Zhao was the dominant player throughout the weekend at the Snookerhallen in the Swedish capital as he won eight matches and compiled eight century breaks, including the historic maximum, en route to the title.
The victory secures the 27-year-old Chinese cueist a spot at the 2024/25 Q Tour Global play-offs next year, where three World Snooker Tour (WST) two-year tour cards will be on offer.
As a non-seeded player, Zhao began the event on the Friday and he completed routine 3-0 wins against Belgium’s Daan Leyssen and Poland’s Michal Kotiuk to book his place in Saturday’s last 64 stage.
There he faced 14-year-old Shaun Liu from Hong Kong China, who gave the former UK champion a stern test early on in the contest – levelling the game at 1-1 with a half-century before taking frame three down to the final black.
Zhao was able to pot the decisive black to restore his lead before moving one away from victory in the best-of-seven frame contest at 3-1.
Frame five saw a moment of history on the Q Tour as the man from China compiled a magical maximum break, the first ever to be achieved on the Q Tour, before receiving rapturous applause from the watching audience at the Snookerhallen venue.
The powerful scoring continued from Zhao in the last 32, as he scored breaks of 111, 128 and 80 to defeat Luke Pinches confirm his place in the final day of a Q Tour event for the first time.
The 27-year-old began the final day in style with another century, this time a 118, as he overcame former professional Peter Lines 4-1 in their first competitive meeting since the last 16 of the 2021 UK Championship.
Whitewash victories over France’s Nicolas Mortreux and Poland’s Mateusz Baranowski followed to set up a final meeting with Craig Steadman, who defeated Alfie Davies, Peter Devlin and Steven Hallworth on the final day to reach the title match.
It was Steadman who had defeated Zhao 4-3 in the last 64 stage of the previous Q Tour Europe event in Sofia, Bulgaria last month and he once again provided the Chinese cueist with his toughest test of the tournament.
Trailing 2-0 after Zhao opened the match with a break of 112, Steadman hit back to restore party at 2-2 in a race to four.
A stunning break of 136, Zhao’s eighth century break of the event, moved him one frame away from the title but Steadman once again hit back with a 93 to force a final frame decider.
Ultimately, however, it was deservedly Zhao’s weekend as he wrapped up the victory with a break of 82.
Following his victory, Zhao said: “Coming to Sweden, I just wanted to get used to this feeling of playing in tournaments again. I wasn’t aiming to be the champion but I just wanted to get back to playing competitively again.
“I haven’t changed my practice schedule, I still practice as usual and play against professionals. I think my scoring in the last few days is within my capability and I know I can score well.”
Looking ahead, Zhao said: “I will select which events I want to play in on the Q Tour but right now it is all about getting that tournament feeling and I am pleased to be getting that feeling back.”
Zhao Xintong only returned to competitive snooker very recently. The first WPBSA event he played in after his ban ended was the 2024 Q-Tour Event 2. In that event, he had played three matches, losing to Craig Steadman in the last 64. Craig of course is a very experienced former professional and Zhao, certainly, wasn’t match sharp. Obviously he has been working hard since and this is the result.
Not everybody is happy to see Zhao back, but I am. Everybody makes mistakes and we have to remember that Zhao was not found guilty of match fixing. What he was found guilty of was to not report the match fixing schemes he was aware of and to bet on snooker. Now regarding the first of those two breaches of his contract, we have to consider two things. The first is that the younger players really felt threatened by Liang Wenbo and Li Hang. They were genuinely scared of them. Also, as Lewis has mentioned many times in the past, all those young players know each other since childhood. Because of the “one child per family” rule in operation in China back then, they are all “only children”, they have no siblings. Their childhood friends therefore are the closest they have to a brother or a sister. The “snooker kids” he grew up with are effectively his brothers. Therefore having to “grass on them” was a big no-no.
I’ m wishing Zhao the best and I hope to see him back on the main tour next season … that’s where he belongs. The tour needs players like him, who offer the fans an attractive brand of snooker and play with a smile on their face.
Congratulations Zhao and good luck for the future
Mink has won the 2024 Women Snooker Australian Open
World number one Mink Nutcharut has defeated Ng On Yee 4-3 following a thrilling final match to win the 2024 Australian Women’s Snooker Open for a second time at Mounties, Sydney.
Five years on from claiming her first ever title on the World Women’s Snooker (WWS) Tour, Mink repeated her success against friend and rival Ng with a dramatic black ball success to lift her first crown since the Belgian Open back in January.
Her eighth success overall, the victory sees the Thai star join Ng as a multiple Australian Open champion and consolidate her position at the top of the world rankings.
It was to prove a hard fought final day as having secured her place in the semi-finals with wins against Dianne Spring and Jessica Woods following the group stages, Mink was to face a stern test from Mongolia’s Narantuya Bayarsaikhan in the last four.
The world number 19 – who was competing in a ranking semi-final for the first time having defeated Yee Ting Cheung 3-2 in the quarter-finals – would lead Mink throughout their contest and was one ball away from securing a maiden final in the sixth frame.
Mink, however, was able to win a black-ball battle to force a last frame decider, during which she produced her best snooker of the match to ultimately prevail and reach her first final of the season.
There she would face world number two Ng On Yee, who had made serene progress to the final without the loss of a single frame and had notably top scored with a stunning break of 133 during the round robin group stages against Australia’s Christine Firth.
The title match would prove to be another match full of drama as the first four frames were shared, Mink scoring breaks of 50 and 43, with Ng compiling runs of 52 and 57 during the second frame.
From that point on the final would become a tense affair as both players saw the winning line, Mink first moving to within one of victory by winning a 50 minute long fifth frame, before Ng returned the favour in frame six to force a final frame decider.
Both players would ultimately have their chances, Ng unfortunate to pot a red from the blue during a composed first scoring visit, before the contest eventually came down to the final black to decide the champion. While both players would have opportunities, it was Mink who would sink the winning ball to seal her second victory in Australia and lift the Clive Edwards Memorial Cup.
The dramatic final was a fitting end to a week to remember in Sydney which saw a record 27 entries contest the main title at Mounties. As well as victory for top ranked Mink, the event also saw notable runs for Narantuya Bayarsaikhan and Thailand’s Narucha Phoemphul, who both reached their maiden ranking event semi-finals, with several further players also breaking new ground at the tournament.
The Challenge Cup tournament for players who did not reach the quarter-finals saw Australia’s Kathy Blunden claim victory with a 2-0 success against China’s Shuangyu Jia.
World Women’s Snooker would like to thank everyone who contributed to another hugely successful event. This includes our partners at the Australian Billiards and Snooker Council, led by President Alex Render, Tournament Director Frank Dewens and Head of Referees Gary Knight, as well as our host Mounties and event sponsor The Snooker Shop.
The 2024/25 season continues with the Women’s Snooker Masters from 22-24 November 2024 at Frames Sports Bar, Couldson, England. Enter now via WPBSA SnookerScores.
Anthony McGill produced a break building blitz, to take the last three frames and beat Mostafa Dorgham 5-4 to set up a last 32 clash with defending champion Judd Trump at the Wuhan Open.
The 2016 Indian Open champion has had a slow start to the season, but showed signs of hitting form with recent qualifying wins to make the final stages of the Northern Ireland Open and International Championship.
Dorgham has only won three matches so far in his two seasons on tour, but the Egyptian found himself one frame from a big win when he took a surprise 4-2 lead. From there McGill summoned his best snooker to hammer home breaks of 101, 70 and 90 to take three on the bounce and emerge a 5-4 victor.
“I thought I played well the full match. It was just the way the balls went, sometimes they don’t let you play. To be fair to Mostafa, I thought he played amazing. His safety play was incredible. I couldn’t get too much out of him. As soon as I was allowed to flow a bit I played well, but I was always playing well,” said two-time ranking event winner McGill.
“I’m playing better than the results. I definitely have a game there, sometimes I’m not always allowed to bring it out but I just have to stay patient. I’ve got to remind myself that patience is the key.
“I’m trying to change a couple of things, which I’ll keep to myself, but I feel as though I have a good game. I can obviously be better, but I think I’ll be alright and things will pick up.“
World number one Trump came through with a 5-2 win over China’s He Guoqiang. The Ace in the Pack is aiming to win the title for a second year in a row, having won the title 12 months ago with a 10-7 defeat of Ali Carter in the final.
It was He who started fastest this morning, with a sublime 139 to take the opener. However, Trump claimed five of the next six to progress with breaks of 116, 103 and 68.
World Champion Kyren Wilson put on a stunning performance to brush aside Ireland’s Aaron Hill in a 5-0 whitewash.
The Warrior fired in runs of 72, 61, 111, 88 and 61 in consecutive frames to claim victory. He now faces Xiao Guodong, who beat Andrew Pagett 5-1.
Hossein Vafaei was a 5-3 winner against Jordan Brown, as he set up a last 32 tie against Zhang Anda, who beat 2006 World Champion Graeme Dott 5-3.
John Higgins admitted that the destruction of his previous cue could be an act of ‘divine intervention’ after a 5-4 comeback win over China’s Fan Zhengyi at the Wuhan Open.
The Scot’s cue was left in an irreparable state after being drenched in rain at Paris Airport last month. The subsequent English Open saw him fall out of the world’s top 16 for the first time since 1995.
However, Higgins has found form with his replacement cue and a run to the recent British Open final, which he lost to Mark Selby, saw him return immediately to the top 16 in the rankings.
This evening’s match had been sliding away from Higgins, when former European Masters champion Fan led 3-0 and 4-2. However, a fine break of 61 saw Higgins steal the seventh on the black to remain in contention at 4-3.
That frame turned the tide of the match, with Higgins crafting runs of 66 and 67 to score a 5-4 win and earn a clash with Zak Surety, who beat Robert Milkins 5-4.
“I was going nowhere after Saudi Arabia with my old cue. My game was in bad shape. It maybe took some divine intervention, I don’t know what it was. It made me swap equipment and it seems to have given me a lease of life. Who knows how long it will last but today it seems good,” said 31-time ranking event winner Higgins.
“He could have won 5-2 today, but ran out of position. There always seems to be one shot among the mere mortals of the game that you have to do to get over that hurdle. Fan didn’t manage and then I managed to go 4-3 down and stay in the game. I was delighted to win.”
Shaun Murphy battled to a 5-3 win over former German Masters winner Anthony Hamilton to seal his progression.
The Magician top scored with 105 and his win secures a meeting with Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham, who thrashed Jimmy White 5-1. After this evening’s match he was delighted to have found a way past the experienced Hamilton.
Murphy said: “I don’t think anyone can swamp Anthony. He knows too much and is too clever. He has every shot in the book and I have vast amounts of respect for him. There were moments in the match where we both produced brilliance and moments where we both produced garbage. In the end I’m delighted to be through.”
Home hero Ding Junhui looked to be in fine form as he thrashed Chinese compatriot Xu Si 5-0. The 14-time ranking event winner made century runs of 111, 102 and 130 in the win and now plays Yuan Sijun.
There are, as always, a few matches that were overlooked by WST… notably an excellent 5-1 win by Ben Woollaston over Gary Wilson. But that’s not all:
Wu Yize continues to impress. He beat Cheung Ka Wai by 5-0 but the match was much closer than the score suggests.
Already mentioned above, Xiao Guodong demolished Andrew Pagett by 5-1 but it’s worth mentioning that Xiao had four breaks over fifty and finished in style with a 95 and a 121.
Mark Joyce, who replaces Ronnie in the draw, beat Sanderson Lam by 5-2. This match featured six breaks over 50, including two centuries. Mark Joyce scored a 132 in frame 6.
Zak Surety 5-4 win over Robert Milkins is mentioned but what isn’t is that Zak had to win the four last frames to go through and, quite astonishingly, scored a break of 74 in each of frames 6, 7 and 8!
Yuan Sijun beat Xing Zihao by 5-2 and Martin O’Donnel beat Sunny Akani by the same score.
Defending champion Judd Trump got his Wuhan Open campaign underway with a 5-1 win over Polish rookie Antoni Kowalski.
The Ace in the Pack claimed the crown 12 months ago in the World Snooker Tour’s inaugural trip to Wuhan. He defeated Ali Carter 10-7 in the final to capture the title.
That triumph came in the middle of a sequence of three wins in back-to-back weeks. Trump also secured silverware and the English and Northern Ireland Opens.
Trump has been in blistering form so far this season, having won the Shanghai Masters and Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, as well as making the final of the Xi’an Grand Prix.
A brilliant display this morning saw world number one Trump craft breaks of 101, 105 and 123 on his way to victory. Next up he faces last season’s Rookie of the Year He Guoqiang.
Trump said: “I was really happy with my performance and delighted that there was a very good crowd. I’m pleased to get through.
“It was a quick win and when you are in the first rounds you want to get through as easily as possible, the tournament is very long. It is just about playing comfortably in the first few games.”
Jackson Page scored a shock 5-1 win over recent English Open champion Neil Robertson to make the last 32.
Page came into today having been defeated by 24-time ranking event winner Robertson in their only previous meetings, losing at the English Open this season and the Welsh Open last season. He got his revenge this afternoon.
The Welshman has enjoyed success in China before. Page beat the likes of John Higgins in a run to the semi-finals of the World Open in Yushan, where he eventually bowed out against Trump.
Breaks of 50 and 102 helped Page to the win this afternoon. He now faces Long Zehuang, who defeated Dylan Emery 5-2.
“I’ve lost to Neil a couple of times. I knew it was going to be a tough game and I needed to get my own back on him,” said 23-year-old Page.
“That week in Yushan changed my career. I was looking like I could have fallen off tour. I managed to get to the semi-finals and then made the final of the Championship League this season. I’ve lost a couple since then and it is up and down. Hopefully with a nice win there I can get the confidence back.”
Barry Hawkins fired in a break of 100 on his way to a 5-3 win over Jimmy Robertson. He now faces 18-year-old star Stan Moody, who earned a narrow 5-4 win against Ryan Day.
David Lilley top scored with 124 in a tense 5-4 win over Allan Taylor, while Chris Wakelin thrashed Haris Tahir 5-1.
World Champion Kyren Wilson scored a strong 5-1 defeat of Welsh 18-year-old Liam Davies to progress at the Wuhan Open.
It was a fine display from the Warrior, who fired in breaks of 109, 73, 72 and 123 on his way to victory. Wilson now faces Ireland’s Aaron Hill.
The Englishman has enjoyed a fine start to his reign as Crucible king having secured silverware already at the Xi’an Grand Prix, where he defeated Trump in the final.
That was his first win in China since his maiden ranking crown at the 2015 Shanghai Masters. After starting work with hypnotherapist Chris O’Connor to improve his sleep patterns last season, Wilson believes this has helped him deal with the jet lag factor when competing in Asia.
“First round matches are always a potential banana skin. Liam is a good up and coming player from Wales and I’m glad to see him on tour as he has been close for a few years. I knew I had to start well and I made a century in the first frame to hit the ground running,” said 32-year-old Wilson.
“I would say to players like Liam to enjoy the experience, especially when he is young. The key is to be resilient. That is how I saw it when I was young. I just wanted to gun for the top players. Take the bull by the horns and go for it.
“I’ve been doing Zoom sessions with Chris O’Connor while I’ve been out here. It is hard to manage the time difference, but we’ve found a way. It is not the only reason I’ve been doing well but you need to prepare properly, find a good sleep pattern and get over the jet lag as quickly as possible.”
Chinese superstar Ding Junhui recovered an early deficit to beat Northern Irish rookie Robbie McGuigan 5-2.
A break of 84 in the second frame gave McGuigan a 2-0 lead in what was his first appearance in China since turning professional.
However, Ding made two contributions of 68 and a 93 on his way to five in a row and victory. Next up the 14-time ranking event winner plays compatriot Xu Si.
Ali Carter claimed the last three frames to edge out Mark Davis 5-4. That sets up a meeting with Marco Fu, who beat Louis Heathcote 5-1.
Obviously, it’s impossible to watch all the matches1, so I can only comment on a few.
Judd Trump played well, he scored heavily when in, but I have seen him play better. That said he didn’t need to play better. His young opponent, Antoni Kowalski doesn’t lack self-belief, but yesterday’s match may have shown him that he’s not that close to the top level just yet.
Robbie McGuigan impressed me more. The way he started his match against Ding in front of a partisan2 but fair crowd was impressive. The 84 he made in the second frame was a beautiful break. Ding, at times, has appeared to give up when things weren’t going his way, but there was no sign of of that yesterday and once he got going, he was impressive.
Jack Lisowski was in the mood … reminding us what a phenomenal scorer he is when on form. Yesterday he outplayed Iulian Boiko. Jack had a break over 50 in every of the 5 frames he won, and finished the match with two centuries. Iulian himself got a break of 61 in the only frame he won.
Jackson Page played very well in trashing Neil Robertson. Neil scored the highest break of the match, a 118, in the only frame he won. But other than that made far too many mistakes, allowing Jackson in. Neil had said recently that he was playing the best snooker he’s ever played. I’m not sure about that, and he certainly didn’t yesterday.
Now something unrelated to the actual action yesterday. Mark Allen withdrew on October 2. WST couldn’t find a replacement. David Gilbert withdrew on October 4, WST couldn’t find a replacement. Ronnie also withdrew on October 4 and he was replaced by Mark Joyce, who made the most of it as he won yesterday. I can’t help but find this sequence of events very strange … unless Ronnie had informed WST before October 2 and they kept it under wraps3?
Especially when marking the scores for snooker.org and there are three tournaments running simultaneously. ↩︎
Obviously Ding is a hero in China, he was the one who started it all for the Chinese players on the International scene. ↩︎
Mark Allen has pulled out of next week’s Wuhan Open due to a family illness
Allen was due to face Jamie Clarke in the second round of the world ranking event in Wuhan, China on Monday October 7th. Clarke will receive a bye to the last 32.
Allen said: “My apologies to the Chinese promoters and fans for missing this event due to a family illness. I hope to see them all in Nanjng for the International Championship.“
Ronnie O’Sullivan and Dave Gilbert withdraw from Wuhan Open
Phil Haigh
Ronnie O’Sullivan and Dave Gilbert have both withdrawn from the Wuhan Open, which starts on Sunday, citing medical reasons.
It is little surprise that the Rocket has pulled out of the event after stating in recent interviews that his next trip to China is planned for November’s International Championship.
Gilbert is certainly more of a shock having been in impressive form so far this season, but the world number 19 is struggling with a back problem.
Despite picking up a lot of good results this campaign, the Farmer has been suffering with sciatica and it is currently too bad to make the long trip to Wuhan.
The 43-year-old played in International Championship qualifying on Wednesday, beating Bai Yulu 6-2 but really struggling with pain in his back.
O’Sullivan has been replaced in the draw by mark Joyce, who will play Mitchell Mann in the opening round.
There has been no announcement yet on whether Gilbert will be replaced in his opening round tie against Wang Xinbo.
The withdrawals follow world number three Mark Allen pulling out of the event on Wednesday due to a family illness.
Explaining his back problem to Metro.co.uk in August, Gilbert said: ‘I’m a farmer so I just get on with it, but it’s agony! Three or four weeks I’ve been struggling, it’s bad!
‘I’m alright when I’m down on the shot, it’s the getting round the table, I’m just dragging my feet round.
‘It’s basically my right side. It started in me back, then a few days later it got worse, it was like I got shot in my arse! Down there and down my right leg, it’s horrible. Can’t get comfy, sleeping’s a nightmare, walking’s the worst though.’
O’Sullivan told Virgin Radio of his scheduling plans up till Christmas: ‘I will enter them [tournaments] and if I feel like the day before I want to go then I’ll go but if I’m not up for it then I’ll just say I’m not ready for it. They’ll always get a replacement to come in and take my place.’
On his plans to play in Asia he added: ‘Possibly yeah in November, just outside of Shanghai. That’s a ranking event, quite a big tournament, I’ll play in that and then I’ll go to another city in China and play in an Asian PTC event which is just for Chinese players but they’ve invited me to go along and play, so I’ll go and do that as well.
‘I’ll come back and probably have a week off then probably go to York because it’s the UK Championships and I like York. Then off to Macau again at Christmas. That’s the plan.’
Whatever the family illness is that affects Mark Allen, I wish him and his family the best possible outcome.
Regarding Dave Gilbert, sciatica is a very, very painful condition and one that doesn’t go away easily. One thing is certain though, he needs to rest and he might have to stay away from the table for quite some time. If such is the case, I hope that WST will do the right thing and “freeze” his ranking. Although, of course, that’s far from easy to do with the money list system. It would be very easy with an ELO system, and more feasible with a point system than with the current money list. I wish Dave the best, and I hope that his condition will improve rapidly.
As for Ronnie being Ronnie… we can only wait and see. It’s not the first “hiatus” in his career, and probably won’t be the last. If he sticks to his plan he won’t play in the 2024 Northern Ireland Open either, nor will he play in the 2024 Champion of Champions.
Yesteday was the last of the 2024 International Championship qualifiers. The report by WST, once again, mainly focusses on how the British players faired.
LISOWSKI BEATS REVESZ WITH FINE FINISH
Jack Lisowski made a century in the deciding frame to beat Bulcsu Revesz 6-5 in a high quality tussle in the qualifying round for the International Championship.
Lisowski has suffered defeats against Xu Si and David Grace in qualifying events this season, but this time he finished superbly to earn a trip to Nanjing in China next month. Tour rookie Revesz led 5-3 with top breaks of 99, 77 and 76, and he was also 35-7 ahead in frame nine. But Lisowski took that one with a 69 clearance, then compiled runs of 55 and 57 in the tenth for 5-5, before a 108 in the last frame.
Mark Allen scored heavily in a 6-3 win over Farakh Ajaib, making breaks of 62, 127, 123, 85 and 60. Joe Perry could be in danger of relegation at the end of this season so his 6-1 win over Jonas Luz was a welcome boost.
Ryan Day recovered a 5-2 deficit to beat Ma Hailong 6-5, making breaks of 69, 75 and 93 in the last three frames. David Gilbert enjoyed runs of 104 and 100 as he came from 2-0 down to beat Bai Yulu 6-2. Matthew Stevens top scored with 106 in a 6-0 whitewash of Huang Jiahao.
The qualifying round is now complete and all winners go through to the final stages in Nanjing, China which run from November 3-10.
He Guoqiang beat Antoni Kowalski by 6-1, Yuan Sijun beat Ian Burns by 6-1 and Liu Hongyu beat Rory Thor by 6-5. The latter match was hard-fought and it is Rory who scored the two centuries it featured: a 133 in the first frame and a134 in the fifth. That was a good match to watch.
The next event will be the 2024 Wuhan Open and it remains uncertain wether Ronnie will compete in it or not. He’s in the draw but his last interviews raised serious doubts about his intentions to play next week. I still expect him to go, because it is in China and he likes it there, and his sponsors may want him there, but we shall see.
This is WST report on day 2 at the 2024 International Championship:
ROBERTSON SET FOR NANJING
Australia’s Neil Robertson scored a 6-1 win over Alfie Burden at International Championship qualifying in Sheffield to secure his place in the final stages.
The Thunder from Down Under is enjoying a return to form, having slid out of the world’s top 16 last season. He scored a first tournament win in over two years at the recent English Open, where he beat Wu Yize 9-7 in the final. That triumph has seen the 2010 World Champion move back to 16th in the rankings.
Today’s win took just one hour and 45 minutes, with Robertson taking four frames on the bounce from 2-1. His top score of 100 came in the clinching frame.
Last week’s British Open champion Mark Selby scored a 6-3 win over Latvia’s Artemijs Zizins to earn his qualification. The Jester from Leicester made an sublime 143 in the fourth frame, which saw him rack up a mammoth 155 points.
China’s world number 77 Jiang Jun scored a 6-3 upset win over 2023 World Champion Luca Brecel. The impressive performance saw Jiang craft back-to-back century runs of 113 and 104 in the opening two frames.
Shaun Murphy scored a 6-4 win over Louis Heathcote, while Barry Hawkins was a 6-1 victor against Joshua Thomond.
As always also, a lot of matches have been overlooked in the above report. Yesterday offered us a lot of close interesting, and at times heartbreaking, matches. Most of those “overlooked” quality matches involved an Asian player… just saying.
Jimmy Robertson beat Sunny Akani by 6-5 in a very hard fought and very high quality match. It’s a shame really that one of them had to lose. Sunny found himself 4-0 down. He battled back to force a decider … that he lost 💔. The match featured two centuries and eight more break over 50. Really it deserved to be at least mentioned in the official report … but no.
It was a similar story between Lyu Haotian and Marco Fu. Lyu trailed 5-2, came back to force a decider … that he lost. Marco scored a 135 break in that match.
Zhou Yuelong and Michael Holt also served us a thriller. Michael won the match by 6-5. Zhou made a break over 70 in each of the five frames he won and still lost the match. Michael scored the highest break of the match, a 116, in frame 6.
Gong Chenzhi, who only turned eighteen nine days ago, beat Jordan Brown by 6-4. He also scored the only century of the match, a 106.
Sanderson Lam beat Alex Ursenbacher by 6-5. Sanderson Lam won two consecutive frames , frames 6 and 7, on re-spotted blacks.
Amir Sarkhosh, the rookie from Iran, beat the vastly experienced David Lilley by 6-3. Interestingly, Amir won most of the close frames.
Regarding the matches covered in WST reports … here is what I wish to add:
Artemijs Zizins lost by 6-3 but did show some very good things in defeat. It wasn’t a case of him playing badly at all. Selby was truly excellent.
I have often been irritated by WST constant focus on Stan Moody. Well … yesterday he won. He beat Tom Ford convincingly, by 6-2 … and he was overlooked. Don’t ask! Stan won the last two frames of the match. They were close frames. Clearly he’s maturing and his game evolves to become more “complete”.
The first round of the 2024 International Championship started yesterday as players aim at qualifying for the main venue. Here is the report by WST:
TRUMP SECURES INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SLOT
World number one Judd Trump secured his place in the final stages of the International Championship after a thumping 6-1 win over Scotland’s Chris Totten in Sheffield.
The Ace in the Pack has been in superb form so far this season, having picked up silverware at the Shanghai Masters, Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters and been runner-up at the inaugural Xi’an Grand Prix.
Englishman Trump lost the opening frame this afternoon, but went on to compile breaks of 54, 66, 103, 60 and 71 on his way to six on the bounce and a comfortable win. Victory sees him progress to the final stages in Nanjing.
Mark Williams enjoyed an even more comprehensive outcome, as he whitewashed Pakistan’s Haris Tahir 6-0.
The Welshman was runner-up to Trump in Saudi Arabia, but suffered the setback of a shock first round loss at the hands of Thor Chuan Leong to end the defence of his British Open title last week. He bounced straight back with breaks of 75, 100, 79 and 59 to beat Tahir without dropping a frame.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh earned his place with a 6-4 win over Lei Peifan. There was a dramatic moment in the second frame, when Un-Nooh missed the final black to spurn a maximum break. The Thai has history of missing the last ball on 140, having spurned a chance for £44,000 at the 2015 UK Championship.
China’s Wu Yize won the last three frames to defeat Wang Yuchen 6-4, while Anthony Hamilton inflicted a 6-0 whitewash on Jimmy White.
Once again this report overlooks quite a number of matches, notably all the matches played in the evening.
There were some notable results in that evening session:
Ben Mertens got the better of Graeme Dott by 6-4 in an extremely hard fought match that had started in the afternoon and was pulled off at 5-4 to Ben. Dott had lead 4-2 in that match.
Haydon Pinhey, who is in his first year as a pro, beat Stephen Maguire by 6-4.
Dean Young, twenty-two years old, beat the very experienced Tian Pengfei by 6-5. Dean was 5-1 ahead in that match. Tian then won four consecutive frames. He had the momentum. But Dean found something from somewhere and took the decider with a break of 94, the highest break of the match.
Xu Si won a strange match against Ahmed Elsayed. Ahmed led by 5-1, with a highest break of 51. Xu Si appeared to be struggling badly and was making a lot of mistakes, attracting the attention of the usual “Chinese players are fixers” brigade on twitter. But from 5-1 down he came back to 5-4. At that point the match was pulled off. When they resumed, Xu quickly got the two frames he need for victory. Whilst all the frames won by Elsayed were close frames, the ones won by XU Si were one-sided. It was all a bit bizarre.
In other news …
Ronnie’s last book, “Unbreakable”, is now available in “paperback” edition. Ronnie was on various media promoting it. Check Kalacs’ comments for the links. He appeared to be well and positive in these interviews. On thing he stated is that there are now a lot of excellent very young players, which is true. As we know this wasn’t his opinion a few years back. But I believe it’s true, they are better now than then, notably because of the “injection” of more very good young Chinese players and mainland Europe players with “more flair” than the UK youngsters.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 