New tour member Liam Davies got his Cazoo World Championship qualification campaign underway with an emphatic 10-3 win over Australia’s Ryan Thomerson at the English Institute of Sport.
Welshman Davies gained a two-year professional card, which starts next season, after winning the European Under-21 Championship last month. That came after two years of near misses on the Q Tour and at Q School.
In 2022, Davies became the youngest ever match winner in World Championship history with a victory over Aaron Hill. Since then, Davies has been touted for big things in the sport.
Davies crafted runs of 57, 50, 107 and 54 in today’s win, which earns him a second round encounter with Jimmy Robertson. After the match Davies admitted it is a weight off his shoulders to have professional status next season.
“It is a massive relief. I’ve been trying for two years and I’ve had a few near misses. It is character building. Not great at the time but it makes you a much stronger person,” said 17-year-old Davies.
“It is hard as it is without the added pressure (of trying to get on tour). You just have to take it in your stride. It can be tough when you lose a couple of games and lose confidence in yourself. I’ve got two years to look forward to now.”
DAVIES ON TOUR QUALIFICATION
Jensen Kendrick kept his tour survival hopes alive after holding off a spirited fightback from Women’s World Champion Bai Yulu to win 10-7.
Kendrick had led 6-2 after the opening eight frames, but Bai came roaring back into contention and eventually trailed by just two at 9-7.
The 17th frame saw Bai seemingly down and out when she needed two snookers. However, Kendrick hit the black when escaping a snooker on the last red and let Bai back in to force a re-spot. It was Kendrick who potted it to progress and earn a second round tie with Ben Woollaston.
Ross Muir came from 9-6 down to beat Hong Kong’s Ka Wai Cheung 10-9. Meanwhile, Michael Holt, who recently topped the Q Tour standings to return to the main circuit, lost out 10-6 to China’s Xing Zihao.
Welshman Andrew Pagett came through 10-9 against Andy Lee. That means Hong Kong’s Lee is relegated from the tour.
The afternoon session saw former Women’s World Champion Mink Nutcharut end level at 4-4 with Sheffield’s Adam Duffy, while Swiss number one Alexander Ursenbacher moved 9-0 up on Ukrainian Iulian Boiko.
Bai Yulu really impressed me. She started slowly, obviously not used to the environment and conditions, but in the second session she was the better player. She is technically sound, thinks clearly, and isn’t defensive. She lacks cue power though, like most women and in particular the young Asian ones who, in general, are slender and not very tall. She fought very hard yesterday and gained the respect of the commentators on duty, notably Neal Foulds.
The other match I watched was Alex Ursenbacher v Iulian Boiko. Alex is a bit of a mystery. He can play really well, and he did yesterday. He clearly thrives when on table 1 for a big occasion but often delivers very little when not in the spotlights. That said his opponent, Iulian Boiko, was awful yesterday. I’m afraid that Iulian, like Liam Davies, has been through “near misses”, more than a few actually over the last two years … and it’s getting at him. His confidence looks shattered and yesterday’s session will only make it worse. It’s a terrible shame.
Another “terrible shame” is the WST scoring system. If you want to follow just one match, ok, it gives you everything, the scores, the current break and what ball is played next. If you want to follow a set of matches, it’s totally inadequate and unpractical. You can’t isolate the matches in progress on a separate page, the scores don’t refresh automatically and you can’t follow what’s going on at a particular table unless you go to the “score centre” and then you can see only that one match. So, unless you have a giant screen, you spend a lot of time scrolling and switching pages. It’s frustrating. And if you wish to follow a streamed match at the same time, it’s even more irritating …
3 thoughts on “The 2024 World Snooker Championship Qualifiers – Day 1”
As expected the first round is a complete mixture. There were some great performances, there were some terrible ones.
Unfortunately Bai Yulu was not able to score – only one 50+ break when she was already losing the match. But she remained positive. I saw her afterwards and she was not at all upset. She knows it’s just the start of a long journey. Both players were exhausted at the end.
Someone who should also learn a lot if KW Cheung. Bizarrely, he lost the first 4 frames, and the last 4 frames. In between, he was brilliant. Arnie Ursenbacher was also brilliant, but unfortunately Boiko collapsed. Other players who showed great talent were Sykes, Revesz and Gradinari, but it’s a learning process for them too. Xing Zihao did very well, but Michael Holt yet again displayed all his old weaknesses.
Does anyone have the statistics for Kendrick-Bai?
I really don’t understand what was wrong with the old scoring system: this renewing gave the picture of the balls, which is nice, but I think the old one was perfectly adequate.
I’m really looking forward to seeing Bai Yulu next season on the tour. Hopefully she will overcome the ills of the slow start: that as somehow her “habit” in the women’s championship too, at least against Evans if I remember well, but fortunately she has not spent too much time there yet to come to the feeling that it is recoverable. In any case, she is a break-builder, which is good to see. I didn’t see Mink, but according to scores she started quite well, but unfortunately was caught up with afterwards,
Boiko worries me too. I have not much use for Ursenbacher: it’s not much of a career to get through QSchool, win nothing, if the draw is favourable, beat Ronnie, then back to QSchool. So I’m not thrilled that he came to life now. Iulian really had some near losses and would have benefited from a confidence-booster.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
As expected the first round is a complete mixture. There were some great performances, there were some terrible ones.
Unfortunately Bai Yulu was not able to score – only one 50+ break when she was already losing the match. But she remained positive. I saw her afterwards and she was not at all upset. She knows it’s just the start of a long journey. Both players were exhausted at the end.
Someone who should also learn a lot if KW Cheung. Bizarrely, he lost the first 4 frames, and the last 4 frames. In between, he was brilliant. Arnie Ursenbacher was also brilliant, but unfortunately Boiko collapsed. Other players who showed great talent were Sykes, Revesz and Gradinari, but it’s a learning process for them too. Xing Zihao did very well, but Michael Holt yet again displayed all his old weaknesses.
Does anyone have the statistics for Kendrick-Bai?
I really don’t understand what was wrong with the old scoring system: this renewing gave the picture of the balls, which is nice, but I think the old one was perfectly adequate.
I’m really looking forward to seeing Bai Yulu next season on the tour. Hopefully she will overcome the ills of the slow start: that as somehow her “habit” in the women’s championship too, at least against Evans if I remember well, but fortunately she has not spent too much time there yet to come to the feeling that it is recoverable. In any case, she is a break-builder, which is good to see. I didn’t see Mink, but according to scores she started quite well, but unfortunately was caught up with afterwards,
Boiko worries me too. I have not much use for Ursenbacher: it’s not much of a career to get through QSchool, win nothing, if the draw is favourable, beat Ronnie, then back to QSchool. So I’m not thrilled that he came to life now. Iulian really had some near losses and would have benefited from a confidence-booster.