Wednesday 28 December

2022 Ultimate Pool Pro Cup – TV Day 2 Report

Jake McCartney, Tom Ford and Jordan Shepherd were the latest players to secure quarter-final berths in the 2022 Ultimate Pool Pro Cup following Wednesday’s action at the Players Pool & Snooker Lounge in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Australian McCartney remains on course for a second professional ranking title after he emerged from Group D.

The Ballarat cueist was in majestic form dropping just four frames in two matches, defeating new professional Lee Anderson 7-2 and then registering five break clearances and a reverse clearance as he dispatched recent WEPF World Championship finalist Chris Day 7-2 with an outstanding display.

Group E was labelled the ‘Group of Death’, and for good reason with all four players possessing superb cuesports CVs.

In a clash of former world champions, recent Pro Series and Champion of Champions winner Tom Cousins saw off Phil Harrison to reach the group final.

Tom Ford.jpg

Snooker star Ford – a semi-finalist in the UK Snooker Championship last month – showed his serious 8-ball pedigree as he defeated Pro Series event winner Dom Cooney 7-4 and then stopped the player in-form Cousins 7-5 in a high-quality group final which featured a plethora of one-visit finishes from after the break shot.

In the evening session it was the turn of reigning champion Shepherd, who memorably won this title in amazing fashion twelve months ago.

The Welsh Wizard would write another famous chapter in Pro Cup history as, despite being under the weather, he conjured up two incredible comebacks to reach the last eight.

Trailing Arfan Dad – who himself was not 100% fit – 4-0, it looked like Shepherd was set for an early exit. However, helped by wasted opportunities from his opponent, he strung together five consecutive frames to somehow get out of the tie a 5-4 winner.

Shepherd would face the consistent Aaron Davies in the Group F Final after the youngster impressed with a 7-1 destruction of Karl Boyes – one of the favourites for this event.

Davies carried his clinical form into the final, crafting a four-frame break-reverse-break-reverse clearance sequence to move 5-1 up and on the brink of a quarter-final place. However, the contest swung dramatically in the second half, as it was Shepherd’s turn to control the table, responding with an almost identical four-frame burst to level up at 5-5.

Frame 11 was crucial; after Shepherd missed a thin cut pot, Davies failed to lay a relatively simple snooker which allowed the Welshman to go in front for the first time before he compiled a break clearance for a 7-5 victory and to be a master of brinksmanship in this tournament once again.

Jordan Shepherd (2).jpg