Elliot Slessor whacks table with cue, Dylan Emery punches it in frustration in furious finish

A fractious end to Elliot Slessor’s match with Dylan Emery at the Welsh Open saw the former whack the table with his cue and the latter bash it with his fist. The deciding frame, which had already seen a re-rack after a half-hour stalemate, came down to the final four colours. Ad/> Slessor held a 64-51 lead with 22 points still on the table, needing the brown and blue for victory and a place in the second round.

/> Welsh Open‘Look at the zip!’ – Brilliant Trump spin shot delights crowd and commentators21 MINUTES AGO Rather than attempt a tricky cut on the brown, Slessor elected to play safe. It backfired. The 27-year-old bolted up in disgust as he accidentally sent the brown into a kind position, before sending his cue slapping down on the table in frustration.

The drama was not over. The table was set invitingly for amateur Emery to clean up but although he sunk the brown and potted a fine blue, he inexplicably sent the pink into the jaws and rolling over the opposite pocket. Cue another round of table abuse, this time from Emery’s knuckles.

That miss handed Slessor, now needing just the pink for victory, a reprieve – and this time he made no mistake, rolling home the penultimate colour and emerging from the strangest of showdowns. — — - Stream the Welsh Open and other top snooker live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.