Ryan Day has beaten Stephen Maguire in the final of the Riga Masters to claim his first ever ranking title. Ten years on from his first two ranking event finals, the Welshman also overcame Barry Hawkins (who denied him victory in the World Grand Prix final), Robert Milkins, Kyren Wilson, Joe Perry and his soon to be World Cup partner Mark Williams on the way to the final.
Day has been knocking on the door of winning a ranking event for some time with fine form in 2017 so far. A spell of play in February and March saw Day reach the German Masters quarter-finals, Gibraltar Open semi-finals and the aforementioned World Grand Prix final.
With the pressure of winning a ranking event finally unloaded from the 37 year-old it would now be no surprise if he soared and collected even bigger titles as well as making it back somewhere close to his highest career ranking of 6, after victory in Latvia has positioned him at 15 in the current rankings and 13 in the early provisional end-of-season list.
In the final, Day surged into an early lead and put Maguire on the back foot very early on. After an error from the Scot in the opener, Day made a break of 59 to take the 1-0 advantage. Maguire then had several chances to win the second frame after a couple of misses and safety mistakes from the Welshman, but after errors himself with three reds remaining and then a miss on the green shortly after, Day was able to win the battle on the green and clear to double his lead.
Day then seized his opportunity in the third with a good pot into the middle giving him the first chance, and he made it count as a break of 77 saw him take the frame in one visit to move 3-0 ahead in little over 40 minutes of playing time. At this stage Maguire was looking very shaky and becoming frustrated by his lack of form in the final. This time he missed a sitter of a red when in with a golden opening to get his first frame on the board. After following that up with critical safety errors, Day was able to clear the last red and colours with a marvellous pot on the brown along the way to stretching his lead to four and positioning himself within a frame of the title.
However, he then had a short mid-session interval to think about what he was about to achieve and naturally some pressure started to come back onto his shoulders. He very narrowly missed a red early in the fifth and left the opportunity for Maguire, who this time was able to grab it with both hands as he waded in with a run of 119 (the highest of the final) to get his first frame on the board. The four times ranking runner-up was made to wait even longer as critical safety mistakes left chances for Maguire who dominated the sixth frame and got another one back at 2-4.
The pressure would now be mounting on Day, while Maguire would have been aware that getting a third frame back may forge a collapse from his opponent and fully open the door for a comeback victory. Although, the former UK Champion took a big risk early in frame seven as he made Day play from where the cue ball had finished, following a foul from the Welshman. A pot was on for Day along the cushion with the spider that, while difficult enough for Maguire to refuse it, was still very much one you would give Day a good chance of potting. That is exactly what he did and soon, in the frame needed for victory, Day had put together a break of 58 before failing with a cannon into reds just a few pots from taking the title. He would soon be feeling it once again as Maguire took on a long red and fluked it into the adjacent corner and gifting him an opening to get right back into the frame.
The last two reds proved illusive in their position on the cushion, but Maguire's safety was not up to scratch as he left a red over the corner which Day potted along with the pink to leave his opponent requiring a snooker to stay in the match. A long battle ensued as the Scot put Day in some very difficult snookers, but after eventually potting yellow and green the 5-2 victory and title of Riga Masters champion was in the bag.
"Fair play to Ryan, I'm glad that he's won a tournament because he should have won one years ago." Maguire stated after expressing the disappointment of not being able to bring his best game to the big occasion. The 36 year-old will continue to wait for his sixth ranking title, four and a half years after winning the 2013 Welsh Open - which is also his only full ranking event win since 2008 when he lifted the China Open. A return of one full ranking event in nine years is not even close to fulfilment of potential for the former world number two.
"I was lucky, Stephen did not play his best in the final, but this means a lot to me. It has been a long time coming, so it is nice to get a trophy". Day meanwhile portrayed his relief as well as sheer delight at the Trophy presentation, as he finally gets his hands on some major silverware.
"It's pretty cool (to win) I played pretty well all weekend and the final was probably the worst I played, but I could not care less."
After several first time ranking winners in the last 12 months, Day was widely regarded as the best not to have put his name up there alongside the other full ranking event winners. The debate now rumbles on to who is now the leader of that list but the Welshman will not care one bit as he goes home with £50,000 in his back pocket and a trophy by his side.
He will now join Mark Williams to represent Wales in the Snooker World Cup that starts next Monday, July 3 in China, as China B of Yan Bingtao and Zhou Yuelong defend the title they won two years ago.
Special mention is also needed for Ken Doherty who, after dropping off tour at the end of last season and now playing as an invitational tour card holder, made it all the way to the semi-finals in Latvia and a blog with further details on his Riga rise will follow later in the week.
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