The 900 is in its third week

… and here is what happened in groups 5 and 6 so far.

This were the players involved at the start of the week:

Andrew Higginson was seen as the big favourite to win this week. It didn’t go well for him on Monday though…

Raymond Fry was Monday’s winner.

The match between Levi Meiller and Matt Ford was an incredibly nervy affair. Levi has traveled from Canada to play in this and he had never experienced anything similar. He played much better in his second match.

The match between Andrew Higginson and Paddy Wallace was high quality. Gary Filtness was his usual determined, passionate and positive self. Raymond Fry overcame Joe Johnson but it was far from straightforward. We will never know what would have happened if Joe had not forgotten the variant rules and carelessly rolled into the pack, giving his opponent ball in hand.

This is what happened yesterday:

Joe Johnson made an incredible clearance to beat Andy Lavin … and the clock. Andrew Higginson got easily the better of young Liam Graham; there is a gulf in experience between the two and it showed. Mark Ganderton and Dean Sycamore were both nervous and their match was quite scrappy but it was Dean who found some consistency towards the end.

After that the time difference got the better of me… mind you it’s already midnight here when the stuff starts

Anyway … here come some more pictures shared by Jason Francis on social media

And this is the line-up for today:

Jamie Hunter has won the Women’s 2022 Australian Open

She beat Jessica Woods, from Australia, by 4-3 in the final.

Here is the report by WPBSA

Hunter Claims WWS Australian Crown

Jamie Hunter has won the Australian Women’s Snooker Open for the first time after a thrilling 4-3 victory against Jessica Woods at the Mounties Club in Sydney.

• View the final results and standings via WPBSA SnookerScores

Victory for the English player marks her second consecutive triumph on the World Women’s Snooker Tour (WWS) following her victory at the US Open in August and underlines her status as one of the most improved players during the past 12 months.

She becomes the third different winner of the tournament since 2018, following in the footsteps of Ng On Yee and Mink Nutcharut as an Australian Open champion.

The success will see her rise one place in the updated world rankings to a new career-high position of number five.

For Woods it has nevertheless been a career-best week on the WWS circuit, having reached her first ranking event final at just her seventh attempt, with quarter-final runs at the same event in 2018 and 2019 representing her previous best.

The 29-year-old also became the first Australian player – and only the 15th ever overall – to compile a century break on the WWS Tour earlier in the event, following a majestic run of 120 during the group stages against Lilly Meldrum.

Route to the Final

Staged for the first time since 2019, the four day event began with an initial group phase which saw the top two seeds Hunter and Woods make comfortable progress, with the talented Meldrum the only player able to take a frame from either during her match with Woods.

In the knockout rounds Hunter dropped her first frame of the competition against Australia’s Joey Tohme on her way to a 3-1 victory, before she recorded a 4-0 win against 14-year-old Lilly Meldrum in the last four to reach the final.

It was a similar story for Woods who defeated Xuejun Alice Wu 3-1 to break new ground and reach the semi-finals of a WWS ranking tournament for the first time, which she followed up with a 4-0 success against Japan’s Miina Tani to reach her maiden final.

The Final

The title match would prove to be a hard-fought contest with Woods taking the opener on the colours, before dominating the second to claim an early 2-0 lead.

Back came Hunter, who took the next two to draw level at 2-2, before moving into the lead for the first time at 3-2 with a break of 41.

Woods – who was celebrating her 29th birthday on finals day – claimed the sixth to take the match to a deciding-frame, but Hunter was not to be denied as she finished in style with a match-high break of 51 to claim victory and become champion in Sydney.

WWS would like to thank its partners in Australia, in particular the Australian Billiards and Snooker Council and the Mounties Club, without both of whom the staging of the event, as well as all of the players who travelled to compete.

WPBSA has published the draw and format for the Q-Tour Event 3, to be played in Belgium

Q Tour 2022/23: Event Three | Draw and Format

Tournament information including the draw and format for the third event of the WPBSA Q Tour is now available to view via WPBSA SnookerScores.

• View the knockout draw
• View the match schedule
• View player list

The event will take place at the Delta Moon Club, Mons, Belgium and will run from 14-16 October 2022.