IT WAS a weekend for the legends in Blackpool in the Ultimate Pool Pro Series, as Keighley potter Chris Melling followed up six-time world champion Mick Hill's Saturday triumph with glory of his own on Sunday.

The Ultimate Pool Pro Series tournaments feature two events on each weekend that they are played, and this was the first one of the season.

Two-time world champion Melling was in good form in event one, but was pipped 7-6 on the buzzer in the last-eight by eventual finalist Neil Raybone.

Raybone won 7-4 against Tom Cousins in the semis, but was thumped 8-2 by superstar Hill in the final, with the six-time world champ picking up his maiden Ultimate Pool title in the process.

Conversely, Melling has already had success on the recently-introduced Ultimate Pool circuit, winning the Champions League last March and the Champion of Champions event just before Christmas 2021.

He did not win any of the eight Pro Series events last year, but did make two finals, and he showed no fear against some high quality opponents at the weekend.

Event two started with the Keighley star getting 7-4 victories over the in-form Dylan Leary and 2009 world champion Phil Harrison.

He then hammered number two ranked professional Shaun Storry 7-1 and number three ranked professional Declan Brennan 7-4 in the quarter and semi-finals respectively.

The 43-year-old came up against old rival Gareth Potts in the final.

Potts famously beat Melling in Blackpool in 2005 to become world champion, but the Keighley potter was not about to let history repeat itself.

It was a high-quality affair, with 10 of the 12 frames either being a break or reverse clearance.

But appearing in his fifth Ultimate Pool final, Melling was superb.

Capitalising on Potts’ unlucky break statistics during the match – incredibly, he went dry from all six of his attempts - Melling regularly made the balls disappear, break clearing in the twelve and final frame to set the seal on a fantastic performance and record an 8-4 win.

Melling's fellow Keighley potter Arfan Dad struggled in both events, going out in the preliminary round on both occasions.

He lost 7-5 to John Roe in event one, and 7-6 to Cousins in event two.