Appleton Takes Masters Crown at First Attempt

Darren Appleton, the reigning World 10 Ball Champion became the third ever Englishman to win the PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters title following a fighting 8-4 win over Holland's Nick van den Berg at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas.

The 33 year-old, who converted to big table pool in recent years, following an outstanding career at English 8 Ball, beat Raj Hundal, Ralf Souquet and Mika Immonen en route to the final.

As well as the title and magnificent trophy, Appleton takes a cheque for $20,000 while Van Den Berg earned half that amount. "It's unbelievable to win the World Pool Masters," said Appleton. "It has been my goal to win a Matchroom event and to win this is like winning another world title. After the 10-ball victory I put a lot of expectation on myself and hopefully this will help me get in the World Cup of Pool and the Mosconi Cup."

Appleton won the lag but delivered an illegal break as the requisite number of balls failed to travel past the headstring. Both players had visits but it was the Dutchman who took the rack. Van den Berg, whose break had served him so well throughout the tournament came up with a dry break but his opponent missed a routine 6-ball but then made up for it with a fine 6-8 combination to level the score at 1-1.

Appleton produced a legal break and a fine long pot on the red 3 set himself up to run out the rack which he did to lead 2-1. That became 3-1 as he produced one of the best breaks of the tournament as four balls disappeared. Van den Berg had a chance after Appleton missed the red 3 into the centre pocket, but he over- screwed and scratched potting the 4 ball and with ball-in-hand, Appleton moved 4-1 in front.

A scratch from Darren Appleton gave ball in hand to van den Berg and the score quickly moved to 4-2. In the next a fluke from Appleton gave him a three-rack advantage after a fortunate 4-6 combination helped him.

Appleton had a dry break in the eighth and the rack wasn't a long one as van den Berg closed the gap to two thanks to a 1-9 carom. After serving him well, Van den Berg was beginning to struggle with his break. An illegal one helped Appleton inch closer to the title as he moved into a 6-3 lead in the race to 8.

Fortune went with van den Berg in the tenth rack as Appleton made an illegal break and then failed with a 2-7-9 combination. The Dutchman avoided scratching by millimetres after he potted the 6-ball and saw the cue ball hanging on the edge. He went on to win the rack to reduce the deficit to 4-6.

Appleton moved to the hill after another breaking error from van den Berg - this time a dry break, and he clinched the title thanks to a 4-9 combination in the 12th rack to win by an 8-4 margin. "I probably didn't play as well in the final as I did in the semi-final," added Appleton. "I didn't break as well as I had done and neither did Nick - he had three dry breaks in the final."

Semi-Finals Nick Van Den Berg (NED) 8-2 Shane Van Boening (USA) Darren Appleton (ENG) 8-6 Mika Immonen (FIN)