Dott takes early lead in sluggish final

Snooker: Underdog Graeme Dott made an impressive start in his bid to win the World Championships for the first time by winning…

Snooker: Underdog Graeme Dott made an impressive start in his bid to win the World Championships for the first time by winning three of the opening four frames of the final against Peter Ebdon.

Dott (28) is in the final on merit after overwhelming out-of-sorts tournament favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan 18-11 in the semi-final.

Thirty-five-year-old Ebdon, a 4-7 favourite with the bookmakers, made Dott pay for missing a long red in the opening frame with a break of 63.

But Dott, beaten 18-8 by O'Sullivan in the 2004 final, gave an early demonstration of his fighting qualities in the next after Ebdon broke down on 52 when missing a cut on the yellow.

READ MORE

The Scot stepped in for a 62 clearance to the pink and in the third frame runs of 34 and 56 were sufficient to edge him ahead in the best of 35 frame contest.

Ebdon was out of sorts in a scrappy final frame before the mid-session interval and he missed four decent opportunities to level the match - and Dott took advantage of his good fortune to open up a 3-1 advantage.