Jamie Caven made it a Unicorn double in Salzburg – winning the second Austrian Open Players Championship in impressive style. Following on from Adrian Lewis’ triumph on Saturday, Caven stormed to a 6-2 victory over Steve Beaton in the final.
Its Caven’s second Pro Tour victory – following on from his win at the Welsh UK Open Regional in May, but this was arguably more impressive.
He looked in great touch all day.
In the final, Caven raced into a 4-0 lead including a 103 finish and although the former World Champion briefly threatened a comeback, the Derby man wasn’t to be denied and D20 sealed the win and a cheque for £6,000
‘Jabba’ won his first two matches without dropping a leg, before edging out Andy Smith in a last leg decider….next came a whitewash of Tony Eccles and a 6-1 demolition of fellow Unicorn star Kevin Painter in the quarter-finals and a convincing 6-2 triumph over Irishman Brendan Dolan in the semi-finals.
So, yet another quarter-final for Painter and yet another defeat…..he will be really disappointed that he just can’t seem to kick on and win these Pro Tour events.
Kirk Shepherd made a late bid to qualify for the World Grand Prix but he suffered a deciding leg defeat to Dolan in the quarter-finals, but Wes Newton’s run to the last eight confirms his spot in Dublin through the Players Championship Order of Merit.
Newton went down 6-5 to Vincent van der Voort but earlier, he’d won an all Unicorn clash in the 4th Round by 6 legs to 3 against Terry Jenkins.
Also in the last 16, what on earth went wrong with James Wade?
For the second consecutive day, Wade was beaten by Wayne Jones but the 6-0 scoreline will be a concern to the World No.2
By STUART PYKE
