Barbara Taylor and Pat Ward won WEPF World Masters titles during yet another busy and exciting day at The Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney.

England captain Taylor claimed the one major title missing from her illustrious CV as she defeated Harriet Haynes 6-3 in the final of the 2022 WEPF World Ladies Masters.

Taylor – a three-time runner-up in this prestigious event in the past – eliminated Karen Mowat (Scotland) 5-1, Karen Winter (Australia) 5-2, Kim O'Brien (Ireland) 5-3, Rebecca O'Mara (Australia) 5-1, and then Sandy King (England) 6-4 in the last four to reach the final for a fourth time.

Haynes has arguably been the best women’s player on the planet in recent times having won two of the opening three Ultimate Pool Women’s Series events earlier this year.

On her way to yet another final, Haynes denied defending champion Amy-Claire King (South Africa) 5-2 in the last 16 before an intriguing 6-4 success over Sophie Gibbs-Nicholls (England) in the semi-finals.

An all-English final contested by two cueists from the same county of Kent, Haynes started off the stronger as she established a 3-1 lead. However, the vastly experienced Taylor delivered when it mattered the most, stringing together the final five frames to complete the WEPF double following her World Ladies Championship triumph in 2018.

There was another English champion earlier in the day as Ward succeeded in the 2022 WEPF World Seniors Masters; also winning the title for the first time.

Runner-up in 2018, Ward defeated Pascal Siemeck (France) 5-3, Tony Kay (England) 5-4, Vikh Makh (India) 5-1, Adey Young (England) 5-1, Partab Singh (India) 5-3 and then Shane Cripps (Australia) 6-2 to appear in the title match again.

In the opposite corner for the final was Northern Ireland’s Paddy Clarke, who dropped just a couple of frames in the early rounds before having to endure back-to-back deciding frame finishes against Antione Aquilina (Malta) 5-4 and Ultimate Pool Professional Oly Bale (Wales) 6-5 in the last eight and four respectively.

However, despite levelling at 2-2 from 2-0 down, Clarke suffered with his break in the final, whilst Ward was very effective by producing two big finishes and totting up four consecutive frames in a 6-2 victory.