Bingham Wins In Dongguan

Stuart Bingham won his first title of the season by beating Liang Wenbo 4-1 in the final of the Dongguan Open in China.

Basildon’s 37-year-old Bingham recovered from the loss of the opening frame to win four in a row with breaks of 58, 52, 76 and 68 to get the better of China’s Liang in the final of the season’s fourth and last Asian Tour event.

World number six Bingham, who won two events on the Asian Tour last season, picks up a cheque for £10,000 and earns 2,000 rankng points. He was runner-up in the Champion of Champions and the one-frame Shoot-Out earlier this season, but having collected his first trophy of the campaign he will go into next week’s Haikou World Open with renewed confidence.

In the semi-finals, Liang made a 143 in a 4-2 defeat of Yu Delu, while Bingham beat Cai Jianzhong 4-2.

“The tournament was tough to win because there were a lot of good players in it,” said Bingham after victory at the Dongguan Stadium. “Liang performed well today but the turning point came in the second frame when he had a chance to go 2-0 up but missed a black.

“It’s my fifth time at an Asian Tour event and the standards are so high. Michael Holt lost to a Chinese amateur in the first round which shows how good the young players are here. You have to play well from the start.

“I want thank all the workers and volunteers who helped at the tournament. The venue is great and the snooker club for practice is very nice.

“I also want to share this victory with my father-in-law as he is ill at the moment.”