Yesterday was a truly gripping day at the EIS in Sheffield. It featured some very hard-fought matches and some almighty comebacks. The report by WST though focused on a stunning performance by Jack Lisowski.
CRUCIBLE QUALIFYING DAY SIX: LISOWSKI SET FOR JUDGEMENT DAY
World number 17 Jack Lisowski fired in four centuries on his way to beating Liu Hongyu 10-4 to earn his place on Judgement Day at Cazoo World Championship qualifying in Sheffield.
A below par season from six-time ranking event finalist Lisowski has seen him slip out of the world’s top 16 and fall one position shy of automatic qualification for the Crucible. It’s the first time the 32-year-old has required the qualifying stages since 2018.
Lisowski put on a blistering display in this morning’s opening session, firing in breaks of 104, 71, 104, 72, 100 and 50 en route to establishing a commanding 7-2 lead. When play resumed this evening, China’s Liu did provide some resistance but a sublime 142 from Lisowski wrapped up the 10-4 win.
“My results this season have been garbage, but I’m enjoying myself a lot more. That’s the goal isn’t it? Enjoy yourself and be happy,” said Lisowski.
“It’s always tough for the seeds, whoever they play. All of the qualifiers are pretty good. I’m one game away so fingers crossed. It is two good games under your belt if you can get there. It is going to be a tough game for me next, but I just have to knuckle down and dig in.”
Jenson Kendrick continued his remarkable run to defeat Jordan Brown 10-5 and reach Judgement Day. World number 104 Kendrick entered the event in round one and needs to reach the Crucible to remain on tour. He now faces Lyu Haotian in the final round.
Anthony McGill’s run of nine straight Crucible appearances has come to an end after a 10-5 defeat against He Guoqiang, while Mark Davis scored a narrow 10-8 win over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.
The second round also concluded today. Among the results, Ben Mertens defeated Rod Lawler 10-9 to keep his tour survival chances alive and relegate Lawler. Alfie Burden remained in the hunt for a first Crucible visit since 1998, thrashing Xu Si 10-3.
The Ben Mertens v Rod Lawler match was quite an extraordinary one and towards the end I was barely able to watch! Rod was his usual slow self but he can score. In this match he occupied the table 63% of the time, he score 7 breaks over 50 and lead 8-3 … But Ben refused to give up. He had to win 7 of the 8 possibly remaining frames and that’s what he did! He also scored the only century of the match in the process. Dikke Proficiat Ben!
Jenson Kendrick run is just as remarkable. He had won very little over the last two seasons, and nobody was giving him much of a chance. But he has already won three matches in the last week, beating Bai Yulu, Ben Wollaston and Jordan Brown. He needs to beat Lyu Haotian and reach the Crucible to stay on tour and, should he succeed, become one of the most unlikely qualifiers in the history of the Crucible.
Ma Hailong, the 2023 WSF champion, is another young player who is having a quite remarkable run in this event, and thanks the WST UK bias it’s a quiet remarkable run as well… Ma beat Martin O’Donnell by 10-7 yesterday to reach round 3.
As for Jack Lisowski, from what I understood, he’s now working with Lee Walker. Lee may not have got the brightest career but he’s a fantastic coach. Don’t get me wrong, Lee is a very good player, albeit not a top player, but he is a top top coach, maybe even the best in that business currently. Being able to pass what you know to others and help them to be the best they can be, better even than you will ever be, is a wonderful gift very few possess. Lee Walker has that gift and he’s a great and humble person as well.
In other news … WPBSA has issued this statement regarding Martin Gould
WPBSA STATEMENT: MARTIN GOULD
Following Martin Gould’s withdrawal from the 2024 Cazoo World Snooker Championship, the WPBSA has considered the position in relation to his tour place.
This is following an application for a medical exemption which was lodged with the WPBSA earlier in the season, at a time Martin was forced to withdraw from several major ranking events, due to injury.
Having considered the all of the facts, the WPBSA, in consultation with WST, has now offered Martin a 12-month extension to his tour place. Martin will retain his current earned prize money points and this decision will not affect other current tour players.
The WPBSA, WPBSA Players and WST wish Martin all the best and look forward to seeing him back competing next season.
Incredibly – well it’s incredible for me at least – some fans disagreed with that decision. It’s not a first either, the most recent case being Marco Fu who was awarded an invitational tour card. His eyes issues were a big factor in that decision, as was the pandemic of course. I’m wishing Martin the very best. His health has to come first and I’m glad that WPBSA gives him this opportunity.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
It must have happened a long time ago (last I remember seeing it was the UK championship), but when and why did McGill stop using his graphite cue? It didn’t work out?
Ironically his opponent did.
Sorry, I was too quick in reading your comment. His opponent did wear gloves like he had done.
true, I chuckled at that too 😁
There are procedural issues awarding tour card extensions, and there ought to be some degree of transparency. It shouldn’t depend on the ‘popularity’ of the player. In fact, it’s one of the reasons why I don’t really believe in the 128-player tour card structure. For example, if Martin Gould can’t play until November, there needs to be top-up players, and what happens to his ranking? It’s terribly messy with such a rigid structure.
Yesterday was very tense, and I was particularly involved in the last two matches, which finished almost simultaneously: Lyu-Wells and Mertens-Lawler. Ben Martens now has a chance of survival, although he was extremely lucky that Lawler cracked.
There have been a lot of matches hooked off, sometimes after only 7 frames. Perhaps this is because of extra tension, perhaps because of slightly worsening table conditions making matches more scrappy.
But Lisowski was brilliant, putting his opponent under enormous pressure.
No problem with Gould getting an extension, BUT why was he in the World Championship draw in the first place? And WHY wasn’t he replaced with an amateur top-up?
I can’t be sure and I don’t know when Martin filed his exemption request but IF Martin still believed that he would lose his tour card just before the event started then, likely he was determined to try with all he had … only to find himself really unable to play, even through the pain.
Mark Davis potted an unbelievable black to go 9-5 up which left Thepchaya too much to do!