Ebdon to face Hawkins
Peter Ebdon will meet Barry Hawkins in an all-English clash in the final of the Australian Goldfields Open.
Last Updated: 14/07/12 7:18pm
Peter Ebdon will meet Barry Hawkins in an all-English clash in the final of the Australian Goldfields Open.
Ebdon beat Marco Fu 6-2 in Saturday's opening semi-final in Bendigo, while Hawkins ousted an in-form Mark Davis 6-4.
Ebdon, currently ranked 20th in the world, was always ahead in his clash and finished off the match with a break of 82.
"The table was beautiful and I played really solid today - I'm really happy with that performance," Ebdon told worldsnooker.com.
"I knew that I had to put in a good performance today and to beat somebody as good as Marco 6-2 in a semi-final, I've got to be thrilled to bits with that."
Target
Fu was naturally disappointed in not reaching the final, but is hopeful he can reclaim a place back in the world top 16.
"My target for the season has definitely got to be getting back into the top 16 in the rankings and I'm still quite a way behind," he said.
"But getting to the semis will definitely help, although I need a really solid performance to get back into the top 16 by the end of the World Championship next year. That's got to be my target, but it's going to be very difficult."
Hawkins, meanwhile, reached his first ranking final for more than five years aided by breaks of 52, 55, 91, 49, 67 and 74.
"It feels really good," said Hawkins. "Mark's one of the best players in the world and to win that match is one of the best feelings in the world."
