Official Fergal O'Brien Website
German Open 2007
This was second time to play in the German
Open after last year when I reached the last 48.
I really enjoyed this tournament and whilst this may not be a ranking tournament,
it is still prestigous with a strong field.
About forty professionals from Ireland and the U.K. travelled over to play
and the fact we were playing for the Paul Hunter trophy made it even more
special.
My friend Greg, who lives in Switzerland,
travelled down to Furth
for the weekend and he was able to see me play very well.
In my group matches against three local players
I won each 3 - 0.
That put me into the knockout rounds where I beat two more German players
in the last 64 and last 48 stages.
All the last 32 matches were held on Sunday and I was drawn to play Steve
Davis.
I beat Steve 3 - 2 and it was great to defeat a legend like Steve,
especially as he had beaten me 5 - 4 earlier in the month in Shanghai.
I played Matt Selt in the next match and beat him 3 - 1, which included a
century break, to reach the Quarter Finals.
In the quarter finals I then played Jamie Cope and had three breaks over seventy
to win 3 - 0.
It was a great performance.
In the Semi Finals I lost 3- 2 to Barry Pinches
in yet another high quality contest.
I made a seventy break in the first frame to take the lead and Barry replied
with a century break to make it 1 - 1
Barry started the first frame with a break of 60 but I replied with a 71 clearance
to go 2 - 1 up
At this stage I felt very confident that I would reach the final
but I didn't pot another ball as Barry made breaks of over 80 and 60 to win
3 - 2.
Barry was in great form over the weekend,
highlighted by the fact
that he beat Ken Doherty 4 - 0 in the final.
When somebody is playing that well there is not a lot you can do to stop him.
Nobody could begrudge Barry this victory as he is one of the nicest people
on the tour..
In seventeen of the twenty two frames I won
in the tournament, I had a break of over fifty.
This is another example of how I'm scoring a lot heavier in amongst the balls
these days.
This makes me that bit more dangerous
to play against.
In the modern game, if you want to be successsful, you must score heavily
regularly.
It is great to see the game so popular in
Germany.
There were large and enthusiastic crowds who are delighted to see the top
professional perform.
I am really looking forward to next year already.