Even though he was on the receiving end of a one-sided, near whitewash David Gilbert shouldn’t be too upset with how the final of the English Open went. Of course, he would have at least wanted to provide a little more of a competition to his opponent but his career is in an upward trajectory right now where he should continue to ride and maintain this wave.
As mentioned in the last Short post, Gilbert didn’t actually do much wrong in the final. Most top players would have struggled against Selby in that form; similar to how Wilson struggled against O’Sullivan 2 years ago. It actually doesn’t happen too often when a player brings out the kind of rare unbeatable form that Selby did on that occasion; just look at his previous round matches in the Open. This just makes it clear to Gilbert that each shot counts, but he knows that he would normally get a few more opportunities in every match.
It’s easy to look at the final alone and forget about everything else, but Gilbert had a tremendous week in Crawley at the Open; including victories over Ricky Walden, Tom Ford as well as strong early round victories. Clearly, he’s getting the grip of the flat 128 draw formats and considering most tournaments adopt a similar approach should be useful going forward.
Prior to last season, Gilbert had only been in one ranking final which was back in 2015. Last season, he made two finals, a semi-final and 3 quarters-finals. So far in this season, he has made a final and 2 quarter finals (not including 6-reds). His career is now going in the right, steady direction that he would want it. If he keeps making significant ground in tournaments which will give him more chances at finals, that first ranking title won’t be too far away. Obviously, the first ranking title will be the most difficult obstacle, but once he gets his maiden title, I don’t imagine it will stop there.
With players like Stuart Bingham and Barry Hawkins who seemed to have found their stride relatively later in their careers; and players like the Class of ’92 seeming to get better with age, Gilbert should take some positivity from the fact that these guys are still winning titles and are not going anywhere. Gilbert’s recent induction into the Top 16 shows his game is good enough and that he is a strong contender going forward into any tournament he enters.
Gilbert just needs to focus on getting used to the pressure situations – which comes with more experience which he is now getting. The more he gets used to the pressure, the more relaxed he will be which will make his potting and safety improve. One of the big flaws in his game on Sunday was that he wasn’t coming close to matching Selby’s safety – his safety was constantly under or over-hit.
It’s obviously all easier said than done, but if Gilbert can take his mentality in practice and translate it to the main table, much like Selby has been doing, then Gilbert may find himself having a slightly easier time and perhaps not overthinking too much on certain shots.