The Major Singles Championship finally started after a two week delay due to the wet weather. Unfortunately, the delay to the event resulted in a couple of players having to withdraw. After the weekend the semi-finalists have been decided with a strong group of players emerging to battle for the title of 2021 Club Champion.
Defending Champion, Joel Hilliard (above), demonstrated he has his sights on a second title with a very impressive win over Peter Davies – himself a defending Champion. In their round 2 match Davies started the better but Hilliard quickly settled down and he gradually took control. Hilliard built up a 17 – 8 lead before Davies struck back to reduce the margin to 17 – 13. However, Hilliard was able to regain the momentum and he was able to take out the game 31 – 18. Hilliard received a round 1 forfeit while Davies had a very entertaining win over Lou Kozlik (below). The remarkable Kozlik, at the age of 88, made Davies work hard over 34 ends to win 31 – 19.
Another former Champion, Noel Downie, is into another semi-final but only after he survived two very tight matches. In round one Doug Williams made him battle hard. Downie had a narrow 19 – 18 lead before he took control to win 31 – 18. He had an even harder battle in the second round game against Jonathan Green. This was a real nail biter! After leading 9 – 0, Downie soon found himself down 14 – 10. The game then became a real arm wrestle with the lead changing several times. Downie seemed to have made the crucial break when he moved to 28 -24 but Green struck back again and the two players went into the last end with Downie ahead 30 – 29. Experience proved the difference when Downie won this end to win 31 – 29!
John Monks and Mick Challice played a very high quality match in their round one clash with the result in the balance right to the end. Challice started well and led 10 -3 before Monks levelled at 10 all. The remainder of the match was very close with little separating the two players. Monks made a crucial break when he moved into sight of victory at 28 – 24. But Challice won the next four ends to be one shot from victory at 30 – 28. However, Monks had the last say winning the next two ends to grab a hard fought victory 31 – 30.
Monks started his round 2 game with John Fahey well and held the upper hand as he built up a 18 – 13 lead. It was then that Fahey turned the game on its head. He started to draw beautifully and won 10 of the next 11 ends to record an excellent 31 – 20 victory.
Peter Macdonald will play Fahey in the semi-finals after he was far too consistent for Bruce Magilton in their round 2 clash. Macdonald received a forfeit in round 1 while Magilton had a bye. Macdonald started well and was able to hold off any challenge Magilton mounted to win 31 – 15.
The other semi-final will be a replay of the 2020 Final with Joel Hilliard playing Noel Downie.
