Germany’s Umut Dikme recorded the most significant victory of his career to date as he defeated Hamim Hussain 5-1 in the final to win the 2023/24 Q Tour UK/Europe Event Three on home soil at the TSG Heilbronn.
Results from the 2023/24 Q Tour UK/Europe Event Three
Prior to this weekend’s event in southwest Germany, Dikme had never been past the last 16 of a Q Tour event, but the 23-year-old seemed to find inspiration from being close to home as he produced a string of fantastic results to become the latest new champion on snooker’s second tier.
As one of the event’s seeded players due to his results at last year’s Q School, Dikme began his challenge in the last 64. On Saturday he dispatched Rodion Judins (Latvia) 3-1, Ian Martin (England) 3-0 and then ousted 17-year-old Artemijs Žižins (Latvia) 3-2 in the last 16.
Finals Day was unchartered territory for the Ludwigsburg-based cueist – his previous best was a last 16 finish at last month’s Event Two in Stockholm – but he acclimatised, registering runs of 60, 51 and 65 in a 4-2 quarter-final win against Hong Kong’s Yu Kiu Chang before denying the experienced Peter Lines 4-2 in the last four along with efforts of 75 and 72.
Another player enjoying their time in the city of Heilbronn was Hussain who reached his maiden Q Tour event final, bettering his three previous quarter-final appearances (in regular events).
The 22-year-old Englishman – who compiled a maximum 147 break on last season’s English Amateur Tour – had to navigate Friday’s preliminary rounds before last 32 and 16 wins over Tyler Rees (Wales) and Alex Millington (England) respectively. Rees had defeated fellow Welshman and Event One victor Liam Davies the round before.
Hussain overcame his last eight block as he stopped Event Two champion Michael Holt from becoming the first player in Q Tour history to claim back-to-back event titles with a 4-3 success. He then ended the challenge of former European amateur champion Harvey Chandler 4-0 in the semi-finals.
However, Dikme was not to be denied a big triumph for himself and German snooker. He crafted breaks of 59 and 53 on his way to going into the mid-session interval 4-0 up, and although Hussain avoided the whitewash after the break, Dikme finished in style and completed his fairytale trip with an effort of 105 in frame six.
Event Four on this season’s Q Tour UK/Europe circuit takes place at the Landywood Snooker Club between November 10-12.
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