Aaron Busuttil became the first Maltese winner of a WPBSA Q Tour event after beating England’s Edward Jones 4-0 in the final of Q Tour Europe event two in Sofia on 24 September.
The 35-year-old completed a seven-match run to the title in Bulgaria, having never previously progressed beyond the last 16 of a Q Tour event. His victory earned the £6,000 top prize and moved him to second in the early Q Tour standings, although Sanderson Lam remains first.
For Jones, 17, the defeat ended a significant breakthrough week. The English teenager reached his first Q Tour final after his previous best result in the series had been a run to the last 64.
Busuttil completes landmark Maltese victory
The tournament featured 109 players from 24 nations and was staged alongside the 2026 EBSA European Championships. Busuttil began with a 4-2 win over Bulgaria’s George Petrunko, then beat France’s Niel Vincent 4-0 before overcoming former Q Tour finalist Patrick Whelan 4-1.
A top break of 95 helped Busuttil past Whelan, while a subsequent victory over Matvei Lagodzinschii took him to the final day. Lagodzinschii had earlier made the tournament’s highest break of 137, according to WPBSA.
WPBSA said Busuttil overcame opponents from six different countries during his run. His 4-1 win against Whelan matched his prior best Q Tour performance before he moved beyond that stage, and WPBSA reported that his win over Lagodzinschii earned him a place on the final day.
He dropped only one frame across his quarter-final and semi-final, beating Riley Powell 4-1 and Sybren Sokolowski 4-0. He then won all four frames of the title match against Jones.
The final was Busuttil’s first appearance in a Q Tour title match. WPBSA reported that his progress from the last 16 onwards marked a clear advance on every previous run he had made in the series, with the Sofia event also delivering Malta’s first Q Tour event winner.
Speaking after the final, Busuttil said his approach had been to concentrate on one frame at a time throughout the event. He also said winning the European Six-Reds Championship earlier in the week had given him confidence, while adding that he had not made a particular change to his game.
WPBSA reported that Busuttil regarded Jones as a highly capable opponent after watching some of his earlier matches, and said the opening frame of the final had been crucial. The Maltese player said he was now targeting first place in the rankings.
Jones makes a decisive step forward
Jones arrived in Sofia without having gone beyond the last 64 in a Q Tour competition, but produced a sequence of results that placed him in the final against Busuttil. WPBSA said his route included victories over former professionals Peter Devlin and Dean Young.
SnookerHQ’s published results list recorded a 4-3 last-16 win against Paul Deaville, followed by a 4-0 quarter-final victory over Tomasz Skalski. Jones then beat Young 4-2 in the semi-finals to secure his first appearance in a Q Tour title match.
Before the final, Jones’s 4-2 semi-final win over Young was the only one of his quarter-final and semi-final matches in which he conceded more than a frame. His 4-0 defeat of Skalski had put him into the last four, before the 4-2 success over Young ensured that the 17-year-old would face Busuttil for the title.
Although Busuttil’s 4-0 final win gave Jones no route back into the contest, the run has altered the early standings. Jones rose to third on 8,175 points, behind Busuttil on 11,175 and Lam on 13,430. Lam, winner of the opening event in Leeds, lost 4-3 to Young in the Sofia quarter-finals but retained top spot.
The result matters because Q Tour Europe has seven events this season. The player leading the final ranking earns a two-year World Snooker Tour card, while three further professional cards are available through the Q Tour Global Play-Offs. After the first two events, Busuttil was 2,255 points behind Lam in the published rankings.
The top-ranked player at the end of the seven-event campaign earns a two-year World Snooker Tour card. The early gap between Lam and Busuttil is 2,255 points, while Jones is 3,000 points behind Busuttil, underlining the value that Sofia’s final carried in the season-long table.
Q Tour Europe event three is scheduled to take place in Oberhausen, Germany, from 22 to 25 October.