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| Graeme Dott |
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Since turning professional in 1994, Dott has slowly climbed the rankings, reaching the top sixteen in 2001, where he has remained ever since. With his World Championship victory, he is now up to number 6 in the rankings for 2006-07, his highest ever position. This is a remarkable turn-around, for at one point in the 2005-06 season he looked in danger of plummeting down the rankings. Dott finally achieved a ranking tournament victory at the 888.com 2006 World Snooker Championship; he was previously runner-up in the 1999 Regal Scottish Open, the 2001 British Open, the 2004 World Championship and the 2005 Malta Cup. He scored his only competitive 147 break in the 1999 British Open. Dott married Elaine Lambie in 2001 and the couple celebrated the birth of their son, Lewis, in 2004. Elaine is the daughter of Dott's manager, Alex Lambie, whose brother John used to manage Partick Thistle F.C.. He supports Rangers F.C. and paraded his World Championship trophy at Ibrox Stadium during half-time of Rangers' final league match against Hearts on 7 May 2006. Dott started his campaign with a 10-3 victory over former champion John Parrott, before beating veteran Nigel Bond in the second round. His quarter-final match was against Australia's Neil Robertson, and, after leading 12-8, he was pegged back to 12-12, before edging through the final frame. In the semi-finals he faced former two-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan. At 8-8 after the second session of four sessions, Ronnie failed to perform in the third, not winning any of the 8 frames and paving the way for Graeme to win 17-11. Dott faced Peter Ebdon in the final for the ￡200,000 prize. He began the last session of the match leading 15-7, but Ebdon won six successive frames to reduce his deficit to two frames. Dott eventually won by 18 frames to 14, after winning some vital frames with marvellous clearances. It was the longest World Championship final ever and the latest to finish of all time. The previous record holder was the classic final frame last black ball finish 1985 final between Englishman Steve Davis and Irishman Dennis Taylor, which finished at 12:19 a.m. The Dott-Ebdon match finished half an hour later, this despite featuring 3 fewer frames, reflecting the slow overall pace of the match— the average frame length was so high that both afternoon sessions only had six frames, instead of the usual eight. Moreover, at just over 74 minutes, the 27th frame was the longest in the history of the World Championship, even beating the 70 minute mark of the previous record set by Canadian Cliff Thorburn and Welshman Doug Mountjoy, two famous slow players of the past. |
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