Grant Maintains Unbeaten Record
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World
no.23 Adrian Grant maintained his unbeaten record in the BSPA Dulwich Open
in SE London this weekend. The defending champion lifted the trophy again
with a hard fought victory over World no.30 Joe Lee. Playing a controlled
line and length, Grant held his nerve to edge the first 11/9 and then took
the second with relative ease. However, the capacity crowd were delighted to
see the match extended further when Lee bounced back to take the third and
set up the prospect of a thrilling finish. Grant clearly had other ideas
racing to 7/2 lead and though Lee offered some late resistance it was local
resident Grant that closed things out after 70 minutes of some of the
highest quality seen at the club.
The
win secures Grant a berth in the Reliable Network Grand Prix Finals at
Roehampton at the end of May (28-30th), and some consolation for Lee will be
that he accrued enough Grand Prix points from his final spot to also join
the fray in May where he will no doubt be looking for revenge.
Earlier in the weekend, it was the Welsh who upset
the seedings. Nineteen year old Joel Makin put in a solid performance to see
off Dulwich no.1 Tim Garner, and Welsh no1 Peter Creed dashed Tom Richards
hopes of a 3 BSPA title. Creed was leading 2-0 when Richards was forced to
stop as a precaution having felt a muscle twinge. However, the World no.27
will hope to be fit for the Irish Open this week where he is one of the top
seeds.
On collecting his trophy Grant thanked the club for
once again being part of the circuit and the members for coming and
supporting all weekend. |