The 2024 World Open got underway yesterday in Yushan and here is WST report on that first day of competition:

WORLD OPEN DAY ONE ROUNDUP: BULLET FIRES PAST PHETMALAIKUL

World Champion Luca Brecel proclaimed that his hunger was back after scoring an emphatic 5-1 win over Manasawin Phetmalaikul at the Huading Nylon World Open in Yushan.

The Belgian Bullet shot to the top of the snooker stratosphere last May with a stunning victory at the World Championship, an event he admitted he did minimal work for on the practice table.

Since then Brecel’s form has been erratic, other than making two finals at the invitational Shanghai Masters and Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker. He lost both of those title matches to Ronnie O’Sullivan.

With the defence of this world title coming quickly round the corner next month, he is now determined to put the hours in and hit top form.

Today’s match saw Brecel, who must win the event to qualify for the Johnstone’s Paint Tour Championship, fire in breaks of 131, 100 and 94 on his way to victory.  Afterwards he proclaimed that he is back to full confidence. Next up he faces Oliver Brown.

“If anything, I feel even better than last year at the World Championship. I don’t know where it has come from. Obviously I have been working hard on my game, mentally and on the table, but I didn’t expect it to happen that fast. I feel really confident and good about my game.”

Luca Brecel

World Champion

Brecel added: “I am practising more, doing the right stuff and mentally I’ve been more conscious on the table, more focussed with more concentration. I feel really good and that every time I go to the table I fancy a good performance. I am in a good place.

“I am just more hungry than ever before in my career. I’ve always had struggles with motivation and getting up for games. That hasn’t been a problem in the last few weeks. I don’t want to make the same mistakes as the past. I’ve learned a lot this year.”  

INSPIRED BRECEL REGAINS CONFIDENCE

Judd Trump got his quest for a fifth ranking title of the season underway with a 5-2 defeat of Malaysia’s Rory Thor.

Trump and O’Sullivan have been the two standout players on the tour this season and both will be among the favourites to capture the title this week, with O’Sullivan taking to the baize tomorrow.

The Ace in the Pack top scored with 130 in today’s tie and will now face fellow Englishman Sanderson Lam.

Home hero Ding Junhui secured his progression with a 5-3 win over Zak Surety, who made his maiden career 147 despite defeat.

Ding himself crafted breaks of 54, 122, 94 and 77 during the encounter. He now faces Chinese compatriot Lyu Hongyu.

Welshman Daniel Wells pulled off a shock 5-3 win over world number three Mark Allen, while 2005 World Champion Shaun Murphy battled past Xu Si 5-3.

Here is Zak’s 147 shared by ES on on their YouTube channel

Mark Allen’s defeat was, of course, the surprise of the day. However probably just as surprising was the double win by 16 years old wildcard Wang Xinbo who sent Matt Selt packing.

With the EBSA event also underway, I must confess that I didn’t see much more than Ding’s and Judd’s matches. Judd didn’t particularly impress me and Thor didn’t play as well as he can and didn’t have much luck either. But, of course, for Judd it was a first match and a possible banana skin, for Thor it was unfamiliar territory to be on the main table.

As a side note… ahead of the tournament, Ronnie was inducted into the Billiards Museum Hall of fame. He wasn’t the only one. From what I understood from social media posts, there were eight or nine billiards players of various disciplines honoured, amongst them Allison Fisher and Pankaj Advani.