Yesterday was the last day of the 2024 Xian Grand Prix qualifiers. Only two sessions were scheduled and, at the time of writing, there is no report whatsoever by WST¹. There were some notable matches though…

Shaun Murphy continued to show great form as he defeated Mitchell Mann by 5-1 in a match that featured a 50+ break in every frame but the fifth.

Mark Davis, now 51 years young, still has it. He beat Ishpreet Singh Chadah by 5-3, with breaks of 52 and 63 in the last two frames. “Dark Mavis” reward is to face Willo at the venue… snooker is a young man’s game they say…

Another veteran who did really well but still lost is Jimmy White. At 62, having turned professional in 1980, he still fascinates. Si Jiahui, who is only 22 years old – half of the years Jimmy has spent on tour – and a very, very good player needed a decider to beat him. The match is on YouTube. Frame 6 was particularly dramatic. Jimmy was 67-0 up with 67 on the table. Si cleared with a break of 67 to force a re-spotted black … that Jimmy eventually potted to win that frame.

It is however a young man who delivered the most extraordinary result of the day. Indeed, Julien Leclercq came back from 0-4 down to beat Ben Woollaston by 5-4! That’s the two young Belgians – Julien and Ben – Xi’an bound … I’m very happy for Julien but I’m a bit sorry for Ben Woollaston who i like as well.

Speaking about Belgians, what exactly happened to Luca Brecel is still not known. He probably got stuck in heavy traffic but that has not been actually confirmed.

There were also wins for Judd Trump (easy) and Gary Wilson (not so easy). Judd beat Antoni Kowalski who is a rookie and has been interviewed by WST recently. Antoni comes across as a pretty assertive character with a lot of ambition. Let’s see if he can walk the walk after talking the talk.

All the results are on snooker.org as usual

So that’s the draw for the main event set.

Ronnie is set to face Wang Yuchen in his first match at the venue. The winner of that match will then play Bulcsú Révész … and the winner of that match will play the winner of Neil Robertson v Yuan Sijun.

Other interesting (in my opinion of course) matches played in the first round at the venue are:

• Anthony McGill v Ricky Walden
• John Higgins v Sunny Akani
• Lyu Haotian v Artemijs Zizins
• Ben Mertens v Gary Wilson

1. Not that the reports on previous days were particularly comprehensive … but they existed.
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