Dott hoping Malta magic returns

Graeme Dott is not traditionally renowned as a good traveller but the diminutive Scot came within only two frames of landing the Malta Cup title 12 months ago and will be looking to go one better as he starts his Portomaso campaign tonight.

Dott, the world number 15, faces 1991 world champion John Parrott in the opening round a year after losing 9-7 to Stephen Hendry in last season’s final.

It was a much happier overseas trip for Dott than the 2002 China Open, where he missed a succession of connecting flights before arriving in Shanghai 36 hours after leaving Glasgow.

He was so tired that he overslept before his match and had to endure a mad dash through heavy traffic to the venue.

Worse still, the Chinese taxi driver took him the wrong way and Dott had to run the last half a mile before arriving late and being docked two frames.

Dott lost the match and unsurprisingly described his mood as “suicidal”.

Fortunately, Malta is only a three-hour flight from the UK and Dott produced a fine performance last year, beating Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-0 in the last 16, Steve Davis 5-1 in the quarter-finals and John Higgins 6-5 in the semi-finals.

He had a good chance to level the final at 8-8 with Hendry but missed the blue in the 16th frame and his fellow Scot potted it to take the title.

Dott’s semi-final victory over Higgins proved to be his last in a ranking event as he lost his opening round matches in the Irish Masters, China Open and World Championship last season as well as the Grand Prix and UK Championship during the current campaign.

Dott finally returned to winning ways in the Saga Insurance Masters, an invitation event, a fortnight ago, beating Matthew Stevens before losing 6-5 in the quarter-finals to Stephen Lee.

“Concentration is the key thing,” he said. “You forget how to win when you’ve not done it for a while. I've had losing spells before and I don’t think this has been as bad because I haven’t played as badly as I did before.”

Indeed, Dott went 11 months without a victory until the 2004 Malta event, during which time he became so frustrated with his poor form that he stopped at a motorway service station following defeat at the Welsh Open to break his cue.

The pint-sized potter admitted that his run of luck was so bad that he couldn’t even accomplish this task properly – he eventually had to put his foot through the cue before it snapped.

Dott will be favourite to break Parrott’s resistance as the veteran Liverpudlian has struggled in recent seasons and looks set to drop out of the top 32 at the end of the current campaign.

Hendry produced the best snooker of the tournament so far yesterday when he compiled four century breaks during his 5-1 victory over Australian Neil Robertson.

Hendry finished off with runs of 142, 103 and 131 having earlier contributed a 104.

It was only the fifth time in snooker history a player had made four centuries in a best of nine frames match and the first during a televised match in a ranking tournament.

Hendry’s fellow Scot Stephen Maguire, the champion two years ago, also reached the third round after beating Hong Kong’s Marco Fu 5-2.

Mark Williams advanced after a 5-3 win against Northern Irishman Gerard Greene but his Welsh compatriot Matthew Stevens failed to make it through to the last 16 when he was beaten 5-2 by Nigel Bond.