Barry Hawkins takes on ‘extreme’ Thepchaiya Un-Nooh with history on his side

The two most recent tournament winners meet at the Tour Championship on Monday and Barry Hawkins has history firmly on his side when he faces Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

Hawkins won the Welsh Open at the start of the month, beating the likes of Neil Robertson, Mark Williams, Wu Yize and then Jack Lisowski in the final.

It was a brilliant run, but Un-Nooh stole even more headlines by winning the World Open, downing Judd Trump in the semis before beating Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final, with a 147 for good measure.

The maximum was part of a four-frame burst which saw him make runs of 77, 132, 147 and 131 to beat the Rocket 10-7 in the utmost style.

It was the 40-year-old’s second ranking title, but first major one having won the Shoot Out previously and the Hawk felt it had been a long time coming, given the standards the Thai can reach.

‘I looked on the score sheet after the final!

What an amazing game!’ Hawkins told Metro, via 247bet.

‘I think in everybody’s eyes, it’s quite surprising it took him this long to finally win a tournament, because he’s such a great player.

He’s so good to watch, so naturally talented.

‘Ronnie played well as well, by the looks of it, and there’s not many people who beat Ronnie when he’s playing well.

What a final, seven centuries!’
Un-Nooh is certainly an enigma on the professional tour, with his zenith and nadir light years apart.

The Hawk knows consistency is a problem for almost every snooker player, but feels the Thai’s swings in performance are as extreme as anyone.

F1 played like a world number one at the World Open, but came into the event ranked 39, having even flirted with dropping off the professional tour a few years ago.

‘It’s unbelievable when you think about it.

It wasn’t too long ago, he was nearly falling off the tour,’ said Hawkins.

‘He’s gone from being virtually in the top 16 [he has a high rank of 15] and then all of a sudden, within a year or two, he was fighting to stay on the tour.

It was amazing.

‘I will say, that’s probably one thing about him, we’re all inconsistent, but he takes it to the extreme.

He’s either really, really hot, or he can miss so many easy balls sometimes from nowhere, really.

‘But this is going to make him so dangerous now, with the confidence behind him.’
Hawkins has achieved far more in his career than Un-Nooh, but even he was surprised that in seven meetings as professionals, the Englishman has won the lot.

‘Oh, wow.

Oh, I didn’t know that.

Oh, right.

Okay.

Well, let’s hope it’s eight!’ Hawkins said.

‘He will give you chances.

Well, you say that, look at Ronnie, he didn’t give him any chances in the last few frames!

If he’s on, he’s on.

It’s like a lot of players.

But you know, for him to keep playing like that is nigh on impossible, really.

‘You’ve just got to try and keep him tight a lot of the time.

Try not to just leave his hand on the table that much.’
Hawkins admitted that his confidence from his Welsh Open win has already dwindled a little, as he missed the World Open due to a back problem.

But he will be boosted by a return to Manchester this week, where he played brilliantly on a run to the semis last year, thrashing Shaun Murphy 10-1 in his opener, then ousting Judd Trump before losing a great contest to eventual champion John Higgins.

‘Good memories from last year,’ he said.

‘Probably one of the best best-of-19 matches I’ve ever played against somebody, especially against somebody of Shaun’s stature.

‘I played very well, knocked in quite a few centuries [five!] and the whole match I scored heavily and didn’t give him many chances at all.

So that doesn’t happen very often.

‘To beat someone like Shaun 10-1 is unbelievable, really.

Then to follow it up with a good performance against Judd as well.

Then John pipped me in the semi-final, but he played brilliant that week.

The last few frames, I didn’t see a ball.

It was a good game, I think.

‘I played a good standard in most of the tournament.

Yeah, good memories.’

Tour Championship draw and schedule

First round – best-of-19
Monday March 30
1pm
Barry Hawkins vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Judd Trump vs Mark Allen
7pm
Judd Trump vs Mark Allen
Wu Yize vs Chris Wakelin
Tuesday March 31
1pm
Mark Williams vs John Higgins
Barry Hawkins vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
7pm
Mark Williams vs John Higgins
Wu Yize vs Chris Wakelin
Quarter-finals – best-of-19
Wednesday April 1
1pm
Neil Robertson vs Hawkins/Un-Nooh
Shaun Murphy vs Trump/Allen
7pm
Shaun Murphy vs Trump/Allen
Zhao Xintong vs Wu/Wakelin
Thursday April 2
1pm
Neil Robertson vs Hawkins/Un-Nooh
Mark Selby vs Williams/Higgins
7pm
Mark Selby vs Williams/Higgins
Zhao Xintong vs Wu/Wakelin

Hawkins and Un-Nooh meet on Monday and Tuesday at the Tour Championship, with a place in the quarter-finals against Neil Robertson on the line.