Simon Blackwell Wins EPSB Open Series Play-Off

Simon Blackwell defeated Jack Bradford 3-2 at the Mill Brow Snooker Club in Widnes to win the EPSB Open Series Play-Off for a second consecutive year.

• Results

The 32-year-old joined ranking list leader Hamim Hussain in earning a funded 2025 Q School place after their respective success on an Open Series campaign which has seen 31 events taking place featuring 300 cueists.

Blackwell finished fourth in the ranking list after winning a trio of Open Series events during the season and headed to the Mill Brow Snooker Club aiming to defend the Play-Off crown he won 12 months ago.

A deciding frame victory over Ali Anwar in the opening round saw Blackwell book his place in the quarter-finals. Back-to-back 3-1 victories over Jack Harris and Jason Tart then followed as the Englishman set up a final meeting with Wales’ Jack Bradford.

Bradford had battled his way through the field by eliminating top seed Lewis Ullah 3-1 in the first round before a deciding frame victory against former professional Jenson Kendrick was followed by a whitewash semi-final win against Halim Hussain.

The first two frames of the best-of-five final were shared and Blackwell then moved one away from the winning line with a stunning tournament high break of 137.

Bradford hit back to force a decider but a further contribution of 50 from Blackwell saw him get over the line and earn the funded 2025 Q School place.