The 2026 German Masters qualifiers were played over the last few days and the outcome of the last round can be found on snooker.org and here is the short report shared by WST:

Machineseeker German Masters Qualifying Day Four

Two-time Machineseeker German Masters champion Ali Carter booked his return to the Tempodrom with a 5-2 victory over Ricky Walden in the final qualifying round.

Results/Draw

Carter has enjoyed outstanding success in this event as he lifted the trophy in 2013 and 2023 as well as reaching the final in 2017. And the 46-year-old can look forward to another trip to Berlin as breaks of 104 and 71 helped him beat Walden and reach the last 32.

Luca Brecel’s hopes of climbing back up the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings suffered another blow as he lost 5-4 to David Gilbert, who took the last two frames with runs of 107 and 61. Jack Lisowski top scored with 96 in a 5-1 success against Lan Yuhao.

Stuart Bingham made a 124 as he whitewashed Ken Doherty 5-0 while Belgian Beast Julien Leclercq continued his fine recent form with a 5-3 win over Yuan Sijun. 

China’s Gao Yang edged out Stephen Maguire 5-4, while Elliot Slessor built on his career-best season as he top scored with 104 in a 5-0 win over Liam Highfield. 

Here is how the draw for the main event looks like for now.

If Ronnie plays and wins his opening match against Long Zehuang, he is due to play Ali Carter. I’m sure they are both absolutely delighted… NOT.

Here is the report shared by WST:

Si Fights Back To Win Group

Si Jiahui came from 2-0 down in the final to defeat Leicester’s Joe O’Connor 3-2 on his home turf and win Group 3 at the BetVictor Championship League Invitational. 

Results/Table

The afternoon saw the round robin phase of the group conclude, with Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong finishing top ahead of Yuan Sijun in second, O’Connor in third and Si in fourth. Si had to beat O’Connor his last match to edge into the semis and he did just that by a 3-1 scoreline.

A break of 73 in the deciding frame from Si was enough for him to beat Xiao 3-2, while O’Connor top scored with 125 in a 3-1 defeat of Yuan. 

The final saw O’Connor charge to the verge of victory, but breaks of 65 and 97 helped Si take the last three frames and earn his progression. He will return to Leicester in February for the next phase. 

Xiao will join Kyren Wilson, Neil Robertson, Zhao Xintong, Gary Wilson, Ben Woollaston and Matthew Selt in a star studded group 4, which begins tomorrow.

I can’t comment on this leg of the 2025/26 CLS, my attention yesterday being mainly on the ongoing 2026 German Masters qualifiers. Maybe my memory is failing me but I can’t remember such a strong presence of the Chinese players in this event in the previous years.

Group 4 starts today with, amongst others, Kyren Wilson, Neil Robertson, Zhao Xintong in the field. It’s probably not by chance that those three enter the competition at this stage. Whatever the outcome for them tomorrow, it’s very valuable practice ahead of the 2026 Masters.

Here is the short report shared by WST:

Slessor Seals Group Two

Elliot Slessor overcame fellow Newcastle cueman Gary Wilson 3-1 in the Group Two final at the BetVictor Championship League Invitational in Leicester. 

Results And Table

The pair were competing alongside five other players seeking to prevail and earn a spot in the next phase, but it is 31-year-old Slessor who earned his place to return in February. 

The group phase concluded this afternoon, with the top four players progressing to the semi-finals. Slessor scored wins over Wilson and Chris Wakelin and lost out against Jackson Page to finish third. Meanwhile Wilson beat Joe O’Connor 3-2 to finish top.

The semis saw Wilson beat O’Connor 3-1 and Slessor prevail 3-0 against Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham. 

Wilson one the opening frame of the title match, but a spectacular three frame blitz saw Slessor swoop. Breaks of 108, 57 and 138 gave him three on the bounce and the win. 

All the detailed results are available on snooker.org

Group 3 will start today, with Si Jiahui, Xiao Guodong and Antoni Kowalski joining Gary Wilson, Chris Wakelin, Yuan Sijun and Joe O’Connor in Groyp 3.

Meanwhile, the 2026 German Masters qualifiers got underway yesterday, with the lowest ranked players needing to win three best of 9 matches to get to the venue. The results for that competition can be found here on snooker.org.

The two women involved yesterday, Mink and Reanne, were beaten heavily, both lost by 5-0!

The more this goes on, the less I’m convinced that it’s promoting snooker for women and that it will possibly attract young girls to the sport, or convince their parents to support them if they want to embrace the sport. From comments I see on social media, it only feeds the already existing prejudices against women in snooker. It certainly doesn’t help their confidence either.

The usual discourse from WPBSA is that there is “no reason” why girls wouldn’t be as good at snooker as boys, and, of course, Bai Yulu was nominated by the CBSA on merit, not because of her gender. But statistically boys/men do have a better eye-hand coordination than women/girls, and they are taller and stronger. Every mother or teacher who deals with young kids of both genders sees it, right from the early months in life. These differences are almost certainly inherited from millennia of slow evolution in primitive societies where men were the providers/hunters and women the ones caring for the young and elderly. A good eye-hand coordination is an essential attribute needed to succeed as an efficient hunter, it’s not that important to be a good carer¹. Of course “statistically” is saying nothing about any particular individual but it is meaningful at the scale of an entire population.

1. Other qualities are more prevalent in women – patience, resilience, empathy, linguistic skills – and they are just as valuable than the more “male” attributes. ↩︎