The first round delivered some fine performances and none more than Hill’s win over fellow Barrow cueist Graeme Edwards. Breaks of 61 and a qualifying day’s best of 93 saw Hill in superb form as he moved through into the last 16 with a 4-3 win.
Carlisle’s Mally Lancaster was the round’s other top break-maker as he produced contributions of 51 and 78 to defeat last year’s finalist Richard McCarthy, from Egremont, 4-2.
Round Two saw five-time champion Sim come into his own as a break of 80 enabled the Whitehaven cueist to win 4-0 over Barrow’s Alan Eaton. This, however, wasn’t the round’s most impressive performance as Carlisle’s Lancaster took out the six-time and current champion 4-3 in the form of Penrith’s John Airey with a break of 82 to boot.
The quarter-final stage proved to be one game too far for Carlisle’s Lancaster as two gruelling matches took its toll in a 4-1 defeat by two-time champion Basnett (68 break).
Whitehaven’s Sim maintained his form from the previous round as a break of 81 enabled him to defeat Barrow’s Martin McDonald 4-1.
Hill came up an inspired Paul Mostyn in the last eight and, even though the Maryport cueist put up a spirited fight, it was Hill who moved through to the last four with a 4-1 victory.
In the last of the qualifying matches, Carlisle’s Finnegan moved quietly through to the semis on the back of a 4-3 win over Barrow’s Tony Mason.
Results
Preliminary Round
G Finnegan (Carlisle) 4-3 S Ayre (Workington)
First Round
G Finnegan (Carlisle) 4-3 D McDonald (Barrow-in-Furness)
M Lancaster (Carlisle) 4-2 R McCarthy (Egremont)
P Mostyn (Maryport) 4-2 M Park (Maryport)
J Airey (Penrith) 4-0 S Garroway (Workington)
M Tunstall 4-1 A Cook (Barrow-in-Furness)
R Woods (Carlisle) 4-0 A Stoton (Barrow-in-Furness)
T Mason (Barrow-in-Furness) 4-2 M Dawson (Workington)
R Sim (Whitehaven) 4-1 S O’Hagan (Workington)
K Kirkham (Flimby) 4-3 P Wright (Carlisle)
K Basnett (Workington) 4-1 T Millington (Barrow-in-Furness)
M McDonald (Barrow-in-Furness) 4-2 M Tatton (Workington)
M Hill (Barrow-in-Furness) 4-3 G Edwards (Barrow-in-Furness)
A Eaton (Barrow-in-Furness) 4-2 R Postlethwaite (Barrow-in-Furness)
P O’Hagan (Workington) 4-1 R Ismay (Maryport)
G Southern (Carlisle) 4-3 C Stuart (Maryport)
R Barker (Maryport) 4-1 I Cleminson (Carlisle)
Second Round
Mason 4-1 Tunstall
M McDonald 4-2 P O’Hagan
Lancaster 4-3 Airey
Sim 4-0 Barker
Mostyn 4-1 Kirkham
Finnegan 4-3 Woods
Basnett 4-0 Eaton
Hill 4-2 Southern
Quarter-Final
Sim 4-1 M McDonald
Hill 4-1 Mostyn
Basnett 4-1 Lancaster
Finnegan 4-3 Mason
Semi-Final Qualifers
Sim (Whitehaven), Hill (Barrow-in-Furness), Basnett (Workington) & Finnegan (Carlisle)
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