Here are the reports by WST on yesterday’s action at the 2024 British Open
UNIBET BRITISH OPEN DAY THREE
John Higgins, determined to regain his place among the world’s top 16, scored one of his best wins of recent years as he beat Shaun Murphy 4-2 in the second round of the Unibet British Open.
After an unbroken sequence of 29 years among the top 16, an all-time record, Higgins dropped out last weekend, overtaken by English Open champion Neil Robertson. But the legendary Scot has no intention of slipping further down, and his ambition over the upcoming events is to make sure of a place at the Masters in January.
The 49-year-old took a 3-0 lead today with top breaks of 74 and 56. Murphy pulled two back with 57 and 84, before Higgins wrapped up the result in frame six with an 82.
“It’s a massive scalp for me,” said Higgins, who now meets close friend Graeme Dott in the last 32 at 1pm on Thursday. “The last couple of times against Shaun, he has outplayed me. It’s important for me to beat one of the top guys, and I’m pleased with the way I closed the match out. My new cue seems to have given me a new lease of life.
“The players in the top 16 deserve to be in there because they are winning tournaments, and I have not done that. It gives me something to aim for, to get back in there in time for the Masters. I’ve played there for 30 consecutive years and I wouldn’t want that run to end.“
World Champion Kyren Wilson saw off Ben Woollaston 4-1 with top breaks of 114 and 92. “It was a mixed bag, I scored heavily at times but also missed a few easy balls,” said Wilson. “Winning a title early in the season (the Xi’an Grand Prix) has taken pressure off me but I want to win more. I’m not at my best, I haven’t put in as much preparation as usual because I’m trying to balance family life with practice. But I still feel I can compete for the trophy.”
Zhang Anda enjoyed a 4-1 success against Hossein Vafaei, while Oliver Lines made a crucial 23 in the deciding frame to beat Ka Wai Cheung 4-3. Ben Mertens top scored with 85 in a 4-1 win over Hammad Miah.
UNIBET BRITISH OPEN DAY THREE EVENING
Stan Moody reached the last 16 of a ranking event for the second time in his career with a superb 4-3 victory over world number 12 Zhang Anda in round three of the Unibet British Open.
Teenage talent Moody, playing his second season on the tour, will reach his first quarter-final if he can beat Oliver Lines or Sunny Akani in Cheltenham on Thursday evening.
Yorkshire’s 18-year-old Moody turned pro last year with high expectations after an outstanding junior career, and has shown his potential in patches. Tonight’s performance in Zhang was perhaps his best so far as he made breaks of 69, 55, 68, 60 and a crucial 47 in the decider.
“It’s my best win on tour,” said Moody. “My all round game is getting better, I am working on my safety game. My debut season was very difficult, but this season I have changed a lot of things both on and off the table and hopefully I’ll get the results. I’ll just play the balls tomorrow and have some fun.“
English Open champion Neil Robertson suffered a surprise 4-3 reverse against Rory Thor. From 3-1 down, Malaysia’s Thor took the next two frames with a top break of 90, then got the better of a scrappy decider.
Mark Selby pulled out a 41 clearance in the deciding frame to beat Yuan Sijun 4-3 on the final black, while Crucible finalist Jak Jones top scored with 109 in a 4-1 win over Iulian Boiko. David Gilbert came from 3-1 down to beat Ashley Carty 4-3, while Stephen Maguire edged out Stuart Bingham by the same scoreline.
As always, all the results are on snooker.org
I haven’t much to add really. I don’t like this event for a number of reasons. Never did. The schedule is very difficult for me. The last “yesterday” match actually finished today past 3 am in my time zone. Needless to say … I didn’t watch it. In fact, I didn’t watch any of the “evening session”. The ITV coverage might be excellent but it’s not available to me. I watch on discovery+ and I am grateful to, at least, have that option, but it’s not the same thing.
In the afternoon, I watched Sunny Akani vs Antoni Kowalski and Ben Mertens v Hammad Miah. Sunny won all the “closer” frames, which is to be expected. Younger players are often excellent potters but they still have to learn how to win the more tactical frames. Ben Mertens outplayed Hammad Miah in all departments for most of the match. I was happy with the outcome of both matches. I like Sunny, who I met in person several times, as a person and as a player.
I find nothing “exciting” about the random draw in each round. The draw isn’t even made in public, and can’t be watched online either. It’s just WST coming up at some point with the “next round draw” on their website.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Matches finishing at 2’0 clock in the morning isn’t good for snooker.
There is something wrong with the making of the schedules.
Zeker en vast Koen! Especially in the ITV events they try to accommodate the schedule around the broadcaster’s constraints rather than the players wellbeing and performance. Not great he? Players are tired and viewers outside UK give up and go to bed, especially if they have to work the next day!
The only thing that can save this event now is the 1000th century. Oh right, Judd’s not liked here either.
I used to find the younger Judd very irritating, but he’s matured and now I rather like him actually. He will certainly smash that particular record, the highest number of centuries. For a start, he’s got a lot more events to compete in than what Ronnie had when in his thirties. I don’t think it is such an important record anyway although pundits and commentators love to talk about centuries and the crowd always loves seeing one. I would be very surprised if he surpasses Ronnie in the number of triple crowns though … or even comes close to it, despite the fact that he hasn’t to compete with two other exceptional players throughout his career … there is no “class of 2005” …
I’m sure Csilla would like to prevent it from happening somehow.
LOL Christian, centuries don’t interest me very much and while the 1000th made by Ronnie was orchestrated and anticipated like a magical event and was indeed very nice (although it would not have been that fantastic, if Ronnie had made it in a losing final), the one by Higgins only received a mention. Of course if Trump makes it, it might create a bigger fanfare, because he is a media-darling. As far as I’m concerned I would have preferred if Trump himself never happened as I just can’t stand watching him unless it is certain he lost and sits in his chair, or when he misses. Now I realize this is not the right attitude to a match, but then I don’t have to watch him play, can only hope he loses early and does not interfere with enjoying the later rounds.
Btw I hate that when ITV covers an event, one can’t watch Discovery in this country. This really makes me consider canceling Discovery-subscription like last year and rely on streams, but I might resist this time as I want to follow Bulcsú Révész’ first year on the Tour. His victory over my other bete noir, Ali Carter already served the saving grace of this event as far as I’m concerned.