Hawkins out at Crucible

Jet-setting Barry Hawkins can’t wait to swap the south east for Saudi Arabia when the globetrotting World Snooker Tour resumes.

The Ditton potter’s World Championship hopes came to an end last Saturday as he was unable to battle past Kyren Wilson at the Crucible. Hawkins, a 2013 finalist, reeled in a 9-4 Wilson lead to level the scores but the 2020 runner-up finished with a flourish to win 13-10. Hawkins had breezed past Matthew Selt 10-3 in his first round. Outgoing World Snooker Tour boss Barry Hearn signed a lucrative deal for a new tournament in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last year with a total prize pot of £2.5m on offer. Almost all events this season have been held behind closed doors in Milton Keynes and Hawkins, 41, said: “It’s a really exciting time. “Hopefully we can get back to all the different venues next year as going back to the same place, although it was a great set-up, was a little bit demoralising. “Hopefully everything will start opening up, things will get back to normality and we can get those big tournaments back on again. “The ones in China – and the one we signed the deal for in Saudi Arabia. That would be nice to get out there before I stop playing, so it’s exciting times.

“It was a funny old game (against Wilson) – we were both trying to find some rhythm all through the match.

“We’d play well one frame and then one of us would miss something stupid in the next. I battled well and enjoyed the challenge, but just fell a bit short.

“He stepped up and made a couple of good breaks at the end there. It was a tough game and battle, but I enjoyed the match.”

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