Here is WST report on the second day of the 2024 Wuhan Open Qualifiers:

CAPTAIN SET FOR WUHAN

Ali Carter recovered from 2-0 down to beat Wang Yuchen 5-3 and secure qualification for the final stages of the Wuhan Open. 

The Captain was runner-up in the inaugural event last season. He beat the likes of Mark Allen and Stuart Bingham to make the title match, but lost out 10-7 at the hands of Judd Trump. 

Carter’s place in Wuhan this year was under threat when he found himself two behind early on. However, breaks of 57, 135, 82 and 64 helped him to five out of the next six frames to emerge victorious.

Luca Brecel’s early season woes continued with a 5-4 defeat against Welshman Duane Jones. Belgium’s Brecel hasn’t won a match since March, having lost in the first round to Si Jiahui in Shanghai.

The 2023 World Champion then had to concede his Xi’an Grand Prix qualifier to Hammad Miah after being stuck in traffic. Jones had trailed 4-3 this evening, but made breaks of 53 and 66 to take the last two frames and victory. 

Tom Ford bowed out 5-3 at the hands of returning professsional Sunny Akani. Thailand’s Akani clinched his win with a fine break of 102 in the eighth frame. 

Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko came through 5-4 against Manasawin Phetmalaikul, while Xing Zihao scored a shock 5-1 win against 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham.

All results are, as always, on snooker.org

In general the young Chinese players continued to do well and impress. Not all of them won of course but the “winning rate” of that group is very encouraging. Snooker needs young players.

I was particularly happy to see Sunny Akani win again. He beat Tom Ford, seeded 13 in this competition, quite convincingly.

Another result that pleased me is Iulian Boiko (who replaced Sam Craigie) 5-4 win over Manasawin Phetmalaikul. Nothing against “Quid” but Iulian had so many “near wins” and disappointments in recent times that I feared he might get dispirited. This will do him a lot of good.

There will be no Belgian in Wuhan. Indeed Julian Leclercq also lost yesterday, by 5-2 to Graeme Dott. Julien had the highest break of the match, a 135, but that’s a meagre consolation. Now, this is a match he might learn a lot from. Dotty is probably the most underrated player on tour. You don’t become a World Champion, and twice a World Championship runner-up if you are not a very top player and competitor. I like him as a person as well. He speaks his mind and is genuine. BTW, if you haven’t read his biography “Frame of Mind” … I recommend it.

As for Luca… I couldn’t care less. The guy is infuriating. He’s blessed with incredible talents but, after every significant success, he goes walkabout… It’s been the story of his career and I’m not sure he can or is willing to change.

The last match to finish was the one between Anthony Hamilton and Reanne Evans. It went to a decider and finished past midnight local time.Reanne was absolutely gutted but this is by far her best performance in a long time. It’s encouraging and I hope that, in a couple of days, she can take the positives out of it.