Benzey reigns supreme in Waterlooville

HOME tables may have been an advantage but Connor Benzey (pictured) really had his foot to the floor as he secured his first success on the Cuestars Championship Tour.

The 20-year-old from Eastleigh didn’t drop a single frame in his four best-of-five matches in the fourth leg at Waterlooville Sports Bar.

Competing in his 22nd event on the south of England circuit, Benzey pocketed £150 in prize money after overcoming Dharminder Singh Lilly (Fareham) 3-0 in the final on club professional Jamie Wilson’s Star table.

Marcos Dayao (Battersea Park), who was knocked out 3-2 by Lilly in the quarter-finals, has taken over top spot in the rankings. Benzey climbed to third place.

Dayao is chasing a first Cuestars title as he missed out on being crowned the 2020/21 Under-21 Gold Tour champion by a whisker to Wilson in the last event of his final season.

A total of 19 breaks of 50 or more were recorded. The highest was 100, by Simon Dent (Shoreham-by-Sea) in his 3-0 first-round victory over Championship Tour debutant Will Forster (Fareham).

Ryan Mears (Aldershot) beat James Hawes (Southampton) 2-0 in the Plate final after losing 3-1 in the last-16 to O’Shay Scott (Eastleigh), who the previous day had booked himself a place in the final of the PowerGlide English Under-14 Championship.

The Crucible Sports & Social Club, Newbury, hosts the fifth of seven on Sunday, April 10.

RESULTS (BREAKS)

PRELIMS: Jake Fowler (77) 3-0 James Hawes, William Harrison 3-1 Alex Greenham, Aristos Pampouris 3-2 Daniel Hall, Simon Dent (100, 65) 3-0 Will Forster, Dharminder Singh Lilly 3-0 Liam O’Shea, Ronnie Sullivan (68, 62, 52) 3-0 Ronnie Blake.

LAST-16: Jake Fowler 3-0 William Harrison, Simon Dent 3-1 (53) Aristos Pampouris, Dharminder Singh Lilly 3-0 Ronnie Sullivan, Marcos Dayao 3-0 Andy Darken, Jack Dady 3-0 Jamie Hawes, O’Shay Scott (64) 3-1 (67) Ryan Mears, Connor Benzey (81, 52) 3-0 Mason Wilson, Neil Craycraft (94) 3-2 Jamie Wilson.

QUARTER-FINALS: Simon Dent (51) 3-1 (54) Jake Fowler, Dharminder Singh Lilly (58) 3-2 (58) Marcos Dayao, Jack Dady 3-0 O’Shay Scott, Connor Benzey (58) 3-0 Neil Craycraft.

SEMI-FINALS (£30): Dharminder Singh Lilly 3-1 Simon Dent, Connor Benzey (61) 3-0 Jack Dady.

FINAL (£150/£80): Connor Benzey (87) 3-0 Dharminder Singh Lilly.

PLATE RESULTS (BREAKS)

PRELIM: Liam O’Shea 2-1 Will Forster, Ronnie Blake 2-0 Jamie Hawes.

QUARTER-FINALS: Ryan Mears (77) 2-1 Liam O’Shea, Ronnie Blake (62) 2-1 Daniel Hall, Alex Greenham 2-1 Andy Darken, James Hawes 2-1 Mason Wilson.

SEMI-FINALS: Ryan Mears (59) 2-1 Ronnie Blake, James Hawes (63) 2-1 Alex Greenham.

FINAL (£30/£10): Ryan Mears 2-0 James Hawes.