Marco Fu 2 Supoj Saenla 0 (62(60)-4, 57-17)

Stephen Hendry 1 Ding Junhui 2 (72-40(40), 12-67(62), 8-75(54))

Ken Doherty 2 Supoj Saenla (Thai) 0 (86-12, 71-51)

Ronnie O'Sullivan 0 Fu 2 (9-79(54), 4-73)

Agencies