For the first time, world ranking points were awarded at the Paul Hunter Classic ; as part of the Players Tour Championship, which was newly introduced in 2010 and consists of 12 minor ranking tournaments and a tour final . The number of world ranking points that can be won is lower than at the major events of the Snooker Main Tour - but amateurs can also take part in the competitions. The tournament in Fürth was the first of six Players Tour events taking place on the European continent.
Unlike in previous years, the Paul Hunter Classic was played in a purely elimination mode without a group stage. On Thursday (August 26, 2010) the pre-qualification for amateur players took place in two rounds. From 126 players in the town hall and partly in the rooms of the co-organizer SSC Fürth, those were determined who were allowed to take the free places in the first main round.
The 2010 tournament winner was determined in seven rounds up to the final. In the first round, 96 players were placed, including 78 Main Tour professionals. The rest came from the qualifying round.
The main tournament started with a disappointment for the spectators: Ronnie O'Sullivan , who had registered for Fürth for the first time, stayed away from the tournament without giving any reason. There were also disappointments for the two players who were leading the new Players Tour at the time. Barry Pinches failed in his opening match, Mark Selby then narrowly failed to top player Ali Carter in round two . Even for world champion Neil Robertson , after a clear 0: 4 against Stuart Bingham, it was already in the round of 32. Out of ten qualified German players, only Patrick Einsle made it into the second round, where Michael Holt was the final destination. The Belgian Björn Haneveer was the only player not from the British Isles to reach the round of 16.
The old masters Steve Davis , who eliminated two top players with Ali Carter and Graeme Dott , and Jimmy White were once again strong in Franconia and also reached the quarter-finals, as did Shaun Murphy , who last won the tournament twice in a row. Then there were the young players Jack Lisowski , Judd Trump and Daniel Wells . Lisowski, who qualified for the professional tour for the first time in 2010, had previously beaten Marco Fu and Ricky Walden . Wells was the only amateur player to make it into the last eight, although he had already had two years of experience on the professional tour. In addition, the Welshman was the only non-Englishman remaining in the tournament. While Wells took Jimmy White out of the tournament 4-2 and achieved the greatest success of his professional career by reaching the semi-finals, Lisowski was clearly defeated by the two-year-old top 32 player Trump. Judd Trump was then able to prevail against defending champion Shaun Murphy and move into the final. His opponent was the very experienced 39-year-old Anthony Hamilton , who was listed behind Trump in the world rankings and had last stood in a ranking tournament final in 2002.
The young player started with a frame win before Hamilton pulled away with three wins in a row and was only one frame away from winning the tournament. With breaks of 69 and 97 points, Judd Trump managed to equalize 3: 3 and saved himself in the decisive seventh frame. With a brave beginner, two medium breaks and a bit of luck, he finally won the Paul Hunter Classic 2010 and with it his first title at a world ranking tournament.
Judd Trump
Tomasz Skalski
Bernd Friedrich
Dominik Scherübl
Chris McBreen
Serge Lievens
Thomas Schneeberger
Alex Taubman
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Vladimir Ponomarenko
Tian Pengfei
Andrei Cristian Vintu
Soner sari
Austin Moles
Stevo Vucicevic
Naresh Samarawickrama
Tiziano Guerra
Graeme Dott
Patrick Wallace
Marco Fu
Kurt Maflin
Igor Figueiredo
Neil Robertson
