The qualifiers for the 2022 Turkish Masters concluded yesterday.
All detailed results are available on snooker.org.
Here are the results that caught my attention:
Barry Hawkins, Stuart Bingham, David Gilbert (beaten on the last black in the decing frame bu Andy Hicks) , Ryan Day (whitewahed by Cao Yupeng) and Gary Wilson are amongst the top 32 ranked seeds who didn’t qualify.
Mark King, seeded 33, surprisingly lost heavily (5-1) to Zak Surety. Martin Gould had to battle with all he had to beat Craig Steadman by 5-4. Craig, who is 39 years old, scored a 145 in the second frame of the match. That’s currently the highest break of the tournament, and Craig’s highest career competitive break.
Michael White beat Sunny Akani by 5-3, which is great for Michael but very bad for Sunny.
Dylan Emery (20 years old, amateur) made the most of the opportunity he got after Robie Williams withdrew: he whitewashed the experienced Alfie Burden.
There were some very good wins by young players, including many non British/Irish players: Alex Ursenbacher, Lukas Kleckers, Simon Lichtenberg, Luca Brecel, Aaron Hill, Jackson Page, Dylan Emery, Si Jiahui, Zhao Xintong, Yan Bingtao, Lyu Haotian, Fan Zhengyi, Yuan Sijun and Zhou Yuelong are all Turkey bound. Fan Zhengyi now tops the “one year rescue list”, the list of 4 players out of top 64 who will receive a new tour card thanks to their position the one year list …
On the other hand, Sean Maddockx’s and Jamie Wilson’s miserable runs continue.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
The four 1-year top-up places is a very important route, especially for young players who might have had a poor first season then improved in their second. Unfortunately it does suffer a lot from random draws – the players near the top might just have been luckier with their opponents.
Usually, the players who qualify that way are around 50 on the 1-year list, which means they are quite good. But then they start the following season at the bottom again (why?), and potentially have to play a top seed in the UK Championship, which doesn’t suit anyone.
Apparently we have this duff system because it’s easier to understand…?!