Brian Rees and Jason Hewett are the 2022-23 Cardiff Open Pairs winners after an extraordinary final against Rhys Carpenter and James Llewellyn at the Beech Tree Hotel, which saw the match last for three and a half hours and finish on the colours in the deciding frame.
They started strongly in the opening frame with a 34 from Rees giving them a 50-point lead but Carpenter hit back to take the frame to the colours, before a misplaced safety left an easy black for him to pot and go 1-0 up. The momentum continued with Carpenter & Llewellyn in the next frame as contributions from both and excellent safety gave them a comfortable win with reds still remaining on the table to leave them one frame from victory.
Rhys Carpenter continued his excellent performance in the next frame as he got in first with a 40 break and with a only a handful of reds left they were big favourites to clinch the trophy, but Rees and Hewett stayed in the frame and managed to take it to the colours. However, Llewellyn potted a good pink with the black over the middle but the cue ball jawed in the green pocket to mean the black couldn’t be cut back, and so he played the cocked hat which looked in but caught the edge of the middle pocket leaving it for Hewett to pull one back.
It felt like a turning point but some very good safety from Llewellyn in the fourth frame gave Carpenter opportunities to build a big lead as they headed towards the colours. When Carpenter potted the brown to leave them 19 up on the blue it looked like they had won the match as Rees & Hewett needed a snooker to avoid defeat. After laying a couple of snookers that were hit, Hewett potted the blue before attempts were made to snooker on the pink, but their opponents missed several opportunities to clinch the frame and match before a brilliant snooker from Rees gave them a chance. Carpenter played a full-length escape off two cushions that just edged past the pink leaving Hewett in and he made no mistake with a brilliant positional shot to leave himself dead straight on the black off its spot to take this brilliant contest to a decider.
Having won two black-ball frames, the momentum had switched and Rees & Hewett built a 35-point lead in the fifth frame which Carpenter & Llewellyn couldn’t claw back and despite a couple of half-chances it was left to Hewett to seal the win after he doubled the green and cleared the colours. Well done to all players involved in an excellent match and congratulations to Brian Rees and Jason Hewett as they become the first pairing to defend the Cardiff Open Pairs title.
