Bailey Scott At Loughborough University

The 3rd weekend of the UP Series season wrapped in Loughborough with a string of brilliant matches and some memorable finals. It was a familiar tale in the Women's Pro Series, but something entirely new in the Men's.

A “Cinderella Story” as Justin Astley Roars to Pro Series Glory

Justin Astley claimed the Ultimate Pool Pro Series 6 title last night in Loughborough, beating Declan Brennan 8-7 in a sudden death frame in the final.

It is Astley’s first title Pro Series Title, coming in his first year as a UP Pro player.

Justin hadn’t been beyond the Round of 32 yet in the Pro Series, but chained together a string of impressive victories on the road to his first professional final, taking down no fewer than 5 Ultimate Pool champions in collecting the trophy.

Declan Brennan also had an incredible run of games to the final, beating Stevie Dempsey, Chris Melling and Shaun Chipperfield in succession on Sunday to qualify for the showpiece against Astley.

Brennan also had something to walk away with from the weekend as he left Loughborough as the new number one ranked player in the Pro Series.

Astley said: “I’m so over the moon to get over the line, it was a stressful game. I’ve not done it the easy way. I always fancied my chances [to do well] but my season’s been quite bad really.

“I feel like I’ve been playing well but just having one mistake here and there that’s cost me but this weekend I felt like I took nearly all my chances. It means a lot, it’s about time I won something!”

Astley became a UP Pro as a wildcard for this 2026 season, and it’s taken just 8 months for the former snooker pro to snap off his first UP title.

Full report below.

Amy Beauchamp bounces back on home turf in Loughborough

Amy Beauchamp claimed the Ultimate Pool Women’s Pro Series 6 title following a 5-3 victory over UP Women’s Pro Series 2 winner Collette Henriksen at Loughborough University.

Champs responded perfectly following defeat in both finals in Bolton to take down the title on home soil following a recent move to Loughborough.

Beauchamp said: “It’s nice to win and I felt a lot more myself out here this time which is a positive thing for me. My focus is always on winning tournaments because if you do that then rankings take care of themselves. The venue I think is brilliant and I wish every event was here.”

Amy took down tough opposition which included wins against; Amy Price, Savanah Lowe, Kerry Griffiths and Casey Ranford-Norrey on her quest to the final.

Beauchamp’s opponent, Collette Henriksen came to the final with a point to prove following her exit to Savanah Lowe in the last 16 of Series 5, and she dominated opposition along the way, beating; Anaïs Dehan, Danielle Randle and Lyndsey Scholz to reach the final.

After the game Collette said: “It was tough because I was never really in the match, she started so well I had to just try stick in there and hope that something might happen and it almost did - we could have gone 4-4 but she played an amazing shot and there’s not much I can do about that”

Full report below.

Men’s Pro Series 6 Report

The Ultimate Pool Pro Series 6 kicked off in Loughborough with UP No.1 Tom Cousins fighting to keep his No.1 status. Top Cat met event 4 winner Ben Doyle in the early rounds, a player who’s had a good record against him in the past, but TC was in fine form as he swept up a comprehensive 8-0 victory.

A notable victory came in the last 64, as Sean Ashe beat Tom Jones in the deciding frame to win 8-7, this victory put an end to a dry-spell he had been having where he was unable to progress to the round of 32.

Pro Series 5 winner Jaden Billingham also got off to another great start, beating Connor Jones 8-4 as he had his eyes set on winning both events this weekend.

In the last 32, Craig Waddingham exited the event following his semi-final finish in event 5, as Luke Gilbert added the win to his weekend’s portfolio of impressive results as he defeated ‘The Silver Sniper’ 8-0.

Justin Astley impressed with an 8-5 win over Dom Cooney, the new pro had been quiet so far in the year, but a statement victory put him into the Round of 16 for the first time where he came back from 4 frames down to defeat Phil Harrison.

Elsewhere, an All-Ireland clash saw Stevie Dempsey take on Declan Brennan, and it was the Destroyer who snatched victory in an 8-6 battle of attrition.

As the quarters began, Jaden Billingham once again displayed his immense talent as he comfortably reached an 8-4 finish against No. 1 ranked Tom Cousins.

Following the game Jaden said: “I’m playing well and hopefully it continues forever.”

This result ensured that following the event, Declan Brennan would overtake Tom as No.1 after Top Cat’s incredible 3 and a half year run at the top of the rankings.

Declan wasn’t stopping there though and he wanted the trophy to rubber stamp his status - in his quarter final against Chris Melling it was the Destroyer who advanced following a typically high quality game.

In the other two last eight matches, Shaun Chipperfield defeated Cole Bedford 8-4, while Sean Ashe’s great run was ended by Justin Astley.

In the first semi final Declan Brennan faced off against multiple champion Shaun Chipperfield. The Destroyer had the upper hand the entire game, as he led throughout, surviving a late Chipperfield rally to take the match 8-5.

The other semi-final began as Jaden continued his exceptional form leading 4-0 and 5-1 in the early stages of the match, but the new pro Justin Astley showed real grit and determination to take it to a decider.

Astley got his chance in the final frame after a good break, and didn’t look back - showing real steel and composure to take out a tricky finish and dash Billingham’s dreams of a Pro Series double.

In the final, it was Justin Astley who claimed the prize, as he beat Declan Brennan in a sudden death decider 8-7. The game was neck and neck from start to finish, and the crowd thought Astley had won it with two minutes left on the clock, but Brennan pulled off a brilliant clearance to push it to an all or nothing decider.

Brennan was left to rue a succession of dry and foul breaks, doing well to stay in the match as long as he did to force it into a sudden death frame.

Brennan said: “Firstly well done to Justin on his first win. He’s had a couple of massive comebacks this weekend so maybe his name was on the trophy. It’s a bittersweet one today, as I progressed through the rounds I really fancied winning it, but unfortunately the pool Gods just aren’t on my side when it comes to finals otherwise I might have been number one a while back because I’ve lost so many finals now! But listen I’ll keep coming back and well done to Justin again”

Women's Pro Series 6 Report

In the Women’s Pro Series, Women’s British Open Champion Casey Ranford-Norrey started off the second campaign of the weekend with a 7-2 win over Mikala Gurd.

Savanah Lowe started in similar fashion with a 7-4 win against Lauren Procter and 5x World Champion Amy Beauchamp impressed against Amy Price with a 7-2 win.

There was a big shock early however as UP Women’s No. 1 and Event 5 winner Beckie Watkins was defeated by Kirsty Sheppard 7-3.

Heading into the last 16, the former champions continued to fall as Lindsey Scholz came out on top of an intense clash with Event 3 winner Emma Parker which ended 7-5.

Adrienne Flitcroft-Hurst didn’t take her foot off of the pedal after an amazing run to the final in Event 5 as she went on to win 7-2 win against Hélène Colas.

The quarter-finals began and Collette Henriksen, who is looking for her second title this year, played an almost faultless game against Danielle Randle, who she beat 7-1.

Lyndsey Scholz progressed to her first main arena semi-final following a nail bitingly close back and forth game with Kirsty Sheppard in a tie where every frame mattered as it ended 7-6.

Commentator Mark Shepard said: “Whenever I speak to her [Lyndsey], she is always so happy to be here enjoying her pool and it’s nice to see someone like that do so well!”

In the semi-finals, Collette Henriksen kept Scholz in her seat for a majority of the match, the French international showed the crowd just how deadly she could be as she only dropped one frame to win 7-1.

In the other semi-final, Amy Beauchamp and Casey Ranford-Norrey had a tense start to the game as the score rested at 3-3, but after this Amy kicked into overdrive and kept Casey in check as she claimed a 7-3 victory.

The women’s final kicked off the finals on day 3 in Loughborough, and after a hard-fought battle Amy Beauchamp took home her first UP Women’s Pro Title of 2026 following a victory in the Women’s Pro Cup and back to back Final defeats in Bolton this summer.

A close game between the two was ultimately decided came after Amy accidentally snookered herself on her last yellow, a brilliant escape left her with a close-quarters double on the black which she calmly dropped into the heart of the pocket for a 5-3 victory.

The UP Men's and Women's Pro Series will return in December at Wigan Robin Park!