Qualifiers continued in Leicester yesterday, this time for the 2024 Wuhan Open. That tournament is scheduled early October so it’s unlikely that current players’ form will still be relevant then.

Anyway… again there is no report by WST at the time of writing this piece¹. So here goes …

All the results can be found on snooker.org.

The day started with Mink and Baipat being whitewashed by Fan Zhengyi and He Guoquiang respectively. Fan and He are both very good players, of course, but those disaster results “en serie” must be damaging for these young women and, I’m now seriously questioning the alleged benefits of having the women playing in the main tour. But that’s for another day…

So… here are the matches/results that caught my attention

• Cheung Ka Wai 5-4 Stephen Maguire. That’s an excellent result for the rookie especially considering that Maguire lead 4-3. Everything I’ve seen from Cheung, including in the Final of the 2024 WSF Championship, tells me that he has a very good temperament and a solid head on his shoulders. One to follow this season.
• Si Jiahui beat Gong Chenzhi by 5-3 to qualify for Wuhan, but he was made to work by his 17 years old opponent. This was anything but a walk in the park for Si.
• Barry Hawkins was another one one who was made to work by a Chinese teenager rookie, the 18 years old Jiang Jun. Every frame was closely contested and Jiang had three breaks over 50 during that match. Experience prevailed but I stand by my opinion that it’s not right that the likes of Jiang get nothing for their efforts given the strength of the opposition.
• Jamie Clarke had to win the last three frame of his match to beat Alfie Burden by 5-4 and get through. There were 5 breaks over 60 in that match, three by Alfie who will wonder how he lost this one.
• Mostafa Dorgham from Egypt, beat Ricky Walden by 5-4. Ricky had three breaks over 60 in that match, for just one by Mostafa, but it was the Egyptian who took the close frames.
• The tie of the day saw Gary Wilson prevail by 5-4 over Alex Ursenbacher. This match was high quality and hard fought.
• John Higgins beat Ben Mertens by 5-1 but the match was closer than the score suggests, and Ben made the highest break of the match, a 96, in the only frame he won. In many ways this was a typical Higgins performance. Nothing fancy but very efficient.
• Haris Tahir from Pakistan created another surprise as he beat Jamie Jones by 5-3. Tahir is a rookie and qualified via the Asia/Oceania Q-School. He certainly can play, and score. He had 4 breaks over 50 in this match, including a century.
• In a battle of veterans, Jimmy White prevailed over Dominic Dale: 5-3 with breaks of 77 and 62. Yes, the Wind is still blowing!
• And then… the most extraordinary match on the day … next day actually: Long Zhehuang beat Mark Selby by 5-4 from 4-1 down. Mark had scored a 130 and a 135 to lead 4-1 but Long won four frames in a raw to deny him. Long scored a 50+ break in every frame he won: 53, 50, 67, 54, 67 … Mark had considered his future in snooker at the end of last season. I’m afraid that results like this one will not vindicate his decision to carry on, in his own mind at least. I’m sure that Mark has plenty more to give but he’s been struggling mentally a lot over the years. He has to prioritise his health above anything else.

1. There was a piece by WST yesterday, eventually. Late, very short and reporting on only four players, all British. ↩︎