Here are the reports by WST on yesterday’s action in Riyadh
Iranian number one Hossein Vafaei claimed four on the bounce to see off India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha 4-1 and make round four of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
Former Shoot Out champion Vafaei reached semi-finals last season at the UK Championship and the British Open, but is aiming to go further during this campaign and secure his first ever victory in a full format ranking event.
The 29-year-old got off to a shaky start this afternoon when a loose safety during a black ball fight gave Singh Chadha the opener. However, Vafaei made breaks of 50 and 97 during a burst of four consecutive frames to secure a comfortable victory. Afterwards, he expressed his delight at competing in an event closer to home.
“Everything is nice and everything is organised. It couldn’t be better than that. I would like to say thanks to all of the organisers who support us and make this tournament happen. We are happy to have the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in our calendar and this is a proud moment for me. I am proud that something really big has happened for the Middle East,” said world number 21 Vafaei.
“When I see the younger generation, they are coming and taking pictures. They are saying they want to be like me. That is really nice. You can see how far snooker is going in the Middle East and that the young people want to start playing. That is very rare in these days. People only want to play on the Playstation, they don’t want to worry about anything. When they say they want to play snooker that makes me happy.”
Joe O’Connor rallied from 3-1 down to beat fellow Leicester cueman Louis Heathcote 4-3. O’Connor scored a massive upset win over Mark Selby at the Crucible to finish last season, but so far this term he’s already suffered two first round exits. That was remedied by today’s comeback win, which sees him a meeting with Lei Peifan in round four.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh claimed a 4-1 victory to end Latvian teenager Artemijs Zizins’ spirited run. Quickfire Thai Un-Nooh crafted runs of 57, 61 and 65 during the match and now plays Chris Wakelin, who beat tour rookie Robbie McGuigan 4-2.
England’s 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham defeated Xing Zihao 4-2, while Malaysia’s Rory Thor scored a shock 4-3 win over Robert Milkins.
Australia’s 2010 World Champion Neil Robertson scored an important 4-1 win over English amateur Paul Deaville to get his campaign underway at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in Riyadh.
The Thunder from Down Under had one of his worst seasons as a professional in 23/24, slumping to 27th position in the world rankings. However, he is determined to mount a resurgence this season after practising throughout the summer period.
Robertson top scored with 66 during today’s victory, which sees him book a fourth round meeting with China’s Gong Chenzhi. After this evening’s tie Robertson stated he’s confident that the work he has been putting in will pay off.
“In my experience you never know when the big wins might be around the corner. In my career when I’ve had a big win, soon after a sequence of titles have headed my way. I’ve been working hard, practising well and enjoying the game. That is the important thing. I’ve been happy in life. It is fair to say that last year I wasn’t enjoying the game,” said 23-time ranking event winner Robertson.
“Last season I wasn’t enjoying going to tournaments. This year it is the complete opposite. I’m much more positive and I can’t be playing any better than I am. It has been going incredibly well when I’ve been practising. It is just about being patient, playing the right shots, keeping my cool and I’m sure I will get back to where I think I should be in the game.
“For me this is a 10/10 tournament. The playing conditions are great, practice facilities are incredible, the hotels are great. It is just brilliant. This is my first time here, I didn’t know what it was going to be like. To see it is incredible. You want to stick around for as long as possible.”
Noppon Saengkham made the first maximum break of the season during his 4-1 win over Amir Sarkhosh. The contribution puts him in line for a bumper £50,000 payout. After the match, the Thai admitted he was eyeing up the perfect break early on.
Saengkham said: “When I potted the first red, I tried to make a maximum. I knew that this was a big event with big money. I asked myself after the first red to try and make a maximum. I went for it and I did it.”
Jack Lisowski dug deep to keep his campaign alive after a 4-3 win over Welshman Andrew Pagett. The six-time ranking event finalist claimed a 35-minute decider on the pink to seal his progression. Next up he faces Martin O’Donnell.
Former British Open winner Ryan Day overcame Stan Moody 4-2, while Lyu Haotian edged a 4-3 thriller with Marco Fu.
Here is Noppon’s 147, shared by WST on their Youtube channel
As well as his reaction after making it …
And, as usual, here are all the detailed results on snooker.org
One thing is for sure about this tournament so far … all the players are delighted with the venue, the practice facilities, the hotel and the way they are looked after. Yesterday the stream played correctly, although the background noise remains annoying.
The twenty years old Liu Hongyu is in his second year as a pro and yesterday took a good step towards keeping his pro status by beating Ricky Walden. This tournament is big money and getting some of that at the start of the season is very important and allows the player to relax a bit, which helps as well.
Matthew Selt had his cue broken during his flight to Saudi Arabia. Although he apparently had or found a “spare” cue, he got the damaged equipment “glued” back together by a local artisan and decided to play with it … a win yesterday vindicated that daring move! 😂
Stephen Maguire completely demolished Ben Mertens yesterday evening (4-0). Ben didn’t play well at all and Mags did. Maguire is a big man with big hands … but he’s no brute at the table. More than anything he’s a “touch player”. I always enjoy watching him… even yesterday when he beat a player I support.
Antek Kowalski was reminded by Wu Yize that he has still work to do before thinking about giving Ronnie a good hiding as he was beaten by 4-0 although, to be fair, all frames were extremely close.
WST is making a big deal about Neil Robertson beating… the only amateur left in the draw. Today he will face the 17 years old Gong Chenzhi, who beat Jackson Page by 4-2 yesterday. Let’s see how that goes.
Bulcsú Revész lost to Jordan Brown by 4-3 … from 3-0 up. Fatigue was a factor maybe? After all it was already late, the lad is only 17, he’s won two matches before this one in the two previous days, by 4-2 and 4-3 respectively.
Again the last match finished past 2:30 in the morning. That’s not good, not fair on the players and not great for the spectators. Why ??? Someone suggested that maybe, this is done to accommodate the UK viewers. If thats indeed the case, it’s a disgrace. Everyone else has/had to deal with the “UK time zone” and the constraints may generate for most events … for many, many years. Surely the Brits can adapt a bit? The players should come first when it comes to setting the schedule.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
The future of snooker is playing in front of nobody for obscene amounts of money. The players seem happy with it but is the soul of the sport gone forever?
Is it even a sport anymore or just a business and if it’s the latter will the loyal fans lose interest?
We keep hearing how great the facilities are in Saudi, they say the practice facilities are amazing but does the snooker fan care about details like this? Do we care how nice the food is over there?
When Saudi Arabia lose interest in the game which they will, what will be left snooker once the die hard fans have died?
The players at the bottom end of the ranks still won’t earn anymore money from this they will just inch closer to the 20k allowance but not over it.
We have to wait for the pros to enter the fray before we can judge how big (or not) the crowd will be. The ordinary Saudi probably doesn’t earn fortunes so will spare their money for matches involving names they know. Snooker is played in the area, although their players are currently far from the required level. I don’t think they will lose interest any time soon … not only because they have players but because of their sports-washing.
Also, for the players it’s not just the money, it’s ranking points. A good run here could make their professional status safe for another year or two. You know that I disagree with the money list system, but that’s what we have and what players need to deal with.
I certainly believe it’s to accommodate UK viewers, who are the loudest voices in snooker, and are used to certain things. In the German/European Masters, they start the sessions an hour later – so a best-of-11 semi-final begins at 8pm. That’s the real reason for Zhou Yuelong’s 9-0 loss in 2020. In Saudi Arabia it’s possible that having matches played late is more comfortable with the scorching conditions. But in any case the players have all been travelling so they probably aren’t acclimatised to any timezone. It’s the spectators who are inconvenienced the most.
It’s actually been very enjoyable watching the tiered draw unfold. This works well when everyone is playing in the main arena, rather than qualifying rounds being buried behind closed doors in Leicester, 6 weeks before the ‘main’ event starts.