John-Henry Griffiths wins Cardiff Open

John-Henry Griffiths (Senghenydd) became the newest name on the prestigious Cardiff Open trophy with an impressive 4-0 win over Steffan Davies (Taff’s Well A). John-Henry got off to a good start in frame one, building a 30 point lead. Steffan managed to get himself back into the frame and the points were all square on the colours, both players failed to capitalise on good opportunities due to under hit positional shots. Ultimately it was John-Henry who cleared the colours to take the opening frame with the aid of brilliant long green.

 

Both players had shown great form en-route to the final. Steffan’s notable win coming against pre-tournament favourite Kishan Hirani (Canton Libs A) in the second round, as well as wins against Rory Wigmore (Canton Libs B),  Dan Bridle (Senghenydd) and Tom Cross (Taff’s Well B) to book his place in the final. Perhaps John-Henry’s most impressive win to reach the final came in the semi-final against two time Cardiff Open Champion and winner of this season’s highest league break, Ryan Rowlands (Savoy). John-Henry also beat James Wigmore (Canton Libs B) and Twm Sion Jones (Canton Libs A) in the earlier rounds of the tournament.

 

Frame two began with some excellent safety play from both players. It was Steffan who looked to be taking command of the frame when he was 20 points ahead and with a great opportunity to extend that lead. However, a misplaced positional shot left him snookered on all the colours other than the black, which he could see full ball. Due to the fact he would be bridging over reds and the pink to play the black, he nominated green and narrowly missed it twice. Steffan was warned he had to make contact with a colour on his third attempt or he would concede the frame. Awkwardly trying to stretch and bridge over the reds and pink, Steffan miss-cued and failed to hit the black, meaning the frame was conceded.

 

John-Henry, buoyed by his 2-0 lead, found an extra gear in the final two frames. A 46 break by John-Henry was the highlight of frame three; with the black out of commission for the entirety of the break, John-Henry showed his superb potting ability with a string of mid distance reds, blues and pinks. John-Henry dressed for the occasion in his Welsh Snooker waistcoat, which he earned by representing Wales in the over 40s masters division, continued his imposing performance in frame four. Pinpoint position around the black spot and a couple of great recovery pots were displayed in a 43 break; Steffan’s attempt to get snookers towards the end of the frame were in vain as John-Henry was able to close out the frame and become the 2018 Cardiff Open Champion with a 4-0 victory.

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