The 2024 Scottish Open started yesterday. It’s usually the last event before the Christmas break, but not this time. There are some noticeable “absentees” missing from the draw. It was already announced last week that Judd Trump and Mark Williams had withdrawn from the event, and yesterday it was announced that Ronnie had withdrawn as well. David Gilbert has withdrawn as well although WST wasn’t bothered to make an announcement on their site for this one. Because the top 32 is seeded in the last 64 round, these players can’t be replaced.

Regarding Ronnie it doesn’t come as a big surprise although I had hoped that maybe he might play this week because he was seen practicing in the background whilst on commentary duties for Eurosport at the UK championship and Victoria had shared pictures of him practicing in her academy over the week-end. But then, of course, there is the big invitational event in Riyadh coming and he’s defending champion there as well as their special ambassador. Anyway…

Here is the report by WST on what happened in Meadowbank yesterday:

BETVICTOR SCOTTISH OPEN DAY ONE

Home hero John Higgins got off to a winning start at the BetVictor Scottish Open in Edinburgh, beating Ian Burns 4-2 to set up a last 32 clash with in form Barry Hawkins.

The four-time World Champion is still aiming to get his name on the Stephen Hendry Trophy, having come close in the tournament’s eight-year history. He’s a two-time runner-up, after losses to Marco Fu in 2016 and Luca Brecel in 2021. Last year, Higgins lost out to Noppon Saengkham in the semis. 

Despite a fine break of 130 from Burns, it was Higgins who took three of the first four to lead 3-1. A dramatic fifth saw Burns keep his hopes alive by stealing on the black, but a break of 45 from Higgins in the sixth got him over the line and secured victory. 

“It is always special playing in front of your own fans. I’m sure all of the Scottish boys will tell you that. There was a good crowd out there today and I’m delighted. I’m sure it will be the same for the next game,” said 31-time ranking event winner Higgins. 

“Barry is on the crest of a wave. He came so close to winning the UK Championship. He played great there. It is a tough last 32 game. That is just the way our sport is now. It is really tough.“

Hawkins continued his red hot form with a 4-2 defeat of Swiss number one Alexander Ursenbacher. 

The Englishman beat the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Shaun Murphy on his way to the recent Victorian Plumbing UK Championship final. However, he was pipped 10-8 in a thrilling title match by Judd Trump. 

This afternoon saw Hawkins top score with 130, as he registered a 94% pot success rate on his way to victory and a mouth watering encounter with Higgins. 

Aside from Higgins, the Scottish contingent struggled on day one. Scott Donaldson was whitewashed 4-0 by world number 16 Chris Wakelin, while Ali Carter defeated Graeme Dott 4-2 and Ryan Day ousted Anthony McGill 4-1. 

Back-to-back defending champion Gary Wilson’s two-year reign came to an end after a 4-2 loss against China’s Long Zehuang. The Tyneside cueman captured his maiden ranking crown with a win over Joe O’Connor in the 2022 final and beat Noppon Saengkham in last year’s title match.

World number five Mark Allen hit his stride in the latter stages of a 4-1 win over He Guoqiang. Runs of 104 and 99 helped him to take the last two frames and wrap up victory. Afterwards he admitted he had to abandon technical changes he’d been working on to get himself over the line. 

Allen said: “It was awful, I felt really on edge with what I’ve been trying to work on. I just gave up on it out there if I’m honest. I’m not comfortable enough with it on the practice table yet. I reverted to playing a bit faster and thankfully the balls went in. That’s no guarantee it is going to work next time.”

Stuart Bingham fired in breaks of 81, 98 and 70 in a 4-0 win over Jimmy Robertson, while Zhang Anda beat Stan Moody 4-3. 

All the detailed results are available on snooker.org

Once again a number of matches have been overlooked by WST, notably those involving two non British players … business as usual, he?

In the evening, I watched the Wu Yize v Farakh Ajaib match. Farakh is a dangerous player on his day and Wu struggled in the first frame. Of course, he went deep into the shoot-out (semi-finals) and although he played only three frames on Saturday, he was probably a bit tired. Concentrating that noisy and rowdy environment can’t be easy. Wu won by 4-1 eventually.

In the afternoon, I had watched Joe O’Connor v Lyu Haotian. Neither played well for the first two frames. After that however Joe was impressive: Lyu only potted one ball in the last three frames, whilst Joe had breaks of 76, 59 and 123.

No mention either in the above report of one of the best performances on the day. In the battle of the Joneses: Jak Jones, the Crucible runner-up, beat Jamie Jones by 4-1, scoring breaks of 55, 101 and 98 in the process. Jamie had a 51 in the only frame he won. You would think that, after his run at the Crucible last May, Jak would get more attention … but no.