Malta Grand Prix 1995

Malta Grand Prix 1995 Rothmans Grand Prix 1995
Tournament type:	Invitation tournament
Attendees:	12
Venue:	Jerma Palace Hotel, Marsaskala , Malta
Opening:	October 30, 1995
Endgame:	November 5, 1995
Winner:	Peter Ebdon
Finalist:	John Higgins
Highest Break:	134 ( Tony Drago )
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The Malta Grand Prix 1995 , also Rothmans Grand Prix 1995 , was a snooker tournament as part of the Snooker Main Tour of the 1995/96 season . The invitation tournament was held from October 30th to November 5th. The second edition of the tournament was not only brought forward by a month, it also moved from the capital Valletta to the Jerma Palace Hotel in the eastern port city of Marsaskala . The European Open took place in Valletta in the same season .

Last year's winner, John Parrott , did not run. This time the final was played by Peter Ebdon and John Higgins . The Englishman won 7: 4 and took his third title within the calendar year.

Prize money

The total bonus was roughly the same as in the previous year. The only change in the prize money was that the two semi-final losers were each awarded £ 50 less. In addition, there was no bonus for the highest tournament break.

placement	Prize money
winner	£ 4,000
final	£ 2,500
Semifinals	£ 1,700
Quarter finals	£ 1,000
Round 1	£ 500
Highest break	-
All in all	£ 15,900

Final round

The big top players in the world rankings stayed away from the tournament in Malta this time, but with 8 players, all between 8th and 16th place, the tournament was very well attended despite the low prize money. The remaining 4 places were given to Maltese players: two current professionals, one ex-professional and one amateur. As in the previous year, top local player Tony Drago was seeded for round 2 together with the three best professionals. In round 1, the remaining 8 players played for the remaining 4 places in the second round. As in the previous year, the tournament began with two rounds in the Best of 9 mode and then increased via Best of 11 in the semifinals to the final with 7 winning frames (Best of 13).

	Round 1 (Best of 9)					Quarter Finals (Best of 9)					Semi-finals (Best of 11)					Final (Best of 13)
						1	Tony Drago	3
	5	John Higgins	5
						5	John Higgins	5
	A.	Simon Camilleri	0								5	John Higgins	6th
											2	Darren Morgan	2
						2	Darren Morgan	5
	6th	Nigel Bond	4th
						10	Alex Borg	3
	10	Alex Borg	5													5	John Higgins	4th
																4th	Peter Ebdon	7th
						3	Ken Doherty	5
	8th	David Roe	5
						8th	David Roe	0
	9	Joe Grech	3								3	Ken Doherty	1
											4th	Peter Ebdon	6th
						4th	Peter Ebdon	5
	7th	Dave Harold	5
						7th	Dave Harold	0
	A.	Paul Mifsud	3

A = amateur player

final

With Peter Ebdon and John Higgins , there were two young, aspiring players in the final who had only recently made their way into the top 16 in the world. In the young season both had already played a final and both had lost theirs. So one of them would get his first win of the season. Both players had already won three tournaments in their careers. They had already played against each other twice and the Englishman had won both times.

Ebdon also got off to a better start in the tournament and with the help of two higher breaks he took a 3-0 lead. But Higgins fought for the 4th frame and after the break he came up to 2: 3. Ebdon was then able to expand the lead to three frames and again the Scot came up to 4: 5. The contested 10th frame was secured by the Englishman and he was only one frame missing to win. He got it with a convincing 91-point break, his personally highest break in the tournament, and won the title 7: 4.

Final: Best of 13 Frames Jerma Palace Hotel,  Marsaskala , Malta , 5th November 1995
John Higgins	4: 7	Peter Ebdon
34: 88 (52), 12: 81 , 5: 99 (72), 64 : 44, 73 : 13, 16: 101 (52), 20: 59 (57), 59 : 38, 84 : 35 (77) , 43:56 , 0:95 (91)
77	Highest break	91
-	Century breaks	-
1	50+ breaks	5

Century breaks

In the previous year Peter Ebdon scored 3 century breaks , but was eliminated in the semifinals. This time he stayed without a three-digit break and won. Tony Drago achieved the highest break with 134 points . This and the two other Centuries of the tournament were scored in the quarterfinals.

Tony Drago	134
Darren Morgan	133
Ken Doherty	123

swell

1. ↑ Malta Grand Prix - Malta cup. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on November 4, 2019 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} 1995 malta Grand Prix - Finishes. CueTracker, accessed November 4, 2019 . 
3. ↑ 1995 Malta Grand Prix. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed November 4, 2019 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Rothmans Grand Prix. snooker.org, accessed November 4, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Rankings - 1995-1996. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed November 4, 2019 .