Today is the day the last 16 players start their campaign. They met the media, with Judd and Ronnie taking part in the press conference “panel”. Here are some pictures…

Why Ronnie is dressed like a local, I’m not sure. I find it a bit silly but then, maybe, this was offered to him by a sponsor or some powerful/rich local and he felt compelled to don it. Anyway…

As for what happened at the tables, here are the reports by WST:

Afternoon session

SAUDI ARABIA SNOOKER MASTERS: DAY FOUR AFTERNOON

Ben Woollaston said he hopes the worst of his recent health battles are behind him, after making the last 32 of the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters with a hard fought 5-3 win over Iranian number one Hossein Vafaei. 

The former Welsh Open finalist has been battling with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome since 2021. These struggles have impacted on his day to day life and ability to practise. However, he is beginning to up his work rate after turning a corner. 

That appears to have paid dividends after a fine run this week, which has also seen him score wins over Oliver Lines and Joe Perry.

Breaks of 75 and 61 gave Vafaei the first two frames this afternoon. However, Woollaston turned on the style to hammer home breaks of 71, 133 and 57 to take three on the bounce and lead 3-2. Vafaei restored parity by taking the sixth, but the next two frames went the way of Woolaston to secure him victory and a last 32 clash with Zhang Anda.

“I think Hossein is basically a top 16 player anyway. He is definitely one of the hardest players to face outside of the top 16. It is a great win for me,” said 37-year-old Woollaston. 

“It is basically like being at the Crucible now, with the way the prize money is. With it being best of nine, I think it is more open as well.

“I practise a lot more now. From about New Year onwards, I’ve started practising more or less like I used to. I hadn’t done that for about three years. I still have bad moments, but it doesn’t last as long. I was telling myself in that match that one hour I can feel terrible and the next I can feel alright. Before it lasted for days and weeks. I hope I’m getting there. 

“I’m not just saying this because I’ve won, but this tournament has been better than any of the overseas events I’ve been to. The tables are great, backstage is brilliant. It is a great country to eat in and everything is a lot easier. You feel a lot more home comforts.”

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh narrowly avoided making a piece of unwanted history in his 5-4 win over Chris Wakelin.

Despite crafting a 78 break in the sixth, Un-Nooh went on to lose the frame and move to the verge of defeat at 4-2 down. That was two shy of the highest break ever to lose a frame, set at 80 by Neal Foulds against Willie Thorne in the 1989 English Professional Championship. 

From there Un-Nooh upped the ante and three on the bounce to seal a dramatic win. He now faces a mouth watering last 32 clash with Mark Williams. 

Englishman Jimmy Robertson stormed to a 5-0 whitewash win over Malaysia’s Rory Thor. Former European Masters champion Robertson top scored with 92 and will now face Scotland’s four-time World Champion John Higgins.

Si Jiahui earned his passage through with a 5-0 demolition of 2006 World Champion Graeme Dott. Si made breaks of 102, 75 and 82 during the quick fire win and will play Tom Ford in the last 32.

Stuart Bingham battled to a 5-3 defeat of Anthony Hamilton and will now play Ding Junhui, while Lei Peifan scored a 5-2 defeat of Joe O’Connor to set up a showdown with Ronnie O’Sullivan. 

Evening session:

SAUDI ARABIA SNOOKER MASTERS: DAY FOUR EVENING

David Gilbert battled past Jordan Brown 5-3 to continue his fine run of form and make the last 32 of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in Riyadh.

Having struggled with his form for a number of years, he returned to his brilliant best with a run to the semi-finals of the World Championship to end last season, which included wins over defending champion Luca Brecel and Stephen Maguire.

A regimental approach to practising and fitness away from the baize, guided by former professional Andy Lee, helped Gilbert to recapture his love for the game ahead of the Crucible back in May. So far this season he has only lost in one of his 13 matches.

With this evening’s tie finely poised at 4-3, Gilbert fired in a sublime 124 to get over the line. That seals him a last 32 clash with Scottish Open and Welsh Open champion Gary Wilson.

“It is a huge tournament. I just want to get some wins on the board. It was a really tough match tonight and I’m very pleased to finish it off well in the end,” said world number 20 Gilbert.

“I just basically didn’t play for a couple of years. Andy turned up in March and got me practising and thinking better. It has helped me tremendously. I’m just trying to carry that on.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for all the players on the tour to get some pounds and points on the board. I’m sure I speak for everybody when I say we are very grateful for this event. The conditions and how we have been treated has been fantastic.”

Neil Robertson defeated Chinese teenager Gong Chenzhi 5-1 to book a blockbuster last 32 meeting with Mark Selby.

The Thunder from Down Under is aiming to return to top form after a difficult 23/24 season which saw him slide to 27^th in the world rankings.

Defeat ends a fine run 2024 WSF Junior Championship runner up Gong, who won three matches to reach this stage.

Robertson fired in breaks of 72, 103 and 94 on his way to a comprehensive victory. The Australian was pleased with how he coped with the unknown, having never played Gong and excited for his upcoming encounter with Selby.

Robertson said: “It is very hard to come up with a strategy. I was saying to Joe Perry earlier today that I’ve never seen him before. I hadn’t ever seen him play. Joe said he was very raw and very aggressive. We came up with the idea of keeping things tight early on to see if he could deal with safety play. His best chance was to pot freak balls to get in but the inexperience told at the end.

“If people haven’t tuned into snooker for the last few years, they will probably think this next match is a semi-final! It is always good playing Mark. He brings the best out of me a lot of the time. It is strange playing him at this stage, but you’d rather be the player with the ranking points secure and the matches under the belt. Hopefully that comes to my advantage.”

Jack Lisowski made two century runs of 103 on his way to beating Martin O’Donnell 5-2. He now plays Crucible runner-up Jak Jones.

China’s Wu Yize beat Stephen Maguire 5-4 in a tense final frame and now faces world number one Judd Trump.

Yuan Sijun beat yesterday’s maximum man Noppon Saengkham 5-4, while Scott Donaldson beat Ryan Day 5-2. They play Shaun Murphy and Barry Hawkins respectively in tomorrow’s last 32.

DAY FOUR HIGHLIGHTS

As always all the detailed results are on snooker.org

I can’t really comment on the matches as I saw next to nothing of it yesterday. Life coming in the way of snooker … Looking at the draw though, I can’t help to notice that 7 of the 16 players who emerged from the “tiered phase” are Chinese, and six of them are under 25 years old. One of the most common excuses used by Brits to justify the current UK centric organisation of the sport is “We are the majority and we have the best juniors… “. Really? Show me where they are. What I have seen this week from “interesting” juniors was mainly Chinese and mainland European. There are interesting UK juniors of cours, notably Robbie McGuigan, Paul Deaville and Liam Davies.

Now … if Ronnie in a “cheik” attire was silly, what about this ???

CORRECTED PRESENTATION OF THE DRAW FOR THE SAUDI ARABIA SNOOKER MASTERS 2024

The draw for this week’s Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters has been amended as the original presentation of the draw was incorrect.
 
Click here for the amended draw
 
In the original presentation of the draw, seed number 1 was drawn to play against the winner of match number 97 which would be the group of players where the lowest seed number is 17. This is not as we had intended because seed number 1 should play against the group of players where the lowest seed number is 32. 
 
The presentation of the draw was inconsistent with our intention, therefore it has now been corrected. This amendment has no impact on the Last 48 round which takes place today (Monday). It only has an effect from the last 32, which takes place on Tuesday.
 
This information has been communicated to our players.

We, at snooker.org, had been scratching our heads from the day that draw was out. We knew it was faulty at first glance. Also, the way this is “presented” is trying to “mislead” readers. This wasn’t a problem of “presentation”, this was a mistake and a huge one! Mistakes happen, we all make them, but, at least be honest, admit to it. This was a huge blunder. Full stop.