Stuart Bingham is determined to carry his momentum into next week's Sportsbet.io Players Championship despite a painful 10-0 defeat in the final of the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong.
Bingham will be one of 16 players at the Telford International Centre next week, alongside the likes of world number one Judd Trump, World Champion Kyren Wilson, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, John Higgins, Shaun Murphy, defending champion Mark Allen and many more. The event runs from March 17-23, for the match schedule click here.
Limited tickets for all sessions including the final on Sunday March 23rd are still available but must be booked fast! For details click here.
Bingham flew to Hong Kong knowing he had to reach the final to qualify for Telford, and he did just that, knocking out Mark Williams, Wu Yize, Mark Selby and Judd Trump. But he was then on the wrong end of a 10-0 pasting from Robertson, only the fourth time ever that a two-session ranking event final has ended in a whitewash.
"It was just a bad day," said 48-year-old Bingham. "I was trying everything to get a frame on the board. But everything went against me, and all the balls that Neil went for flew in. He made a couple of big clearances and won some close frames, it was his day. It is embarrassing. Once it got to 5-0 it was getting harder out there. It hurts, but a few hours later I was fine. I can take a lot of positives from the week. Getting to the final was the big goal for the week because that got me into the Players Championship. I can go to Telford and enjoy it because it's a chance I wasn't expecting.
"Beating Judd in the semis was a great win for me because he is the best player in the world. He won 5-0 the previous day and made four centuries, but I know every day is different in this game. There was a bit of pressure on him because he is the home favourite in Hong Kong. I believed I could beat him if I could keep that pressure on him. I scored when I got chances and did to him what Neil did to me in the final."
Former World and Masters champion Bingham has been suffering from the 'yips' this season and has even seen hypnotherapist Chris O'Connor, who has also worked with Kyren Wilson, to try to resolve the problem.
"When I played Mark Selby last week it was very prominent," he said. "I felt tight in my back arm. And in other matches I was jabbing at certain shots. But, the balls were going in. I don't know whether it will be better next week. You would think that winning matches gives me confidence and that would help, but sometimes it just turns up."
Bingham is now recovering from a two-day journey back from Hong Kong to Basildon. "I was sitting in the hotel lobby on Monday morning, waiting to be picked up, when I found out the flight was delayed by 14 hours," he explained. "I was devastated because I just wanted to get home. I eventually flew that night from Hong Kong to Dubai, then had to wait another eight hours for the connecting flight. I finally got home on Wednesday morning just before the kids went to school. I am knackered, as you get older the travelling is definitely harder."
But he'll be ready for Telford and a chance to gain revenge on Robertson as they meet again on Tuesday at 1pm. Watch the action live on ITV in the UK, or for all the global broadcasters click here.