Focused Tom Ford wins first professional title

Leicester's Ford has been a professional player for 10 years

Tom Ford won the first professional title of his career at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield on Sunday.

Ford, 26, crushed Jack Lisowski 4-0 in the third event of the Star Xing Pai Players Tour Championship series.

The Leicester cueman triumphed with breaks of 85, 61 and 51 against Gloucestershire's Lisowski.

"I'm going in the right direction now and I want to keep that going this season, and hopefully get into the top 32," the world number 41 said.

Ford, a professional for 10 years, has been in the best form of his life this year and qualified for the televised stages of the World Snooker Championship for the first time.

In the past I spent too much time going out drinking, but I've cut down on that now.

Tom Ford

"I knuckled down mid-way through last season and getting to the Crucible gave me a lift," he said after collecting the £10,000 top prize.

"I've carried that on this season and this is definitely the best tournament I have won. In the past I spent too much time going out drinking, but I've cut down on that now. There's so many tournaments over weekends now that I can't go out anyway!"

Lisowski, 19, is playing his first season on the pro tour and had not won a match until this event.

In the semi-finals, Ford beat Mark Davis 4-2 while Lisowski beat Ford's fellow Leicester star Mark Selby 4-3.

Selby, who won the second event still leads the Order of Merit. The top 24 on the Order of Merit after 12 events will go through to the televised finals in March.