DARREN Morgan produced some superb snooker to secure back-to-back EBSA European Open crowns in Albania.
The veteran Newbridge cueman rattled in a break of 105 to clinch a 4-1 victory over Ireland’s Michael Judge in the final of this year’s event.
The defeat of Judge came 12 months after the 51-year-old Welshman had beaten Israel’s Shachar Ruberg by the same scoreline to lift the trophy.
Morgan started his 2017 campaign with a comfortable 4-0 whitewash of Russia’s Mikhail Terekhov in the last 64.
That set up a clash with Belgium’s Wendy Jans, a legend of the women’s game at amateur level who is a multiple world and European ladies’ champion.
The match was a tight affair and honours were even after the first four frames, before Jans took frame five to move to within one of knocking out the reigning champion.
However, a break of 52 in the next pulled Morgan level at 3-3 and the Gwent ace used all his nous to get over the line at the end of the decider.
Morgan was on something of a revenge mission in the last 16 when he faced Englishman Aidan Owens, the man who beat him in the quarter-finals of the IBSF Masters last November.
It proved to be another titanic battle between the two but this time it was Morgan’s turn to prevail.
His second consecutive 4-3 victory paved the way for an all-Welsh showdown with Blackwood’s Andrew Pagett.
And Morgan moved a step closer to retaining his title thanks to a 4-1 triumph, a break of 104 rounding off an assured performance.
The semi-finals pitted Morgan against another Welshman in the shape of Halkyn’s Alex Taubman, who had progressed following a come-from-behind win against Dutchman Joris Maas.
But Taubman had no answer to Morgan’s prolific scoring, as the latter compiled breaks of 53, 73 and 53 again on his way to another 4-0 whitewash.
Morgan hit the ground running in the final and a run of 56 put him 2-0 up.
Judge hit back in the next to halve the deficit but the Welshman took the fourth after his opponent missed the yellow.
An excellent 105 in the fifth frame then sealed the match, and another European crown, for Morgan, who is also currently bidding to retain the EBSA Masters Championship.
Meanwhile, Gwent’s Mark Williams, Lee Walker and Jackson Page will all be involved in the Kaspersky Riga Masters in Latvia from June 23-25.
Williams takes on Peter Ebdon in the first round, while Walker faces Luca Brecel and schoolboy Page plays Nigel Bond.
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