Latvia’s first ever professional Artemijs Zizins sealed the biggest win of his fledgling career, defeating China’s Xu Si 4-3 to reach the third round of the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
Zizins was given a bye through yesterday’s first round, after his opponent Kok Leong Lim didn’t show up. The 18-year-old displayed a steeliness beyond his age today when he found himself on the ropes at 3-2 down.
A run of 71 took the match to a final frame, before Zizins made a tremendous break of 137 to clinch victory.
It’s the first time Zizins has made the third round of a ranking event, having turned professional at the start of the season. He successfully ran the gauntlet at Q School to clinch a maiden tour card. Next up this week the teenager faces fascinating clash with Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.
Jimmy White continued to roll back the years with a 4-1 defeat of Andrew Higginson. The 62-year-old safely negotiated round one with a 4-2 win over the UAE’s Mohamed Shehab and today’s win now sees White earn a third round meeting with Si Jiahui.
White said: “I do know how to win. You have to get on a run and you have to win a couple of matches. Andrew Higginson is a really tough player. I was pleased. There were a couple of small errors and negative thoughts. Other than that it was a good day’s work.”
Former German Masters winner Anthony Hamilton ended the run of 2022 Women’s World Champion Mink Nutcharut with a marathon 4-2 victory. Afterwards Hamilton admitted he would have to up his levels to get through his next match against Jamie Jones.
Hamilton said: “If I improve I can win. I’ve given myself a chance to improve, earn some money, have a good run and enjoy myself. That is all I can ask for.”
Graeme Dott scored a significant 4-3 win over Belgium’s Julien Leclercq. The 2006 World Champion now progresses straight through to round four after Sam Craigie withdrew from the event.
Northern Irish rookie Robbie McGuigan battled hard to secure his second successive deciding frame victory, beating China’s Ma Hailong 4-3.
McGuigan narrowly overcame Saudi home favourite Abdulraouf Saigh in a final frame yesterday and this afternoon’s match was clinched with a nerveless break of 90 in the last. He now faces former Shoot Out winner Chris Wakelin.
Elsewhere Liu Hongyu was a 4-2 winner over Michael Holt, while Jimmy Robertson beat Egyptian wildcard Mohamed Elkhayat 4-2.
Polish 20-year-old Antoni Kowalski claimed that snooker’s new generation is ready to take over, after scoring a whitewash 4-0 win over He Guoqiang on day two of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
The tour rookie earned a maiden spell on the circuit after coming through Q School earlier this year. That came after he had already narrowly missed out on a tour card following defeat to Liam Davies in the 2024 European Under-21 final. He’s only the third ever Polish professional.
Today’s impressive victory saw Kowalski fire in breaks of 51 and 76 to secure a third round tie against Wu Yize. Afterwards, he expressed his excitement to be competing alongside a legion of talented young professionals.
“We will be trying to set records. I think this is the time that the new generation comes up to kick out Ronnie and other players. Ronnie has to end sometime, he is already in his late 40s. We will try our best for sure,” said Kowalski.
“I am delighted to have played on the TV table finally. I’ve played on it once before, but that was during Covid so nobody was watching. It was perfect today and I’d like to play that way every single day. That is when I play my best snooker.”
Hungarian 17-year-old rookie Bulcsu Revesz also scored a huge victory after beating the experienced Mark Davis 4-3. Breaks of 51 and 84 helped Revesz through to a meeting with former Welsh Open champion Jordan Brown.
Hong Kong’s three-time ranking event winner Marco Fu was a 4-0 whitewash victor against Liam Davies. The 46-year-old top scored with 123 and now faces Lyu Haotian.
Welshman Andrew Pagett prevailed 4-3 in a tense encounter with Swiss number one Alexander Ursenbacher, winning the last two frames to progress. Pagett now faces six-time ranking event finalist Jack Lisowski.
The last match finished past 2:30 am this morning, and 6 others past 1:45 am . This is ridiculous. Needles to say they aren’t reported on even is Stan Moody won one of those … I can’t comment on them either. I saw nothing of the evening action as I was having other commitments.
It was an interesting day for sure but one that was marred by the absolutely awful quality of the broadcasting. Streams were start/stop and totally psychedelic. It was extremely painful to watch.
If I’m no mistaken, Paul Deaville is the only amateur left in the draw. Yesterday he beat the vastly experienced Ian Burns by 4-0, but all frames but one appear to have been very close. He will now face Neil Robertson.
In general the European youngsters have impressed. Yesterday, a person who has been following snooker closely for many, many years reflected that they have more flair than the young Brits. I have to agree. Zizins in particular impressed me. Julien Leclercq lost by 4-3 to Graeme Dott in a match that was very much “one visit snooker”. The first in with a reasonable chance cleared the table basically. The shrewd Dotty knew how to bait the very agressive Julien into taking one risky shot too many. Ben Mertens whitewashed Long Zehuang but other than the first frame he won with a 127, every frame was close. Bulcsú Révész’s “decider” win over Mark Davis is particularly impressive: between they had five breaks over 50, three by “Dark Mavis” (one in every frame he won) and two by Bulcsú.
We have some very intriguing matches in prospect today. Other than those mentioned in the above report, Jackson Page v Gong Chenzhi and Ben Mertens v Stephen Maguire will get my attention… IF the streams are watchable at all today! My eyes still hurt…
One thought on “Day 2 at the 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters”
Although early in the season, some of these results could be very significant, considering the amount of prizemoney at stake. For example, Ma Hailong had a chance in his deciding frame but ran out of position. He played a weak safety (normally his strength) and didn’t get another shot. He may well end up relegated from the tour because of that one shot!
Cheung Ka Wai had an agonising defeat. At 2-2 he potted a respotted black, but went in-off. He then had to watch Louis Heathcote compile a 133 to win 4-2.
There were some very close matches, and a few surprising 4-0’s. I was hopping around the tables, trying to find the drama and sidestep the broadcasting difficulties. The format for this tournament would lend itself very well to roaming coverage, by a commentary team who knows the lower-ranked players very well. At times, I was watching a Chinese streamer who does precisely that.
As for the young Europeans showing more attacking ‘flair’, yes. That’s probably because those players have relied on natural talent whereas British players would have needed to grind through the amateur and pro-am circuit in the UK where it’s necessary to keep things tight to get results. However if they reach professional level, it may be that these more open players could be in a better position to develop their game still further. That’s actually one of the most interesting aspects of snooker in the 2020’s. Unfortunately, there is a danger that young players get crushed by a structure which makes it very hard for young players and overseas players.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Although early in the season, some of these results could be very significant, considering the amount of prizemoney at stake. For example, Ma Hailong had a chance in his deciding frame but ran out of position. He played a weak safety (normally his strength) and didn’t get another shot. He may well end up relegated from the tour because of that one shot!
Cheung Ka Wai had an agonising defeat. At 2-2 he potted a respotted black, but went in-off. He then had to watch Louis Heathcote compile a 133 to win 4-2.
There were some very close matches, and a few surprising 4-0’s. I was hopping around the tables, trying to find the drama and sidestep the broadcasting difficulties. The format for this tournament would lend itself very well to roaming coverage, by a commentary team who knows the lower-ranked players very well. At times, I was watching a Chinese streamer who does precisely that.
As for the young Europeans showing more attacking ‘flair’, yes. That’s probably because those players have relied on natural talent whereas British players would have needed to grind through the amateur and pro-am circuit in the UK where it’s necessary to keep things tight to get results. However if they reach professional level, it may be that these more open players could be in a better position to develop their game still further. That’s actually one of the most interesting aspects of snooker in the 2020’s. Unfortunately, there is a danger that young players get crushed by a structure which makes it very hard for young players and overseas players.