Snooker’s youngest ever professional Michal Szubarczyk made it back-to-back wins at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters by beating Bulcsu Revesz 4-3 to reach round three in Jeddah.
Poland’s Szubarczyk, age 14 years and seven months, joined the tour earlier this year after winning the under-16 and under-18 titles at the EBSA European Championship as well as reaching the final of the senior event, prompting Mark Williams to describe him as “one of the best 14-year-olds I’ve seen in my life”.
Having lost his first handful of matches as a pro, he scored his maiden win on Friday, 4-2 against Ryan Davies, and followed up today with a fine display against Revesz, highlighted by a break of 93 in frame four.
“I feel very proud of myself because many people would say I was the underdog today,” said Szubarczyk. “I played a very good match. I was a bit nervous in the last frame but not that much. The standard on the tour is very difficult. I need to improve my safety and I need to stop getting angry when I miss. I am improving.”
Reanne Evans continued her tremendous start to the season with a 4-2 defeat of Liam Davies. Evans has now won four out of four knockout ranking event matches this term, beating David Lilley, Lan Yuhao and Kreishh Gurbaxani. The 12-time World Women’s Champion top scored with 84 today as she set up a blockbuster tie with Jack Lisowski on Sunday afternoon.
Stan Moody produced a tremendous finish to beat Liam Highfield 4-3, making back-to-back centuries in the last two frames from 3-2 down. Highfield earlier made a 122 in taking a narrow lead, but 18-year-old Moody fired 130 and 109 at the business end.
Steven Hallworth beat Michael Holt 4-3 in a dramatic finish as the deciding frame came down to the last two balls. Holt eventually made a safety error on the pink and Hallworth slotted it into a centre pocket. Ben Mertens made an 87 in the decider to beat Ross Muir 4-3 while Aaron Hill won an all-Cork derby with Leone Crowley 4-1.
Sam Craigie continued his successful return from a long-term absence due to a neck injury as he thrashed Mark Davis 4-0 with top breaks of 93, 122 and 104.
“Thankfully I can play my best stuff again,” said Craigie. “I missed out on this event last year and I was devastated. In practice I feel better than ever, and today was the first time I have shown that in a match.”
Ukraine’s top player Iulian Boiko scored a 4-1 victory over Zak Surety in the second round of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, underlining his potential as starts his second spell on tour.
Boiko first turned pro at the age of just 14 in 2020 and spent two years on tour before being relegated. After a spell in the amateur ranks, he regained his tour card this year with victory in the European Under-21 Championship. The19-year-old will be looking to climb the rankings this season and tonight’s result was a step forward as he comfortably beat Surety, one of last season’s most improved players. His next test is against Jackson Page on Sunday.
“It feels great, I played a good match,” said Boiko, who fired breaks of 57, 54, 54, 53 and 51. “This season I am planning to play more practice matches, especially against the top players. I used to mainly practise solo which meant I didn’t learn enough from other players, so that’s the main thing I am trying to change.”
Latvia’s Artemijs Zizins beat Ken Doherty 4-3 in a tense finish. The decider came down to the last red and Doherty went for a tough long pot, missed his target and sent the cue ball in-off, handing Zizins the chance to score the points he needed.
Belgium’s Julien Leclercq earned a 4-1 success against Umut Dikme while Allan Taylor made a 62 in the decider to beat Mohamed Shehab 4-3.
Thailand’s tour rookie Chatchapong Nasa was docked the opening frame of his match against David Lilley for arriving late to the table, but still hit back to win 4-3, taking the decider by potting brown, blue and pink.
The young players from mainland Europe are clearly improving. Yesterday, all of them but two, Bulcsú Révész and Umut Dikme, won their match and the two who lost were facing another young player from mainland Europe…
Artemijs Zizins beat Ken Doherty by 4-3. Ken isn’t the player he was, of course, but he remains a very shrewd opponent at the table and someone every young player can learn a lot from.
Julien Leclercq cue hadn’t arrived and he was playing with Liam Pullen’s cue1. Steven Hallworth, in commentary, reflected that for someone as tall as Julien it’s not easy to find and borrow a cue “long enough” to “fit” him… indeed it isn’t. Ben Mertens had beaten Ross Muir by the same score earlier in the day.
Reanne Evans also progressed, with a good 4-2 win over Liam Davies. She won the last three frames of the match and finished with a good 84, the only big break of the encounter. It’s worth noting that Reanne has won all four “straight knock-out” matches she’s played this season so far. She now faces Jack Lisowksi…
One player I really like, Sunny Akani was beaten heavily by Louis Heathcote. Louis scored well in that match: he had breaks of 94, 104 and 50 to finish the job. Interestingly, I read somewhere that Ronnie is currently playing with a cue made by Sunny … The two of them get along well, so maybe that was a natural choice, but I had no idea Sunny was making cues.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 