China’s Si Jiahui rallied from 3-1 down to beat Swiss number one Alexander Ursenbacher 4-3 and qualify for the final stages of the BetVictor English Open.
Si enjoyed the finest fortnight of his career so far when he made the World Championship semi-finals at the end of last season. Only an inspired performance from Luca Brecel cost him a place in the final, as he lost out 17-15.
Ursenbacher required Q School to return to the tour this season, but he seized the early initiative with breaks of 66 and 77 on his way to establishing a 3-1 advantage. However, Si hit back with three on the bounce, including a break of 76 in the sixth to earn his place in Brentwood next month.
Iran’s Hossein Vafaei put on a fine performance to brush aside Scottish rookie Liam Graham 4-0. Vafaei composed breaks of 99, 81, 84 and 79 on his way to the whitewash.
Scottish Open champion Gary Wilson held off a Pang Junxu fightback to qualify thanks to a 4-3 victory. The Wallsend cueman fired in breaks of 102 and 52.
China’s Wu Yize thrashed India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha 4-0, while Zhou Yuelong defeated Ben Woollaston by a 4-2 scoreline.
For once this WST report, incomplete as it is, isn’t focusing mainly on UK/Irish players. It’s about time! We had 32 players in action yesterday, 16 of them are from outside UK/Ireland and the majority of them are young players. Of those 16, 8 won their match. The level of the young non British/Irish players is at least as good as the level of their British/Irish rivals. There are a few uncompetitive players on tour, from various nationalities, but that is a reflection of the inadequacy of some qualification routes more than anything else.
Julien Leclercq from Belgium beat Jiang Jun in no time. Julien’s game is very powerful but also still very rough. When it works, it’s deadly, and great to watch. Julien however will need to enrich his “weaponry” and develop a B game to progress as a complete pro.
Micael White completely outplayed Sam Craigie… without playing particularly well actually. Mark Davis beat Joe Perry by 4-1 in a battle of veterans; the score is misleading, it was a hard fought encounter, not a one-sided affair. It’s however worrying for Joe who did win his group in the first stage of the 2023 ranking CLS in July, but has won just one match since. The last match to finish was won by Lukas Kleckers who beat Mark Joyce in a deciding frame. It was another very hard-fought affair and it is a good, encouraging win for Lukas.
Match Schedule Confirmed For Fabulous Opening Day In Brentwood
Local favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan, new World Champion Luca Brecel and defending champion Mark Selby are among an array of star names in the line-up for the first day of the BetVictor English Open at the Brentwood Centre next month, with the schedule now confirmed.
The world ranking event will run from October 2nd to 8th and will be staged at the Brentwood Centre in Essex for the second consecutive year. Matches on the opening day, Monday October 2nd, will include:
10am Mark Allen v Mostafa Dorgham Ding Junhui v Ma Hailong Ryan Day v Ashley Hugill Robert Milkins v Robbie Williams
Not before 1pm Ronnie O’Sullivan v Andrew Pagett John Higgins v Marco Fu Ryan Davies v Bradley Cowdroy (English amateur wild cards) Jack Lisowski v Matthew Stevens
Roll-on Roll-off Mark Selby v Xing Zhao Neil Robertson v Sanderson Lam Ali Carter v Jamie Clarke
7pm Luca Brecel v Stan Moody Shaun Murphy v Liu Hongyu Mark Williams v Ian Burns
Not before 8.00 pm Judd Trump v Sean O’Sullivan Kyren Wilson v Oliver Lines Barry Hawkins v Anthony Hamilton
One thought on “2023 English Open Qualifiers – Day 1”
Si Jiahui was lucky: Ursenbacher missed an easy chance to win. He rolled a pink to a middle pocket to win the match 4-1, and was stunned when it didn’t drop. Predictably, it ended with a 4-3 loss. He’s such a talented player, but his game (and confidence) has collapsed.
Also hitting something of a crisis is Jiang Jun. A couple of weeks ago he was leading Zak Surety 4-0, but somehow lost 5-4. Then a 5-0 defeat by Cao Yupeng, followed by yesterday’s 4-0 loss to Julien Leclercq. That’s 14 frames lost. He had chances, but couldn’t get over the line. He was a very talented kid with an unusual cue-action, but noted for his calm temperament. He’s finding it tough to adapt, as many have done.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Si Jiahui was lucky: Ursenbacher missed an easy chance to win. He rolled a pink to a middle pocket to win the match 4-1, and was stunned when it didn’t drop. Predictably, it ended with a 4-3 loss. He’s such a talented player, but his game (and confidence) has collapsed.
Also hitting something of a crisis is Jiang Jun. A couple of weeks ago he was leading Zak Surety 4-0, but somehow lost 5-4. Then a 5-0 defeat by Cao Yupeng, followed by yesterday’s 4-0 loss to Julien Leclercq. That’s 14 frames lost. He had chances, but couldn’t get over the line. He was a very talented kid with an unusual cue-action, but noted for his calm temperament. He’s finding it tough to adapt, as many have done.