The 2024 Welsh Open will be played in beautiful Llandudno this season

The qualifiers for this event concluded yesterday evening. All the detailed results are on snooker.org.

Here are the reports by WST day by day:

Day 1 – 25 January 2024

STEVENS THROUGH TO LLANDUDNO

Matthew Stevens fired two centuries as he booked a place in his home tournament by beating Louis Heathcote 4-3 in the qualifying round of the BetVictor Welsh Open.

Former UK and Masters champion Stevens, from Carmarthen, goes through to the final stages, to run from February 12 to 18 in Llandudno.

Heathcote started strongly with breaks of 72 and 85 to win the first two frames, then Stevens came from 60-0 down to take the third with a 71 clearance, before making 137 and 120 to go 3-2 ahead. Frame six went Heathcote’s way but Stevens got the better of the decider with a top run of 41.

Crucible semi-finalist Si Jiahui saw off six-time ranking event winner Stephen Maguire 4-1 with top breaks of 85, 71, 53 and 67. Neath’s Daniel Wells beat Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-2 with a top run of 66. BetVictor Scottish Open champion Gary Wilson scored a 4-1 success against Mark Davis, while Ross Muir earned a 4-2 victory over Stephen Hendry. 

Graeme Dott came from 2-0 down to edge out Pang Junxu 4-3, winning a tight deciding frame by potting brown, blue and pink. Hossein Vafaei top scored with 91 in a 4-1 win over Scott Donaldson.

It was a good day for the Belgian youngsters as Julien Leclercq made a break of 74 in the deciding frame to beat Alfie Burden 4-3, while Ben Mertens top scored with 86 in a 4-0 whitewash of Hammad Miah. 

Day 2 – 26 January 2024

DAY SURVIVES DORGHAM TEST

Ryan Day came through a tough battle against Egypt’s Mostafa Dorgham, winning 4-3 to earn a spot in the televised phase of the BetVictor Welsh Open. 

Four-time ranking event winner Day might have expected an easier evening against world number 124 Dorgham, but was pushed all the way before eventually securing a place in the last 64 in Llandudno next month. 

African champion Dorgham led 2-1 before Day made breaks of 58 and 64 to go 3-2 up. Dorgham won frame six on the final black for 3-3, but Day dominated the decider with a top run of 47.

Best fight-back of the day came from Jordan Brown, who won this event in 2021, as he recovered a 3-0 deficit to beat Lyu Haotian 4-3. A break of 79 helped Brown recover to 3-3, and he clinched the decider on the final black with a 34 clearance. 

Stan Moody fired runs of 83 and 58 as he beat Sean O’Sullivan 4-2, while fellow tour rookie Liam Pullen eased to a 4-0 win over Rebecca Kenna. Chester’s Ricky Walden, who lives closer to Llandudno than any other pro, came from 2-1 down to beat Andy Hicks 4-2. 

Marco Fu top scored with 93 as he beat Stuart Bingham 4-1, while Adam Duffy registered a surprise 4-0 win over Zhou Yuelong. Oliver Lines edged out Michael White 4-3 with a 111 in the deciding frame, while Matthew Selt won a 75-minute decider on the colours to beat Sam Craigie 4-3. 

Day 3 – 27 January 2024

BOIKO BUILDS MOMENTUM

Julian Boiko completed a fine week at qualifying in Barnsley as he beat Ishpreeet Singh Chadha 4-0 to book a place in the final stages of the BetVictor Welsh Open.

Earlier in the week, Ukraine’s 18-year-old Boiko saw off Baipat Siripaporn 5-1 to earn a spot in the World Open, and he can now look forward to a trip to Llandudno having whitewashed Singh Chada with top breaks of 101 and 73.

Competing as an amateur, Boiko reached the last 16 of the BetVictor Shoot Out last month and continues to build momentum as he seeks a return to the pro tour. 

In a match where the two players had a combined age of 113, Dominic Dale beat Jimmy White 4-1 with a top break of 84. David Gilbert needed just 51 minutes score a 4-0 success aginst Ken Doherty with runs of 136, 62, 66 and 68.

Llanelli’s Jamie Clarke came from 2-0 down to edge out James Cahill 4-3, while Tom Ford made a 93 in the decider to win a Leicester derby against Ben Woollaston 4-3. 

Crucible quarter-finalist Jak Jones won the deciding frame on the final pink to beat Liu Hongyu 4-3, while Joe Perry, who won this event in 2022, lost 4-2 to Fan Zhengyi. Caerphilly’s Dylan Emery made breaks of 103, 92 and 123 in a fine 4-1 victory over Fergal O’Brien. 

One of the reasons I insist that there should be no qualifiers in any flat draw events, unless they are played at or near the main event venue, is that, only too often, the “local” players fail to qualify and the local fans don’t get the opportunity to cheer on their “own” players. This has been often the case for the Welsh players in the past. Fortunately this time all the Welsh players did well and Matthew Stevens, Ryan Day, Daniel Wells, Dominic Dale, Andrew Pagett, Jamie Clarke and Dylan Emery all qualified. Willo of course has his opening match held over to the venue.

On the first day, I mainly focused on the Belgian lads, Ben and Julien. Both managed a much needed win. Julien faced a tough challenge in Alfie Burden. Their match was a close high scoring affair: they had six breaks over 60 in seven frames, including a 61 by Alfie in frame 2, a frame he lost.

Day 2 produced some extraordinary “features”.

It was frustration day: Zhou Yuelong, whose current lack of form is worrying, conceded frame 2 at 13-46 with five reds left, Stuart Bingham, who struggles with his eyesight, conceded frame 5 on 0-59 with 6 reds left and Himanshu Jain missed the 11th black in a maximum attempt in frame 4, the only frame he won, in his match against Noppon Saengkham.

Matthew Selt and Sam Craigie had an incredible battle. The whole match lasted over 4 1/2 hours, the deciding frame alone lasted over 1h20′. There was just one break over 50 all match. In four frames the winner finished with a total under 70 points, and that without any early concession. It was hard match snooker at its hardest. It was fascinating but hardly the type of match that will attract young poeple or new fans to the sport. Because of it, the evening match between Day and Dorgham was played on an outside table so that the players weren’t made to wait, and despite going to a deciding frame, their match finished less than half an hour after the Selt v Craigie one.

Comparatively, Day 3 was rather uneventful despite delivering some close battles.

Ronnie has said that he will not play in the Welsh Open this season but, as far as we know, he hasn’t withdrawn yet. We shall see. The reason I say that is because he loves Llandudno, he loves the place, he loves the arena and he has running mates there.