The Hobart talent played superbly but lost to both England's Frank Costello (7-4) and a parochial home crowd in Blackpool.

"It was a huge achievement to make the final given the number of excellent players competing at these championships," said Eightball Tasmania's Andrew Saltmarsh. 

It had been a while since Australia had a junior in the final, West Australian Matthew Franceschini winning in 1995, and Ben Crawley, of Northern Territory, in 1996, South Australian Mark Warry finished runner- up in 1997. 

John Lehman has become the first Australian to win the masters singles world championship, the South Australian defeating England's Shane Robinson 8-0. 

Lehman was also the captain of the Australian masters team which lost 5-4 to England in the final.