Jack Lisowski made amends for dropping out of the elite top 16 as he raced through the final qualifying round of the Cazoo World Championship, beating Matthew Stevens 10-3 to earn a place at the Crucible.
After a disappointing season by his standards, reaching just one ranking semi-final, Lisowski still has the chance to finish the campaign on a high as he has handled the pressure of Crucible qualifying with typical panache, winning his two matches for the loss of just seven frames, making six centuries. Breaks of 137, 76, 80, 59, 73, 100 and 77 helped him turn a potentially tough tie against Stevens into a cakewalk.
Lisowski has been ever present at the Crucible since 2018 – reaching the quarter-finals in 2022 – and none of the 16 seeds will relish being pitted against the world number 17 when the draw is made on Thursday morning.
“This is the best I have played all season, I have practised really hard for it and it’s a relief to get through,” said Lisowski. “It’s a ‘no win’ really because I was expected to get through and I could only lose. I have been to the Crucible for six years in a row and I want to do well this time.
“I feel sharper than I have done all season. I know Ding got to the final (in 2016) having come through the qualifiers. My plan was to turn a negative into a positive. I have two matches under my belt now. I nicked an important frame at the end of the first session today to go 6-3 instead of 5-4. When I got chances I was scoring and so was Matthew, it was a really good game.“
Veteran Dominic Dale is back at the Crucible after a ten-year absence thanks to a 10-8 victory over He Guoqiang. At 52, Dale is the oldest qualifier since Steve Davis in 2010.
“I couldn’t dream at my age that I could play well enough to get to the Crucible,” admitted Dale, who has reached two ranking quarter-finals this season. “I am astonished. It has been so long since I played a match of that magnitude. My new girlfriend Anne has made a big difference to my life because her dad Jean, who lives in France, loves watching snooker on Eurosport. Before she met me, Anne wouldn’t have known what a snooker ball was but now she knows all about it. Between them they have convinced me to practise harder and I have done that this season, and had more focus in matches.“
Ricky Walden was never ahead of Mark Davis until he took a tense decider to win 10-9. “I’m not sure how I got through because I was second best all the way through but I stuck in there,” said Walden, a semi-finalist in 2013. “When the pressure is on it’s easy to roll over. But I kept rolling up my sleeves and trying. I am looking to get my game where I want it to me, the main thing for me is to go to the Crucible and play well.”
Stephen Maguire is back at the Crucible having missed out last year, and is now set for his 20th appearance at the Theatre of Dreams as he was ever-present from 2004 to 2022. The Glaswegian top scored with 106, 104 and 100 as he pulled away from 5-5 to beat Yuan Sijun 10-6.
Stuart Bingham, Crucible king in 2015, has been ever-present since 2011 and kept that run going with a 10-8 victory over Louis Heathcote. Bingham hadn’t won a knockout match in a ranking event in 2024 before heading to Sheffield, but came from 7-3 down to beat Stuart Carrington 10-9 then scored another gritty victory over Heathcote, firing runs of 60, 135 and 71 to take the last three frames.
Jak Jones reached the quarter-finals on his debut last year, and he booked his return with a 10-4 defeat of Zhou Yuelong, his top break 126. Lyu Haotian will join the Chinese contingent at the Crucible thanks to a 10-7 success against Jenson Kendrick. Breaks of 121 and 117 helped Lyu to book a fourth appearance. Robbie Williams made an excellent break of 78 in the decider to beat Chris Wakelin 10-9.
JUDGEMENT DAY HIGHLIGHTS
There is not much to add about the action. Judgement Days coverage on ES and social media is great, as you keep up with all matches, but you can’t really follow how a match unfolds.
He Guoqiang’s defeat means that Ben Mertens will now definitely get a new tour card through the one year list unless Jiang Jun reaches the semi-finals at the Crucible. It’s not impossible of course but it’s very unlikely and it would be the story of the decade for sure! This is the provisional “end of season” ranking list by snooker.org. As you can see, the lowest ranked player still competing in the 2024 World Championship, the last event of the season, other that Jiang Jun, is Scott Donaldson, provisionally ranked 51st, which means that whatever happens from now on for those players, will not impact those ranked below him.
I’m really sorry for Jason Kendrick. It was a colossal effort. It took him too long to make an impact on the main tour, maybe because of his private situation1. He will have to go to Q-School if he wants to be a professional snooker players and I’m wishing him the best in his future endeavours, whatever that will be.
Today is the last day of the 2024 World championship Qualifiers. Five Chinese players will be in action, four of them young lads. The draw is such that at least two Chinese players will come through today. They will join Ding and Zhang Ada in the main draw, meaning that there will be at least four Chinese players at the Crucible this season.
Jenson is a “young” father. A new and first baby means happiness of course but also sleepless nights and additional responsibilities. ↩︎
8 thoughts on “The 2024 World Snooker Championship Qualifiers – Day 9”
Dear Monique, it is sad to hear about your health problems! I love your blog very much, it is always interesting and entertaining, when you write about strange things, strange people, strange matches in the snookerscene! Although I don’t know you personelly, reading your comments is like meeting a friend, your opinion is mostly also mine!!
If your health will alow to continue working nearly daily on this blog , please don’t stop (human beings make sometimes little mistakes!)
Thank you Elisabeth. It’s not that bad. I don’t plan to stop. It just annoys me that my concentration goes walk-about at times, especially in hours after I take that medication. But what you know and accept … you can manage better.
A best-of-19 match should give every player the chance to find some form and show their true capability. This happened in the Kendrick-Lyu match, which was cagey until the second session, when Lyu made some high-class breaks. Zhou Yuelong, in contrast, once again failed to perform in a World Championship qualifier.
Louis Heathcote missed a great chance to beat Bingham. In general, the matches were won by the more experienced player.
I agree the broadcast coverage was good. Each time they do this, it’s a little better; the changeovers between tables was sharper than last year. Dave Hendon was excellent as always.
But unfortunately once again we had to go through Ken Doherty and Rob Walker eulogising the Crucible Theatre: ‘despite all it’s problems’, identifying ‘memories’ as the key factor. In other words: they put their own memories ahead of the future development of snooker.
Also, at some point Rob Walker stated he will interview all players ‘who are prepared to talk to us’. Is he therefore saying that Lyu Haotian refused an interview? He can’t hope that all six Chinese players lose today, because of the two all-Chinese clashes. If Si Jiahui qualifies, it would be criminal not to ask him about the Mertens match and remind the viewers of his run last year. What is the purpose of interviews if not that?
About the Crucible, yes, they were both at it, stating that snooker should NEVER leave the place and that snooker had a lot of nostalgic fans who would hate to see that happen. Rob here is probably the “voice of the BBC” as well. Living on nostalgia is a very dangerous policy. Nostalgic fans are bound to be older fans. They are the past, and snooker needs a future. Ronnie spoke out saying that the Crucible is an inadequate venue, too small, not properly equipped for hospitality. Here is the link on Eurosport: https://www.eurosport.com/snooker/world-championship/2023-2024/ronnie-o-sullivan-revisits-crucible-criticism-ahead-of-world-championship-you-might-get-lasagne-but-_sto10103759/story.shtml . Surprisingly it went relatively unnoticed and, no, it’s not really about lasagne.
“Five Chinese players will be in action, four of them young lads.”
SIX Chinese players in action today, Jun, Yupeng, Junxu, Jiahui, Yize, and Guodong.
“The draw is such that at least two Chinese players will come through today. They will join Ding and Zhang Ada in the main draw, meaning that there will be at least four Chinese players at the Crucible this season.”
At least FIVE Chinese players at the Crucible. You’re forgetting Lyu Haotian, who defeated Kendrick yesterday.
You’re right. What I had in mind was in fact that at least two would come through today. Indeed I totally forgot Lyu who qualified already. As I indeed forgot Xiao Guodong… I hate to say this but the truth is that I’m going through some health issues – nothing life threatening but it needs attention – and the medication I’m taking impacts my capacity to concentrate (it’s explained in the medical notice and yes, I read them…). Maybe I should stop blogging for now? Anyway thank you Mr R. and every one who reads this blog and spots my mistakes.
No worries, I hope you get over any health issues. And I love this blog, keep up the great work.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Dear Monique, it is sad to hear about your health problems! I love your blog very much, it is always interesting and entertaining, when you write about strange things, strange people, strange matches in the snookerscene! Although I don’t know you personelly, reading your comments is like meeting a friend, your opinion is mostly also mine!!
If your health will alow to continue working nearly daily on this blog , please don’t stop (human beings make sometimes little mistakes!)
Thank you Elisabeth. It’s not that bad. I don’t plan to stop. It just annoys me that my concentration goes walk-about at times, especially in hours after I take that medication. But what you know and accept … you can manage better.
A best-of-19 match should give every player the chance to find some form and show their true capability. This happened in the Kendrick-Lyu match, which was cagey until the second session, when Lyu made some high-class breaks. Zhou Yuelong, in contrast, once again failed to perform in a World Championship qualifier.
Louis Heathcote missed a great chance to beat Bingham. In general, the matches were won by the more experienced player.
I agree the broadcast coverage was good. Each time they do this, it’s a little better; the changeovers between tables was sharper than last year. Dave Hendon was excellent as always.
But unfortunately once again we had to go through Ken Doherty and Rob Walker eulogising the Crucible Theatre: ‘despite all it’s problems’, identifying ‘memories’ as the key factor. In other words: they put their own memories ahead of the future development of snooker.
Also, at some point Rob Walker stated he will interview all players ‘who are prepared to talk to us’. Is he therefore saying that Lyu Haotian refused an interview? He can’t hope that all six Chinese players lose today, because of the two all-Chinese clashes. If Si Jiahui qualifies, it would be criminal not to ask him about the Mertens match and remind the viewers of his run last year. What is the purpose of interviews if not that?
About the Crucible, yes, they were both at it, stating that snooker should NEVER leave the place and that snooker had a lot of nostalgic fans who would hate to see that happen. Rob here is probably the “voice of the BBC” as well. Living on nostalgia is a very dangerous policy. Nostalgic fans are bound to be older fans. They are the past, and snooker needs a future. Ronnie spoke out saying that the Crucible is an inadequate venue, too small, not properly equipped for hospitality. Here is the link on Eurosport: https://www.eurosport.com/snooker/world-championship/2023-2024/ronnie-o-sullivan-revisits-crucible-criticism-ahead-of-world-championship-you-might-get-lasagne-but-_sto10103759/story.shtml . Surprisingly it went relatively unnoticed and, no, it’s not really about lasagne.
“Five Chinese players will be in action, four of them young lads.”
SIX Chinese players in action today, Jun, Yupeng, Junxu, Jiahui, Yize, and Guodong.
“The draw is such that at least two Chinese players will come through today. They will join Ding and Zhang Ada in the main draw, meaning that there will be at least four Chinese players at the Crucible this season.”
At least FIVE Chinese players at the Crucible. You’re forgetting Lyu Haotian, who defeated Kendrick yesterday.
You’re right. What I had in mind was in fact that at least two would come through today. Indeed I totally forgot Lyu who qualified already. As I indeed forgot Xiao Guodong… I hate to say this but the truth is that I’m going through some health issues – nothing life threatening but it needs attention – and the medication I’m taking impacts my capacity to concentrate (it’s explained in the medical notice and yes, I read them…). Maybe I should stop blogging for now? Anyway thank you Mr R. and every one who reads this blog and spots my mistakes.
No worries, I hope you get over any health issues. And I love this blog, keep up the great work.
Thank you.