Congratulations to Welshman Jamie Jones who yesterday defeated his namesake and countryman Jak to win the fourth event of the 2009/10 PIOS…
Final
Jak Jones 0-6 Jamie Jones
31-66, 4-60(36), 44-61(33), 9-55(41), 10-93(48), 30-75(59)
Former professional Jamie Jones took a significant step towards securing a third spell on the main tour this week by coming through to win his first PIOS event of the season.
Having made it through to the quarter-finals with few scares, his next two matches proved to be incredibly tight affairs against first Bobby Cruickshanks and then rising star Jack Lisowski. He did particularly well to defeat Jack as having led 4-1 at one stage he saw his young opponent fight back to force a deciding frame, but eventually managed to hold on and book his final place.
Though he is still only 21 years old, Jamie has gained a lot of experience during the last few seasons having been on the main tour twice and also having finished third in the PIOS back in 2007/8. 16-year-old Jak Jones however, his opponent in the final, is still acclimatising to playing at this level and although he did very well to reach the final, winning three matches which went to a final frame shoot-out, found himself outclassed against Jamie.
So what does this mean for the table? Well although he had not won an event up until this point, Jamie has had a solid season and with his 300 points from this now moves up into second place in the table. He joins Liam Highfield and Jack Lisowski (who met this week for the third time in four events!), in the 500+ bracket and now all three look almost certain to make the step up to the pro tour next season.
Beyond them come Event Four winner Paul Davison, Jak Jones and Kurt Maflin who all have over 300 points, but with so many talented players snapping at their heels, the race for the final five qualifying places looks like it will go down to the wire.
The next event will take place in December and you can access the draw via my PIOS page or here on Global Snooker.