Ralf Souquet beat Corey Deuel 6-4 as Europe retained the Mosconi Cup with an 11-8 victory over the United States.
Hosts retain Mosconi Cup at York Hall
Germany's Ralf Souquet beat Corey Deuel 6-4 as Europe retained the Mosconi Cup with an 11-8 victory over the United States at York Hall in Bethnal Green.
Europe had started the evening session 9-8 ahead after an afternoon fightback by the USA, who claimed successive final-rack wins by Johnny Archer and Dennis Hatch to close the match score to 9-8 going into the evening session.
But reigning US Open champion Darren Appleton saw off Shane Van Boening 6-2, leaving the stage clear for Souquet to wrap up victory for the hosts.
Souquet - a member of Europe's winning teams in 2002, 2007 and 2008 - said: "This is the greatest feeling on earth to make the final 9-ball and make us win."
His teammate Mika Immonen added: "I'm over the moon and it's amazing. We played so strong as a team and we've had a great time so we can't wait to pop the champagne."
Europe captain Johan Ruijsink said: "I haven't lost one yet and it's an honour to be the European captain. But I would like to thank Matchroom for staging such a great event again and thank you to the opponents.
"If they weren't such worthy opponents it wouldn't have been such a great Mosconi Cup. Last of all I would like thank my team. They stuck to the plan and we did it."
Yorkshireman Appleton was named Most Valuable Player after winning four of his five matches and said: "You can't win the Mosconi Cup without playing like a team and the lads have been amazing.
"I played really well but a massive part of it has been down to the crowd and it was very easy to feed off the crowd - the bigger the crowd the better I play."
