Liam Graham scored a superb first win on the professional tour this week, but he will not be popping the champagne, or even a bottle of lager, saying: ‘I’ve won one game. I’ve not done anything yet.’
The 18-year-old is in his rookie season on the World Snooker Tour and landed his first win in his third event by beating Cao Yupeng 5-4 in the British Open qualifiers.
The world number 40 is a fantastic scalp to claim for the teenager but he is not getting carried away with his maiden victory.
As Graham completed a seven-hour trip on public transport back to Glasgow from Leicester, the young Scot confirmed that there would be no celebrations to come.
‘No I won’t celebrate this at all, not a chance,’ Graham told Metro.co.uk. ‘I’ve won one game. I’ve not done anything yet.
‘I’m happy the win came against someone higher up the rankings, and he’s started the season well, so I was happy to beat someone in a bit of form. Shows my game is going in the right direction.
‘I don’t feel like I played my best stuff today either, just potted some good balls under pressure and cleared up when I had to. I did a good dish at the end so I was happy with the way I finished it.’
It was a tense finale to the game, with Cao having a chance to clear up for the victory, but missing a straight black after the final red to allow Graham back to the table, when he produced a fine clearance of his own.
The final black was especially tricky, with a safety shot not out of the question, but Graham says Stephen Maguire has taught him otherwise.
‘Nah, you don’t play safe on match ball,’ he said. ‘Maguire was actually moaning at me for playing too much safety when I was practicing with him. He said, “you don’t win matches by playing safe.” He got me being a bit more aggressive.’
Graham has only played the Championship League and European Masters qualifier before this win, but he felt those two events saw him play as bad as he possibly can.
‘I was absolutely terrible the first two events, some of the worst snooker I’ve ever played. Terrible,’ he said.
‘I felt like I couldn’t hit the ball properly. No idea why. It was like stalling your car, horrific. For two months I had that, couldn’t get through the ball at all, it was horrible.
‘It was in practice as well, I was playing terrible, so I had no belief going into any game. Just praying something would happen, it was wishy-washy, that’s what I’d call it. But I found something before this event so I was a wee bit more confident going in.’
Plenty of high-level practice helped get Graham back on track, while he looked to get a mental edge on his opponent as well.
‘I’ve been at Ding’s [Ding Junhui Academy] for a few days and found something that seemed to work,’ he said. ‘I played Maguire and [Anthony] McGill before I went down to Ding’s and found a bit of something there and it clicked in Sheffield.
‘I was practicing on the table by Cao Yupeng for two days, I made sure I was next to him every day. I wasn’t really watching him, I wanted to show him what I can do, I was hoping he was watching me.’
Graham is not short of wisdom for a rookie, saying there was no point being concerned about his early-season struggles as form comes and goes.
‘I wasn’t worrying. I knew I wasn’t playing well, but worrying was pointless because I knew my game wasn’t there,’ he explained. ‘Snooker comes and goes a bit, it can be very up and down. It’s one rose for three or four scaggy nettles.’
The prize for beating Cao is a trip to Cheltenham for the British Open where he could play all sorts of big names in the FA Cup-style draw in the event.
It’s not Ronnie O’Sullivan or John Higgins he fancies, though, saying it’s all about winning, so he’d be very happy with the easiest possible opponent.
‘Give me the worst player in the draw, that would be great,’ he said. ‘I want somebody to turn up on the day who’s using their wrong hand and forgot how to play the game.
‘I’m not after the glitz, glamour and TV, I’m there to win games. I’ve no interest in anything else.’
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