Great Day for Ryan as Riga win over Stephen Maguire ends wait for ranking title
The 37-year-old Welshman has earned career prize-money of more than £1million but had lost all four of his previous major finals.
Welshman Ryan Day landed the first ranking title of his career by overcoming Stephen Maguire at the Kaspersky Riga Masters.
The 37-year-old Bridgend cueman has earned career prize-money of more than £1million but had lost all four of his previous major finals.
He rid himself of the nearly-man reputation by fending off former world number two Maguire in impressive style at the tournament in Latvia on Sunday, with breaks of 59, 58 and 77 seeing him clinch a 5-2 victory. As well as the trophy, Day collected a £50,000 cheque.
Day – who will climb from 18th to 15th in the world rankings – earlier fought off compatriot and former world champion Mark Williams in the semi-finals of the season-opening tournament, winning 5-4, while Maguire beat another one-time Crucible master Ken Doherty by the same margin in their last-four clash.
Irish veteran Doherty, 47, had the consolation of having reached the semi-finals of a ranking tournament for the first time since the 2011 Australian Goldfields Open.
