World number 124 Jiang Jun scored a surprise 5-0 victory over Hossein Vafaei in the qualifying round for the Xi’an Grand Prix.
China’s 20-year-old Jiang took five frames in a row with a top break of 72 and he goes through to the final stages in Xi’an next month. Former Shoot Out champion Vafaei has struggled with a neck injury this year and has dropped from a career-high of 15th down to 25th in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings.
Marco Fu, the fastest player on the tour so far this season with an average shot time of just 13.7 seconds, raced to a 5-1 win over Sanderson Lam with top runs of 106, 99 and 71.
Stephen Maguire top scored with 85 in a 5-2 defeat of Bai Yulu, while Barry Hawkins made 121 and 134 in a 5-0 victory over Hatem Yassen. Hong Kong’s Wang Yuchen came from 3-0 down to beat Pang Junxu 5-3.
Well … if Hossein suffers from a lasting neck injury, he deserves credit for showing up, for trying his best and playing the match to a finish. That he lost is no surprise because all players who qualify for the main tour can play at a very high standard.
The most remarkable result registered yesterday, in my opinion, was Wang Yuchen’s win over Pang Junxu and it’s one that really pleases me. As you already know, I met him at an APTC in Yixing in 2012 when he was only 15. At the time he was trying to “juggle” between his dream to become a snooker player and his father’s wish to see him get a university degree. Eventually he managed both which is quite an achievement. He’s a very clever young man. There seems to be some confusion regarding Wang’s “snooker nationality”: it’s been swapping between “China” and “Hong Kong”. He probably has both. His father is from Hong Kong, that’s what he told me back then. But to play in that elite group of youngsters at the time, in mainland China, I suppose he had to be Chinese as well.
Snooker continues in Leicester today with the 2025 NI Open Qualifiers.
The report shared by WST on what happened on day one at the 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix qualifiers is rather short and far from exhaustive. Indeed, 21 matches were played on the day, but only five get as much as a mention …
Selby Secures Xi’an Spot
Mark Selby booked a place in the final stages of the Xi’an Grand Prix with an emphatic 5-0 win over Gong Chenzhi in the qualifying round on Monday.
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The qualifiers for this £850,000 ranking event run until Wednesday in Leicester, with winners going through to the televised phase in China next month.
Four-time Crucible king Selby rattled in breaks of 103, 63, 111 and 52 in a comfortable victory.
Louis Heathcote scored an impressive 5-3 win over BetVictor Scottish Open champion Lei Peifan, closing out the match with a 135. Wu Yize also made a 135 but was pushed all the way by Florian Nuessle, eventually winning 5-4.
Tour rookie Yao Pengcheng top scored with 137 in a 5-1 defeat of Zak Surety, while Jak Jones enjoyed a 5-0 win over Haydon Pinhey with runs of 91, 74, 98, 68 and 53.
Why those matches in particular? Don’t ask me. It seems that no match finishing past 6pm local time was reported on… maybe the man in charge of reporting had called it a day.
The top 16 players involved all won their match although not always with ease. Mark Allen was pushed all the way by Mitchell Mann, who, to be fair, is never an easy opponent.
Young Michal Szubarczyk, still only 14, won the last match of the day, past midnight, beating Martin O’Donnell in a deciding frame. Michal lead 4-1, only to be pegged back to 4-4. He didn’t crumbled. He won the decider with a break of 52. This kid is special.
Stan Moody recovered 4-2 deficit to beat Amir Sarkhosh 5-4 in the qualifying round for the Xi’an Grand Prix in Leicester.
Moody enjoyed his best ranking event run at last week’s Wuhan Open, reaching the quarter-finals, then almost lost momentum today but narrowly avoided a surprise defeat against world number 76 Sarkhosh. Teenager Moody took the last three frames with a top break of 70 and he will be on the plane to Xi’an for the final stages of this £850,000 ranking event next month.
Luca Brecel’s return to competitive action didn’t go to plan as he conceded his match against Sunny Akani midway through the third frame. Brecel had not previously played since the Halo World Championship in April, and released a statement last month to explain that he had been suffering from health problems .
The 2023 World Champion was playing with a new cue tonight and appeared to struggle to get used to it, and having lost the first two frames he offered the handshake to Akani when 40-1 down in the third.
Farakh Ajaib continued his fine start to the season as he beat Zhang Anda 5-4, coming from 54-0 down in the decider to take it on the final black. China’s tour rookie Xu Yichen came from 4-1 down to beat Jack Lisowski 5-4, winning the last four frames with runs of 78, 66, 53 and 66.
Shaun Murphy strolled to a 5-0 success against Liam Highfield with a top break of 117 while Zhou Yuelong made the third 147 of his career during a 5-2 defeat of Julien Leclercq.
Matthew Selt came from 4-2 down to beat Antoni Kowalski 5-4 while Saudi Masters semi-finalist Elliot Slessor enjoyed a 5-1 success against Liam Graham.
I watched the Brecel match … supporting Sunny Akani. What happened in that match didn’t surprise me and is an example of why, despite being Belgian, I’m not a fan of Luca. Yes, Luca is autistic … to an extend. He has autistic traits, certainly but he is still functional enough to live in society, to be in a relationship, to travel on his own, etc…
I honestly believe that the problem is elsewhere, that the problem is that he was raised as an only child, that he was overprotected and outrageously spoiled. That’s what I have seen anyway when I was at events, and Luca, still a young teenager, was there too with his family. I’m sure that his parents meant well, that they wanted, surely still want, the best for him. They want him to be happy. But even if your child has autistic traits, as Luca has, if they are functional enough to live in society, you have to educate them to behave correctly towards others and respect social rules, because, ultimately, that child will become an adult, will grow older and outlive you and they will have to live in that society when yourself will no more be around to guide and protect them. It’s not easy but it’s necessary.
Jack Lisowski managed to lose by 5-4 to Xu Yichen a 38 years old rookie whose only victory before this one came against Oliver Brown1 last June. I didn’t see the match but that result is baffling although … we all know how inconsistent Jack can be, and reckless at times as well.
Oliver has only won two matches so far this season, both times against an amateur. ↩︎
The Englishman, who was relegated from the World Snooker Tour at the end of last season, came through a field of 94 cueists in the Swedish capital to make the perfect start to his bid to return to the professional ranks.
Miah faced a tough route to the final as he took on fellow former professionals in each of the five rounds leading up to the title match.
A trio of half-century breaks helped Miah to a whitewash victory over Sean Maddocks and he battled through against Ashley Carty in the next round by compiling a break of 50 in the deciding frame.
The 32-year-old, who first turned professional in 2013, then confirmed his place in the concluding day at the Snookerhallen by defeating Ryan Thomerson 4-1 with a top break of 92.
Reigning World Seniors Snooker champion Alfie Burden provided tough opposition in the quarter-final, but Miah was able to secure a 4-1 victory before downing Peter Lines 4-2 with breaks of 71, 61 and 109 to reach the title match.
There he faced fellow countryman Whelan, who had reached the first Q Tour final of his career by defeating 16-year-old Ukrainian sensation Michael Larkov, who had compiled the tournament high break of 140 earlier in the week, in the semi-final.
The 27-year-old made the perfect start to the best-of-seven frame final by firing in a break of 105 in the opener.
Miah quickly hit back, however, moving ahead for the first time at 2-1 with a break of 75 before stealing frame four from 50 points behind with a 76 clearance.
Whelan rallied to take frame five and looked set to force a decider in the next, but a risky blue was missed leaving Miah able to clear the last three colours and secure the title.
Post-match, Miah said: “I am happy with the way I finished off the final. I’m not 100% satisfied, but I did enough to win so there are a lot of positives to take from the weekend.”
“It’s been a huge adjustment but I think I needed this to gain some confidence again. I just need to win a couple more events and secure my tour card for next season. That is my only goal for this campaign.” said Miah.
Bai Yulu has defeated Ng On Yee 4-2 to win the Taom UK Women’s Snooker Championship for a second time following a high-quality final at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, England.
The 22-year-old from China becomes the first player since Ng in 2017-18 to successfully defend both the UK and World Championship titles during consecutive years and maintains her 100% record of having reached at least the final of both events since her Tour debut.
Glory represents her fifth ranking victory overall since 2023, seeing her equal Kim Shaw and Sue Foster in the all-time list of ranking title winners on the WWS Tour.
Having won the title for the first time a year ago, the top seed made smooth progress through the round robin group stage on Saturday, before she saw off Deborah Fladgate – who secured her place in the knockout rounds following a dramatic black ball playoff – to reach the final day.
Victories against English duo Tessa Davidson and Rebecca Kenna – who both came close to forcing a deciding frame – would see her through to the title match for a third successive year.
Awaiting her was four-time UK champion Ng On Yee, who herself had navigated a draw which featured former world champions Reanne Evans, Baipat Siripaporn and Mink Nutcharut to earn a ranking final with Bai for the first time on the WWS Tour.
The decisive match would prove to be a thrilling contest as the first four frames were split with Ng hitting breaks of 53 and 50, either side of a stunning 102 clearance by Bai to equal the tournament high break set by Mink Nutcharut earlier in the competition and earn a share of the high break prize.
As the match became increasingly tactical as it entered the final frames, it was Bai who would emerge victorious with breaks of 46 and 30 enough to see her over the line and continue her reign as UK champion for a second year.
Phoemphul, Davidson claim titles
The Under-21 competition saw an all-Thai final as Narucha Phoemphul defeated Phakwalan Kongkaew 2-0 to lift her third junior crown since November 2024.
The 19-year-old Thai talent – who was only denied a place in the main tournament semi-finals by a gutsy comeback from Rebecca Kenna – defeated Daisy May Oliver and compatriot Kongkaew to earn her first UK Junior title and her defeat to the same opponent at the World Under-21 Championship earlier this year.
In the Seniors competition meanwhile it was runaway number one Tessa Davidson who extended her unbeaten run to an incredible two years with a 2-0 final victory against Charlene Chai of Singapore.
The 56-year-old did not drop a frame as she defeated Rose Nicholson, Selina Dean and Chai – who was competing on UK soil for the first time since 2017 – to lift the title for the third time in Leeds.
Finally, the 6-Red Challenge Cup competition was won by India’s Anupama Ramachandran following a 2-1 final victory against Charlene Chai.
The 2023 World Cup winner – who had narrowly lost out to Narucha Phoemphul at the last 16 stage of the main competition – defeated Audrey Chua, Ellise Scott, So Man Yan, Zeinab Shahi and finally Chai to earn her first individual trophy on the WWS Tour.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 