Whilst the top guys were battling in out in Bolton, most other players focus was on the 2024 UK Championship Qualifiers currently underway in Leicester.

The first two rounds have been completed already and the third round started yesterday evening.

All the detailed results are available on snooker.org.

WST has, so far published four reports, three of them covering those first two rounds.

BAI SCORES FIRST PRO WIN IN UK QUALIFIERS

Bai Yulu made four breaks over 50 as she scored her first win since joining the World Snooker Tour, beating Farakh Ajaib 6-4 in the first qualifying round of the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship in Leicester.

China’s Bai, age 21, has established herself as the most exciting young talent in women’s snooker this year, winning both the World and UK Championship. She has joined the pro tour for the first time this season, and after a run of early defeats, she now has a victory under her belt.

From 3-1 down against Ajaib she took four frames in a row to lead 5-3, and eventually clinched the result in frame ten. Bai scored heavily across the contest, firing runs of 68, 57, 52 and 73. She will meet Jamie Jones next on Sunday evening and needs three more wins to make it to the final stages in York, which run from November 23 to December 1. 

Liam Davies came within two pots of his first 147, but narrowly missed the pink with the rest on 134 during his 6-3 win over Ahmed Aly Elsayed. A maximum for the Welsh teenager would have got him halfway to a £147,000 bonus, available for any player who makes two 147s across the four majors this season.

Zhao Xintong, the 2021 champion, made a rare 146 during a 6-3 win over Sunny Akani, establishing a formidable target for the £15,000 high break prize. From 3-2 down, China’s Zhao took the last four frames.

Promising rookie Gong Chenzhi made breaks of 123, 90 and 106 during a 6-2 win over Daniel Womersley, while Latvia’s Artemijs Zizins top scored with 89 in a 6-1 defeat of Mark Joyce. Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko saw off Bulcsu Revesz 6-3, while UAE’s Mohamed Shehab scored his first win of the season, beating Dean Young 6-4. 

African champion Hatem Yassen enjoyed a 6-0 success against Mink Nutcharut, while amateur Oliver Sykes scored an impressive 6-4 win over Ben Mertens.  

BAI MAKES HISTORY WITH WIN OVER JONES

Bai Yulu became the first woman this century to win back-to-back matches in a ranking event by beating Jamies Jones 6-4 in the second qualifying round of the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship.

China’s 21-year-old Bai beat Farakh Ajaib in the opening round on Saturday, and followed up with a superb victory over world number 54 Jones. She compiled breaks of 70, 58, 56 and 68 as she became the first woman to win consecutive matches in a ranking event since Kelly Fisher in the pre-qualifying rounds of the 1999 World Championship.

World Women’s Champion Bai is playing on the pro tour for the first time this season and had not won a match before this week, but is now just two more wins away from the final stages. She will face Scott Donaldson next on Tuesday morning. 

Jimmy White got his campaign underway with a 6-2 win over amateur Paul Deaville. The Whirlwind first turned professional 44 years ago, but is still competing at the top level at the age of 62. The ten-time ranking event winner ran the qualifying gauntlet to make the final stages in 2022 and will be hoping to do the same this week. 

Breaks of 55 and 78 helped White to victory today. He now progresses to the second round, where he will face Scotland’s Ross Muir on Monday afternoon. 

Leicester’s Louis Heathcote came through with a 6-0 demolition of the UAE’s Mohamed Shehab. Heathcote crafted runs of 52, 60, 57 and 59 in the win and now faces Ryan Day in round three.

Latvian Artemijs Zizins beat David Grace 6-3, while Ashley Carty beat Iulian Boiko 6-4. They now play Stephen Maguire and Wu Yize respectively. 

ZHAO REMAINS ON COURSE FOR YORK

Zhao Xintong continued his flying start to the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship qualifiers with a 6-2 victory over Jiang Jun, moving within two wins of a place in the final stages in York.

Results / Tickets / How To Watch

China’s Zhao, who lifted this trophy in 2021, beat Sunny Akani in his first match on Saturday, making a break of 146 which set the target for the £15,000 high break prize. And he followed up today by beating Jiang in just 94 minutes, firing runs of 92, 85, 98, 50, 115 and 77. Zhao faces Noppon Saengkham next on Tuesday afternoon, and victory would put him into Judgement Day with places in York at stake.

Jimmy White’s dream of making it to York ended as the veteran went down 6-4 to Ross Muir, who made breaks of 103 and 125. Matthew Stevens, the 2003 champion, pulled away from 4-4 to beat Manasawin Phetmalaikul 6-4. 

Marco Fu, runner-up in 2008, saw off Amir Sarkhosh 6-1 with breaks of 62, 53, 108, 50, 80 and 66. Poland’s tour rookie Antoni Kowalski beat Anthony Hamilton 6-3 with a top run of 91, while China’s He Guoqiang made 100, 99, 91, 102 and 86 during a 6-1 defeat of Robbie McGuigan. 

Aaron Hill made a vital 57 in the decider to beat Ka Wai Cheung 6-5, while Julien Leclercq came from 4-3 down to beat former World Champion Grame Dott 6-4 with a top run of 106. 

Round three in Leicester gets underway on Monday evening.

Bai Yulu double win is of course the big story of those first two days. She hadn’t won a match so far on the main tour and some were quick to write her off already but getting used to life on the main tour isn’t that easy for players from outside the UK, and is even more difficult for a young woman from China, who is pretty much “one of a kind” on the main tour. She is starting to show how good she is and I’m very pleased with that.

The other talking point is the return of Zhao Xintong. There was a lot of hostility coming from some corners on social media. People insisting he’s a “cheat”. According to the findings of the independent commission, Zhao didn’t fix any match. What he did is betting on snooker and failing to grass on his mates. Regarding the latter, considering that Zhao is a child from the “one child per family” generation, it was always going to be difficult for him to “betray” those who are the closest he will ever have to brothers. It isn’t hard to understand and I’ sure that Jason Ferguson in particular understands it very well.

Those who insist he is a cheat go on about a certain match against Paul Deaville in particular. I must admit that I don’t remember that match… unless it’s the one during which Zhao was suffering a terrible cough. The match attracted a lot of comments of people who were apparently convinced that he was “faking” it. But why? On what ground? Because it was excessive? What I can say about that sort of cough is that I have been there myself, I have had bouts of pneumonia during which I couldn’t control a violent and persistent cough, very similar to what Zhao was suffering from during the match I have in mind. If anything, he shouldn’t have been playing out there, he should have stayed warm in his bed … Maybe even the referee should have considered the situation and ruled that he was unfit to play.

BTW, I have looked up YouTube in search of a match between Xao and Deaville in the hope to make a better informed opinion but I had no joy.

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