While the top ten players where battling it out for (allegedly) a golden ball in the luxury¹ of Riyadh, most of the tour players were battling it out in Ponds Forge to try to qualify for the 2025 German Masters and the 2025 World Open … in front of nobody. Lets have a look at what happened there …

All the 2025 German Masters Qualifiers results are available on snooker.org. The lowest ranked players had to win two matches to get to Berlin.

Here are the relevant reports by WST:

December 16, 2024

BAI WINS AGAIN IN BERLIN QUALIFIERS

Bai Yulu added another victory to her impressive debut pro season as she beat Liam Pullen 5-4 in the first qualifying round of the Machineseeker German Masters.

China’s 21-year-old Bai will face Yuan Sijun on Tuesday afternoon with the winner to go through to the final stages of this world ranking event at the Tempodrom in Berlin in the new year.

Last month, Bai won three qualifying matches in the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship, and she followed up with a first round win at the 9Club Shoot Out, and notched another success today against world number 90 Pullen. Breaks of 56 and 66 gave her a 2-1 lead, and she later came from 4-3 down to take the last two frames.

Ken Doherty, recently recovered from an umbilical hernia operation, earned his first win of the season with a 5-4 defeat of Oliver Lines. From 4-0 down, Lines recovered to 4-4 and led 53-0 in the decider, only for veteran Doherty to snatch it with a superb 66 clearance. 

Julien Leclercq top scored with 131 in a 5-2 win over Jimmy White, while Stan Moody fired runs of 108 and 133 in a 5-0 whitewash of Ahmed Aly Elsayed. Artemijs Zizins made a 94 in the decider to edge out Kreishh Gurbaxani 5-4.

December 17, 2024

DOHERTY EARNS BERLIN SPOT

Just eight weeks after having emergency surgery for an umbilical hernia, 55-year-old Ken Doherty booked a place in the final stages of the Machineseeker German Masters with a 5-4 victory over Jordan Brown.

Veteran Doherty lost his first five matches this season and was then forced to take a break after being rushed to hospital for the surgery in October. He returned at this week’s qualifying event with low expectations, but the former World Champion edged out Oliver Lines 5-4 in his first match on Monday then beat Brown by the same scoreline

Doherty took a 4-2 lead with top breaks of 53, 80 and 64, then Brown fought back to 4-4 and he led 59-46 in the decider only for Doherty to clear from last red to pink.    

Bai Yulu made the second highest break ever by a woman in a ranking event, making a 128 during her match with Yuan Sijun. This has only been topped by Allison Fisher who made a 133 in the 1992 Dubai Classic. However that break was the only highlight of the day for Bai as she lost 5-1.

Xu Si top scored with 142 in a 5-1 win over Julian Leclercq. Aaron Hill battled to a 5-4 win over Stan Moody, winning an 85-minute deciding frame on the colours. Latvia’s Artemijs Zizins followed up his 5-4 first round win over Kreishh Gurbaxani by beating Matthew Selt by the same scoreline. Zizins made a 70 clearance to take the decider, helped by a fluke on the last red.

In round one, BetVictor Scottish Open champion Lei Peifan saw his winning streak ended by a 5-3 defeat against Allan Taylor.

December 18, 2024

EVANS ON TARGET FOR TEMPODROM

Reanne Evans scored her first win on the pro tour this season, beating Amir Sarkhosh 5-3 in the first qualifying round of the Machineseeker German Masters.

Evans will face Joe O’Connor on Thursday with the winner to go through to the final stages at the iconic Tempodrom venue in Berlin in January. Breaks of 66 and 50 helped 12-time World Women’s Champion Evans to a 3-0 lead, and she later sealed victory in frame eight.

9Club Shoot Out runner-up Liam Graham made a tremendous comeback from 4-0 down to beat Ma Hailong 5-4. Graham, who was denied a first ranking title by Tom Ford earlier this month, took the last five frames with a top break of 55.   

Poland’s Antoni Kowalski enjoyed a 5-4 success against Ian Burns, making an 83 in the decider. Amateur Joshua Thomond beat Ben Mertens 5-4, winning the last frame on a respotted black. Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko beat Michael Holt 5-2 with a top break of 79.

December 19, 2024

KOWALSKI SET FOR BERLIN

Antoni Kowalski sealed his place in the final stages of the Machineseeker German Masters with a 5-0 demolition of last season’s Welsh Open runner-up Martin O’Donnell at qualifying in Sheffield.

Polish number one Kowalski is in his debut season on tour, having come through Q School at the beginning of the season. He’s enjoyed a strong start to life as a professional, with today’s win marking his 13th victory of the campaign. He top scored with 58 in the second frame. 

Welshman Jackson Page produced a break building blitz to ease past Thailand’s Sunny Akani 5-1. Runs of 64, 65, 59, 86 and 64 were enough to see him through in just over an hour and a half. 

Scotland’s Shoot Out runner-up Liam Graham continued his good form by registering a second consecutive 5-4 win to qualify, this time beating Sanderson Lam to follow up his first round win against Ma Hailong.

Former Shoot Out champion Thepchaiya Un-Nooh made breaks of 101 and 104 during a 5-3 defeat of amateur Paul Deaville, while Alfie Burden scored an impressive 5-0 win over Jamie Jones. 

Joe O’Connor scored a 5-1 win over Reanne Evans and Hammad Miah defeated Matthew Stevens 5-2 with two century breaks.

Some observations about the outcome of those “German” qualifiers …

• The second round of qualifiers started before the first round finished. This was done so that players who had won their first match during the first two days should not have to wait “idle” to play their second one. It’s good for the players but makes following the results a bit more difficult for the fans.
• Eight players from China/Hong Kong have booked their place in Berlin and ALL of them did it on the first day of round 2. Actually the vast majority of the Chinese players were scheduled to play early in these qualifiers. I thought at first that it might be a move by WST to allow them to travel back to China “early” in the holiday time, should they wish to do that, but with the World Open qualifiers to follow that made no sense.
• From mainland Europe, Artemijs Zizins, Antoni Kowalski and Alex Ursebacher have qualified. For Alex of course this event is as close as it can be from being a “home” event.
• Two of the four women won their first match: Bai Yulu and Reanne Evans, and Bai made her fits century as a professional. Bai is the best female on tour, she actually competes with the men, and I believe that what she is doing is actually re-motivating the other women.
• The tour “veterans” did very well: Dominic Dale, Ken Doherty, Graeme Dott, Mark Davis and David Lilley are all Berlin bound! At 47, Dotty is the “baby” in this list. When I started following snooker, the general opinion was that past 35 years of age, players were “finished”… clearly the said players have other ideas.

The 2025 World Open Qualifiers results are, of course, also available on snooker.org.

For this event, only one qualifying match was required, but most of the top players had to go through the qualifying process. The qualifiers were played over three days, again without spectators.

Here are the reports by WST:

December 20, 2024

HAWK SET FOR YUSHAN

Barry Hawkins produced a brilliant display to demolish Ka Wai Cheung 5-1 and clinch his place in the final stages of next year’s World Open, which will take place in Yushan. 

The Hawk is in fine form currently, having reached the first Victorian Plumbing UK Championship final of his career earlier this month. He was runner-up to Judd Trump after losing a classic contest 10-8. He followed that up by beating John Higgins 4-3 during last week’s BetVictor Scottish Open, where he exited against Wu Yize in the last 16. 

Hawkins surged to an emphatic win today, crafting breaks of 66, 76, 71, 51 and 133 on his way to victory.

World number 89 Zak Surety staged a stunning upset victory to thrash world number 13 Si Jiahui 5-0. Surety hammered home contributions of 64, 74 and 87 as he blitzed past the talented Si.

Another significant shock saw world number 108 Chris Totten score a 5-1 win over 2015 Crucible king Stuart Bingham. Totten fired in two century runs of 102 and 103 during the win.

Alfie Burden beat Stephen Maguire 5-4 by a single point on the final black, while Gary Wilson was a 5-1 winner against Gong Chenzhi.

December 21, 2024

HIGGINS BEATS WANG WITH LATE CLEARANCE

John Higgins came through a tough battle against Wang Yuchen in the qualifying round of the World Open, making a vital deciding frame clearance to score a 5-4 victory and book his place in the final stages.

World number 14 Higgins was pushed all the way by a player ranked 95 places lower, but eventually got over the line and will be in Yushan, China in February for the world ranking event. Breaks of 66, 80, 54 and 50 helped Higgins build a 4-2 lead, before Wang recovered to 4-4. The underdog led 48-0 in the decider only for Higgins to make an excellent 76.

Newly crowned BetVictor Scottish Open champion Lei Peifan enjoyed a tremendous fight-back as he recovered a 4-0 deficit to beat Anthony Hamilton 5-4 with a top run of 79. India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha came from 3-1 down to beat Dominic Dale 5-4 with a top break of 100.

Poland’s Antoni Kowalski continued his fine recent form with a 5-1 thrashing of Paul Deaville. Crucible runner-up Jak Jones compiled runs of 107 and 102 in a 5-0 whitewash of Allan Taylor.

December 22, 2024

BRECEL CONTINUES FORM TO REACH YUSHAN

Luca Brecel’s mid-season recovery continued with a 5-3 defeat of Iulian Boiko to qualify for the final stages of the World Open, which will take place in Yushan next year. 

The Belgian’s points for winning the 2023 World Championship will drop off  at the end of the season, at which point he is currently projected to plummet to 57th position in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings. However, a recent recovery of his form started at the BetVictor Scottish Open, where he made the quarter-finals. On Friday, he was also runner-up to Mark Allen at the invitational Riyadh Season Snooker Championship. 

After a quick turnaround, he travelled to Sheffield for today’s qualifier with Boiko. With the scores locked at 2-2, Brecel racked up three frames on the bounce to secure another important win. 

Thailand’s Sunny Akani scored a shock 5-2 win over Mark Williams to earn his place in Yushan. Breaks of 60, 109 and 87 helped him to progress this afternoon. 

Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong eased to a 5-0 win over Dylan Emery. There were contributions of 116 and 86 for Xiao on his way to victory. 

Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh scored only his eighth win of the season after beating David Gilbert 5-3, taking the concluding frame on the final black. 

Mark Selby made a stunning 142 in the deciding frame to beat Artemijs Zizins 5-4 and Mark Allen won the last two frames to overcome Rory Thor 5-4.

England’s 2005 World Champion Shaun Murphy beat Mostafa Dorgham 5-3, while Pang Junxu beat 1997 Crucible king Ken Doherty 5-2. 

Again, some thoughts about these results…

• From the top 16, only Mark Williams and Si Juahui failed to qualify. Si appears to be going through a dip of form recently. He was whitewashed by Zak Surety who is a very decent player, but not a top player by any means. Willo lost to Sunny Akani and, as much as I like Willo, I’m delighted for Sunny.
• Among the players close to the top 16, or that I feel are/were top 16 material, a few will miss the “main event” in Yushan. Neil Robertson failed to show up. No explanation was provided by WST. Stephen Maguire was beaten in a decider by Alfie Burden who, of course, is very experienced. I doubt that Maguire was particularly happy to have to travel to England this time of the year to play a qualifying match in front of no one, therefore, I’m not overly surprised. On the other hand David Gilbert’s 5-3 defeat to Amir Sarkosh did surprise me.
• Mark Selby and Mark Allen had to battle really hard against Artemijs Zizins and Rory Thor (Thor Chuan Leong). Those were the two last matches of the day and both went the distance. Artemijs Zizins is definitely one to watch!
• For me, the most surprising result of the event was Manasawin Phetmalaikul 5-2 win over Matthew Selt, with 3 breaks over 50. How come? “Quid” has done very, very little on the main tour so far. I didn’t see the match. Maybe I will watch it because I’m truly nonplussed.

And with that professional snooker is over until the New Year …

1. For the privileged ones of course… ↩︎