Yesterday was some sort of ”moving day” at the 2024 World Grand Prix. The last 16 round concluded and the quarter finals round started.

In the afternoon, Ronnie beat Zhou Yuelong by 4-3. Ronnie looked tired, and appeared really downbeat, and even depressed in his post-match interview with Rob Walker. You will find more about that match and its aftermath here.

Gary Wilson, Ding Junhui and Zhang Anda were the other afternoon winners.

Here is the report by WST on those matches:

…

Wallsend’s Wilson compiled breaks of 121, 75 and 68 as he got the better of Ford. It’s an important result for Wilson in terms of his position on the one-year ranking list as he currently lies tenth, and if he’s still in the top 12 after March’s World Open then he’ll qualify for the Tour Championship for the first time.

“I am happier technically now than I was this time last year,” said Wilson. “If I can get my cue action right then something clicks for me. If I can keep winning and playing as many matches as I can then that builds confidence. Last season I just missed out on the Tour Championship and I was gutted, but I’m not looking at rankings now because that just creates extra pressure. I don’t mind playing Ronnie next because I always just play the table rather than worrying about my opponent.” 

…

UK Championship runner-up Ding Junhui eased to a 4-1 win over Noppon Saengkham with a top break of 101. He now faces a Chinese derby against Zhang Anda, a repeat of their International Championship quarter-final which Zhang won 6-3.

Today, Zhang kept his best-ever season going with a 4-2 defeat of Mark Allen. A break of 95 helped give Zhang a 3-0 lead, and he wrapped up the match in frame six after Allen had pulled two back. The result leaves Allen with work to do over the next two events to guarantee a place at February’s Players Championship. 

The remaining quarter-finals, Ronnie v Gary Wilson and Ding Junhui v Zhang Anda, will be played this afternoon. Given Ronnie exhaustion and poor mental state, I’m not sure what to wish for.

In the evening Judd Trump beat Mark Selby by 5-1 and Cao Yupeng came from behind to beat Mark Williams by 5-4.

Here is the report by WST:

Judd Trump looked close to the form which won him a hat-trick of ranking titles in October as he trounced Mark Selby 5-1 to reach the semi-finals of the Spreadex World Grand Prix.

Playing on home turf in Leicester, Selby suffered a resounding defeat as Trump stormed through to a meeting on Friday evening with Cao Yupeng, who came from 4-2 down to beat Mark Williams 5-4. 

After the match, Bristol’s Trump reacted to the announcement of the first ever WST event in Saudi Arabia, describing it as “amazing for snooker.”

Trump has lost just three frames in three matches so far this week and is two wins away from a fourth trophy of the season, having landed the English Open, Wuhan Open and Northern Ireland Open. The 34-year-old is through to his 59th ranking event semi-final. 

A break of 59 helped Trump win the opening frame, then Selby had a chance to level, but missed the final yellow to a baulk corner in frame two and his opponent took advantage. Trump also dominated the third then made a 119 for 4-0. After the interval, Selby at least avoided the whitewash thanks to a run of 100, but Trump soon wrapped up the contest with a 68 in frame six.

“Mark struggled bit, but any time you beat him you have to be happy,” said Trump, who is the only player to win this event three times. “I have had a good record against him recently and I feel comfortable against him. I tried to attack so that the game didn’t get bogged down.

“My results this week have been good although I still don’t feel I have played that well. When I have missed, my opponents haven’t punished me. I’m really happy to be in another semi-final and the tournament really starts now for me. I had a great first half of the season, it would be really hard to keep that going for the whole season, so to win the event this week would be important.“

Asked about the new Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker, to take place in March, the world number two added: “It’s amazing for snooker to be going to different places. We got back to China this season and felt appreciated. We are expanding and going to new territories. It’s amazing that Saudi Arabia want to get involved.”

China’s Cao is through to the fifth ranking event semi-final of his career, and second of the season having finished runner-up to Mark Allen at the Shoot Out last month. The 33-year-old scored one of his best ever wins against Williams tonight to keep alive his hopes of a first title.

Three-time Crucible king Williams eased into a 3-0 lead with top breaks of 92 and 60, and later led 4-2 before world number 43 Cao hit back with 74 and 55 for 4-4. In the decider,  Williams was among the balls and leading 33-5 when he suffered a cruel slice of misfortune, going into the pack of reds only to stick to the apex ball, leaving him without a pot. He later botched a safety, gifting Cao the opportunity to make an excellent 74 clearance.   

“I felt quite calm when behind and during the last frame, like I didn’t really mind losing the match,” said Cao. “I did show some resilience today. I wasn’t playing well at the beginning, especially in the first three frames. I had easy opportunities in all three but didn’t manage to make a break. I just did my best to make sure of the potting later on in the match.” 

Mark Selby was truly terrible yesterday. It happens to all of them occasionally. Cao impressed me. In the past I have seen him crumble under pressure but there was none of that yesterday. Willo’s game disintegrated as the match went on. Matk has been open about his eyesight issues and I couldn’t help but wonder if ocular fatigue was a factor yesterday evening.

The announcement referred to in Judd Trump’s quotes above is this:

Alalshikh Announces Agreement with World Snooker to Host First-Ever Invitational Event

Saudi Arabia, January 18, 2024

Riyadh Season has added another exciting event to its roster of activity this year after HE Advisor Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), confirmed the staging of the inaugural Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker.

In a first for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the invitational event is due to take  place between 4-6 March at Boulevard Arena in Boulevard City, Riyadh, and will feature some of the world’s top snooker players including the record seven-time World Snooker Championship winner Ronnie O’Sullivan, 2019 World Champion Judd Trump and current holder Luca Brecel.

Each game will be played under World Snooker rules and regulations but with the introduction of an innovative new concept, a 23rd ball known as the Riyadh Season ball. This gold ball will be worth 20 points and can only be potted once all other balls have been successfully cleared from the table if a player is on a maximum break to make it 167.

The agreement for this tournament was signed between Eng. Faisal Bafarat, CEO of GEA, and Steve Dawson, Chairman of World Snooker Tour, in the presence of HE Advisor Turki Alalshikh, as well as sports promoters Eddie Hearn and Barry Hearn.

HE Advisor Turki Alalshikh said: “We are thrilled to be hosting our first-ever professional snooker tournament in the Kingdom. Snooker is watched and played by millions around the world and we look forward to welcoming some of the greatest players and snooker fans to our country and showing them what Saudi Arabia and Riyadh Season has to offer.” 

Steve Dawson said: “It is a great privilege for the World Snooker Tour to work in partnership with HE Advisor Turki Alalshikh to stage an event in Saudi Arabia for the first time.

“This is a huge breakthrough for snooker into a new territory, and we see this as the beginning of a new adventure for our sport in the region.

“We are looking forward to being a part of Riyadh Season on this fantastic new  event featuring the world’s best players. We will be honored to bring our sport to the amazing city of Riyadh, and for the local fans this will be their first chance to see some of snooker’s all-time greats.”

Confirmation on all ten participants and schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.

Me … I’m NOT thrilled. I know there might be a lot of money to be taken there, and snooker certainly can do with more resources. But … BUT … This is a country that has a terrible record when it comes to human rights, to women’s rights, a country were people can be executed – are executed – for the crime of just disagreeing with the totalitarian regime in place. I know that there are many sports events going there, the money on offer is huge, the athletes are well looked after … but this is sports-washing of the highest order going on in that country. I do know that the players will go. Most of them will not have a clue about what sports-washing is, probably most don’t even know the word never-mind the reality behind it. Most of them genuinely won’t know what is going on in the country behind the wealthy facade. I have been around enough snooker players to know that, for most, their universe is quite “limited”: their family, their mates, their sport and their career, that’s it. But surely the people at the top must know ???