2024 British Open Qualifiers – Day 4

Yesterday was the last day of the 2024 British Open “qualifiers”, aka round 1 matches not played at the main venue. Once again the report by WST is incomplete and largely UK centric. The matches played in the late afternoon and evening are not reported on at all. Unprofessional and lazy.

Englishman Oliver Lines produced a battling display to beat China’s Lei Peifan 4-3 and secure his place in the final stages of the Unibet British Open.

World number 108 Lines remained on tour by the skin of his teeth at the end of last season, retaining his place thanks to his performance in the one year list. The two-time ranking event quarter-finalist started well today, with breaks of 116 and 94 on his way to establishing a 2-1 lead.

However, Lei hit back to hit the front himself at 3-2. Lines held his nerve and claimed the last two and emerge a deciding frame victor.

David Gilbert continued a strong start to his season with a 4-0 win over Dylan Emery. Tamworth’s Gilbert made the semi-finals of last season’s World Championship and he has continued where he left off, having already been on a run to the final group of the Championship League and qualified for the Xi’an Grand Prix. He crafted runs of 85 and 72 in today’s win.

There were two Chinese victories against Scottish counterparts. Lyu Haotian was a 4-0 winner against Anthony McGill, while Tian Pengfei defeated Scott Donaldson 4-2.

But all the results are on snooker.org

So? Here is what happened after WST’s writer called it a day, or even before but they couldn’t be bothered to report on it

Cheung Ka Wai beat Kreishh Gurbaxani by 4-0 in the first match to finish yesterday. They are both rookies but Cheung is showing real quality early in the season. He has “qualified” for the 2024 Wuhan Open and the 2024 British Open. He will not be in Xi’an as he lost his qualifying match against Ryan Day but that match went to a decider and Cheung had three centuries. Also, in the ranking CLS his only defeat came at the hands of Neil Robertson.
Wu Yize beat Baipat by 4-1. Baipat managed to win the first frame on the final black but after that Wu controlled the match and dominated. He finished the job with a beautiful 111.
David Gilbert whitewashed Dylan Emery. The most points Dylan scored in a frame was 17. Pretty brutal but not a big surprise by any means.
Graeme Dott beat Matthew Stevens by 4-1. The match was closer than the score suggests but Matthew didn’t “score” enough when in.
Haris Tahir beat Dean Young by 4-3. This was a very close match, not just the final score, but every frame was close and hard fought. Haris is a rookie. He came through the Asia/Pacific Q-School … and is undefeated so far on the main tour.
Robbie Williams beat Jackson Page by 4-1. Jackson won the first frame with a break of 62, the highest of the match, but after that Robbie controlled and dominated. Robbie had breaks of 57 and 61.
Elliot Slessor beat Joshua Cooper by 4-1, finishing with breaks of 98 and 64. Joshua is an amateur and replaced Sam Craigie.
Ben Mertens beat Zak Surety by 4-1, a one sided outcome but actually most frames were very close. Ben had breaks of 54 and 66.