Home hero Ben Mertens wins DMT Best of Europe Snooker Championship pro-am title

The prestigious four-day pro-am event - which took place between Christmas and New Year - was hosted by the De Mambo venue in Kortrijk. There was a field of 128 players which included all three of Belgium's current World Snooker Tour stars - Mertens, Julien Leclercq, and 2023 World Champion Luca Brecel.

The DMT snooker group have been running big amateur/pro-am tournaments in Belgium over the past several years, and its busy calendar of successful events continues to gather momentum and popularity. Throughout 2024, DMT have organised several competitions which in total have attracted over 1,000 entries representing 30 different nationalities. More than 40,000 Euros have been paid out in prize money across the year.

Players in the end-of-year Best of Europe event were initially split into round robin groups of four, with the top two from each qualifying for the last 64 straight knockouts.

Former European under-21 champion Mertens topped his group without losing a frame before defeating Alwin Heynderickx 2-0 in the opening knockout round.

Returning for Finals Day on the Sunday which began with the 32 remaining contestants, Mertens eliminated Yago Montes Lorenzo (3-0), Gregory Kopec (3-0), Benoit Fontaine (3-1) and then Michael Larkov 4-0 in the semi-finals.

In the quarter-finals, Ukrainian Larkov ousted world number eight Brecel by three frames to two.

Coming through the other side of the drawsheet was 22-year-old Mortreux - the current French National Snooker Champion - who stopped fellow countryman Niel Vincent 4-2 in the other last four fixture.

However, in a title match which went the distance, it was Mertens who emerged victorious.

Elsewhere in the tournament, Belgian snooker legend Bjorn Haneveer - a former top 64 professional player - got his cue out of its case once again and defeated former Snooker Shoot Out runner-up Leclercq 2-1 in the last 64 before bowing out in the next round.

In total, 11 century breaks were registered during the event with Mertens compiling the biggest following an effort of 140.

One of DMT's flagship events - the DMT Open - is scheduled for April 2025 with between 160 to 256 players expected to take part.

Many thanks to tournament official Gery De Mol for providing information.