Neil Robertson won his group by beating Judd Trump yesterday night in Bolton. This is not what most expected but it was totally deserved. Actually, yesterday’s group final was a tremendous match. It wasn’t a case of Judd being poor, it was a case of Neil being at his very best.

Here is the report shared by WST:

Robertson Downs Trump In Bolton

Neil Robertson scored a tense 6-4 win over world number one Judd Trump to book a semi-final showdown with Mark Williams at the Grosvenor Casinos Champion of Champions in Bolton.

Victory for the Australian serves as a boost, after falling to 18^th in the world last week and narrowly missing out on an automatic spot at the upcoming Victorian Plumbing UK Championship, meaning he will now have to go to the qualifiers.

Today’s win is his first over Trump since the 2020 UK Championship final, where he prevailed in an epic encounter 10-9. The pair also met in the 2019 Champion of Champions final, when Robertson again triumphed 10-9.

Robertson earned his place in today’s group final with a 4-3 win over Ali Carter, while Trump demolished newly crowned International Champion Ding Junhui 4-0.

Breaks of 90, 84 and 59 helped Robertson to take three of the first four and lead 3-1 at the mid-session interval this evening.

When play resumed Trump hit back and claimed two on the bounce to restore parity at 3-3. Robertson reclaimed the lead with a break of 61, before an epic eighth frame.

It came down to the pink, where both players trapped each other in perilous snookers behind the black. Eventually Robertson’s snooker forced Trump into two fouls, before he left the pink over the middle for the Melbourne cueman to move 5-3 ahead.

Trump refused to wilt and a break of 57 helped him move within a frame, but Robertson cleared from brown to black in the tenth, including a stunning long range blue, to score a huge victory and a place in the semis.

Robertson said: “It was an incredible game. Judd showed all of the qualities he’s had throughout his whole career. His safety play and discipline was incredible. I matched it with him and stayed with him.

“That blue is definitely one of the highlight shots of my career, in terms of the pressure and everything that was at stake on it.

“I just tried to leave myself a shot at the blue. There aren’t many players that would take that on.”

The final group takes place on Friday, with Ronnie O’Sullivan facing Xiao Guodong and Mark Selby going up against Shaun Murphy.

Today is the last day of the group stage. Ronnie will play Xiao Guodong in the first match of the afternoon. To be honest, I’m not particularly confident that he will win this match, never mind the next one should he get past the first hurdle. He hasn’t played really well all season although he was a bit better in the International Championship.

As one would expect, there were people on social media yesterday spreading rumours about him withdrawing. Those were dispelled by ITV on twitter … they shared a short video showing him practicing at the venue.

Chris Wakelin booked his place in the final of the 2024 International Championship with a 9-8 victory over Xiao Guodong in today’s semi-final . Here is the report by WST:

WAKELIN BEATS XIAO IN NANJING THRILLER

Chris Wakelin guaranteed his biggest career pay day and a place among the world’s top 16 with a dramatic 9-8 victory over Xiao Guodong in the semi-finals of the International Championship.

Nuneaton’s 32-year-old Wakelin missed opportunities to win from 8-5 to 8-8, but then made a superb break in the deciding frame to set up a final against Ding Junhui or Xu Si on Sunday in Nanjing.

It’s a huge breakthrough for the former Asda delivery driver as he is now sure of £75,000 which will lift him into the top 16 of the world rankings for the first time in his career. He will be a seeded player for the UK Championship in York later this month, at the expense of Crucible finalist Jak Jones who will now face the qualifying rounds. Wakelin is also on target for a Johnstone’s Paint Masters debut in January.

He is through to the third ranking event final of his career, having reached two last year. He won his first title at the 2023 Shoot Out and finished runner-up to Judd Trump at the Northern Ireland Open. Victory on Sunday would give him a coveted title as well as a massive £175,000.

Wakelin led 5-3 after the first session and soon extended that to 7-3 with breaks of 63 and 119. Xiao, who won his first ranking title at the Wuhan Open last month, pulled one back with a 69, and in frame 12 he trailed 64-47 when he trapped his opponent in a tough snooker on the final yellow, and from the chance that followed he cleared the table to close to 7-5. Wakelin took the next with a run of 52 and had a scoring chance in frame 14 but made just 11 before missing the blue to a top corner, and his opponent punished him for 8-6.

A break of 90 from Xiao saw him draw within one. In frame 16, Wakelin was among the balls on a run of 14 when he missed the blue to centre. He later trailed 53-33 when he narrowly failed to convert a long pot on the last red, leaving it in the jaws for Xiao to make it 8-8. In the decider, Xiao had an early opportunity but, on 15, left position awkward then missed a difficult yellow with the rest. Wakelin regained his composure and made a match-winning 67. 

“I’ve worked my entire life at this game for moments like this,” said an emotional Wakelin. “From 8-5 I threw it away. I made ridiculously easy mistakes. In the decider I knew it was now or never, I had to forget about what had happened. I’m so relieved to have a day off tomorrow because I’m done in! That was the hardest match of my life. In the first ten years of my career, so many times I put myself in winning situations in matches but didn’t take those chances. This was my final because getting into the top 16 was the goal. But now the shackles are off and I know I have performances like that in me.” 

Wakelin and girlfriend Lucy are expecting their first child in February and have also bought their first house. He added: “I am very blessed that Lucy came into my life. She is incredible and gives me so much belief and freedom. This is the most incredible time of our lives. It feels like I’m living in a dream world. When we found out about the baby, my mum asked me if this was going to put more pressure on me, but I said no, this is what I need, it’s motivation to push myself to the next level. Now is the time to drive home what I have worked on for 25 years. Hopefully the final here will be another step on the journey towards being a really top player.” 

 Xiao said: “I fell too far behind at the start and didn’t perform particularly well. My opponent had me under pressure throughout the match, I couldn’t find my rhythm. I want to apologise to Ding and Xu for not making it to an all-Chinese final! I hope they can keep the title here in China. This is the best time ever for Chinese snooker and I hope the young players can gain experience and keep improving.

“I’ve reached the top 16 in the world rankings, fulfilling a childhood dream of becoming a top player. I hope to stay steady there and deliver more exciting matches in the future.“

Here is the decider

And the postmatch interview … well worth watching because simply reading Chris quotes doesn’t allow us to understand the full extend and power of his emotions after the match.

Chris has struggled with mental health issues in the past, he’s not given up, he found ways to get over his issues, notably he took on ballroom dancing … He’s come a long way.

Congratulations Chris !

There is so much focus on the top players that we fail to understand or forget how much courage and resilience players like Chris show, match after match, event after event, away from the limelights. They devote their lives to their sport often without proper recognition from the fans and yet the sport wouldn’t exist without them.

On Sunday, Chris will meet either Ding Junhui or Xu Si in the Final.

Ding’s last 15 reds snooker title is the 2019 UK Championship… five years ago. That feels unreal really for a player of his quality. As for Xu Si, he’s been a pro since 2017/18. That season he reached the SFs at the 2017 Indian Open but until the 2024 Xi’an Grand Prix last August, had never gone past round 3 in any event after that early breakthrough. The semi-final at the 2017 Indian Open was best of 7, hardly comparable to what awaits him tomorrow. Ding has to be a heavy favourite to reach the final but … one never knows. Xu might feel pressure because of the circumstances and who he faces, or he might play with total freedom because not many, if any, are expecting him to beat Ding.

Whoever wins the title on Sunday … it will be a great story.

For a – nice – change, the report by WST on what happened today in Nanjing is quite comprehensive:

INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP DAY FOUR

Judd Trump saw his remarkable record of reaching at least the quarter-finals of every event he has contested in 2024 come to an end as he lost 6-4 to Xu Si in the last 16 of the International Championship in Nanjing.

In a sequence going back to January, Trump had progressed to at least the quarter-finals of 15 consecutive tournaments, winning four of those, reaching two other finals and earning over £1.5 million. But that run came to an end in Nanjing as the world number one was beaten by China’s Xu, ranked 48 places lower.

It’s arguably the best result of Xu’s career so far and keeps a special week going for the 26-year-old as he made a 147 during his previous match against Ryan Day on Tuesday. He is through to the third ranking event quarter-final of his career – and second of the season having reached the same stage of the Xi’an Grand Prix in August. 

Two breaks of 76 helped give Xu a 2-0 lead, before Trump battled back to lead 3-2. The next two were shared, but 29-time ranking event winner Trump failed to score a point in the last three frames as his opponent finished superbly with runs of 104, 69, 58 and 68. 

“It was my mindset during the key moments that helped,” said Xu, who will now meet Gary Wilson. “In the last frame, I felt a bit of tension, but luckily things went well, and I didn’t leave any easy shots. Finishing the match felt really good. Sometimes you reach a point where you’re very nervous, and then suddenly you’re not nervous anymore.

“I feel there’s a much smaller gap now between myself and the top players. Recently, many Chinese players have been advancing to the latter stages of tournaments, which shows a significant improvement overall.“

Kyren Wilson now has the chance to slash Trump’s lead at the top of the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings, and the World Champion kept his fine form going with a 6-2 win over Barry Hawkins. Breaks of 80, 127, 85, 101, 117 and 60 helped Wilson win a one-sided match and continue his pursuit of a third title this season, having already landed the Xi’an Grand Prix and Northern Ireland Open.

Jackson Page scored an excellent 6-4 win over Pang Junxu and the 23-year-old Welshman is just one round short of his best run in a ranking event, having reached the semi-finals of last season’s World Open. Page top scored with 117, 68 and 72 as Pang failed to follow up on Tuesday’s win over Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong saw off Jack Lisowski 6-3, a result which could see him join the elite top 16 for the first time in his career and become a seeded player for the UK Championship later this month. China’s Xiao is now ahead of Neil Robertson in the “Race to York”, which means that Robertson will be heading for the qualifying rounds in Leicester. Breaks of 81, 89, 122 and 91 helped Xiao to beat Lisowski.

Chris Wakelin also has a chance of a top 16 berth if he can reach the final, and he got the better of a high quality contest against Mark Williams, compiling breaks of 72, 112, 98 and 88 in a 6-4 success. Ding Junhui reached his first ranking quarter-final of the season as he beat Jiang Jun with a top break of 109. John Higgins edged out Lyu Haotian 6-5, winning frame ten on a respotted black and the decider with a run of 68. Gary Wilson enjoyed a 6-3 win over Mark Selby, making breaks of 73, 54, 123, 80 and 52.

Thursday’s quarter-finals:
Chris Wakelin v John Higgins
Jackson Page v Xiao Guodong
Xu Si v Gary Wilson
Kyren Wilson v Ding Junhui

The afternoon match between John Higgins and Lyu Haotian was pulled off at 5-5. The players had to come back when a table became available in the evening.

All the detailed results are on snooker.org, as always.

As things stand currently, three of the eight remaining players will have to qualify for the 2024 UK Championship: Chris Wakelin, Jackson Page and Xu Si. Only Chris Wakelin can still “mathematically” join the top 16, at the expense of Xiao Guodong.

I watched the Trump v Xu Si match. Xu Si was the better player, he played really well and stayed calm. He’s quite slow going and that probably didn’t suit Judd Trump, especially if he has still not fully adjusted to the huge time difference. It’s hard to keep ones concentration when jet-lagged.

Regarding those the 2024 UK Championship qualifiers … it will be played, like last year, under a tiered format similar to the World Championship qualifiers. This means that 16 amateurs will join the field.

The WPBSA has “nominate” its qualifiers for this event:

WPBSA Qualifiers Announced for UK Championship

The WPBSA and World Snooker Tour (WST) have today revealed the elite amateur players who have qualified to compete at the 2024 UK Championship through recognised WPBSA pathways.

The historic Triple Crown Series event will again feature a tiered format, which will see the top 16 seeded through to the final stages, to be held at the York Barbican from 23 November – 1 December 2024.

The remaining players will compete in the qualifying rounds in Leicester from 16-21 November, with 16 players set to progress and complete the last 32 line-up.

…

Details of how to watch online will be announced this week.

WPBSA Qualifiers

This season’s field will include up to 16 players to have earned their places through new pathway opportunities for elite performers through activities staged and coordinated by the WPBSA Group.

The 16 initially invited players are listed below:

WPBSA Q Tour UK/Europe

Winners from the world’s premier secondary tour to the World Snooker Tour so far this season:

• Andres Petrov – WPBSA Q Tour Europe – Event 1 winner
• Dylan Emery – WPBSA Q Tour Europe – Event 2 winner
• Zhao Xintong – WPBSA Q Tour Europe – Event 3 winner
• TBC – WPBSA Q Tour Europe – Event 4 winner
• TBC – WPBSA Q Tour Europe – Highest Ranked Player (not including the above)

WSF Championships 2024

Eligible players from the world’s largest international amateur tournaments:

• Yang Gao* – 2024 WSF Championship finalist
• Iulian Boiko – 2024 WSF Championship semi-finalist
• Daniel Womersley – 2024 WSF Championship semi-finalist
• Hamza Ilyas – 2024 WSF Junior Championship semi-finalist
• Oliver Sykes – 2024 WSF Junior Championship semi-finalist

WPBSA Q Tour Global

• Vinnie Calabrese* – WPBSA Q Tour Asia-Pacific – Event winner
• Matthew Scarborough* – WPBSA Q Tour Asia-Pacific – Event winner
• Igor Figueiredo – WPBSA Q Tour Americas – Event winner
• Habib Sabah Hamood – WPBSA Q Tour Middle East – Event winner
• Ali Gharahgozlou* – WPBSA Q Tour Middle East – Event winner
• Vladislav Gradinari – EBSA Under-16 Champion / Under-18 Finalist

*these players have declined their invitation

Any players who do not accept their place will be replaced by reserve players from the WPBSA Q Tour Europe Ranking List after Event 4.

I have no doubts that some people will object to Zhao Xintong invitation but I’m not one of them. He has served his ban, he has clearly worked hard to get himself back to form, he has won a “qualifying event” … he is in that list by right. It’s that simple.

Here is the report by WST

INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP DAY THREE

Pang Junxu produced a superb performance to defeat seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-4 at the International Championship in Nanjing.

It’s a first ever win over the Rocket for Pang in a match over the best of seven frames or longer. The victory sees him progress to earn a last 16 encounter with Jackson Page.

Pang, who was Rookie of the Year in 2021, is currently in red hot form. He arrived in Nanjing off the back of a run to the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Open, which ended in a 6-4 defeat to World Champion Kyren Wilson.

After the opening four frames they were locked level at 2-2, before breaks of 85 and 73 saw Pang pull clear at 4-2. The Rocket didn’t back down and replied by taking the following two frames himself to restore parity at 4-4.

The ninth frame saw Pang embark on a 147 attempt. Having potted 15 reds and 14 blacks, he was left out of position with a long range cut on the 15^th black. Pang deposited it, but failed to follow that up with a difficult yellow on the side cushion, ending his run on 120.

He quickly recovered from the disappointment of missing out on the maximum by crafting a match winning 123 in the next to secure victory.

“I felt a bit tense going for the 147 and I didn’t get the position I wanted. It was unfortunate, I left myself with an almost impossible angle on the black, so I wasn’t sure how to take on that final ball,” said 24-year-old Pang.

“When he came back to level after I was leading 4-2, I didn’t feel much pressure. His comeback wasn’t really related to my own performance. I managed to finish the last two frames with single visits.

“I’ve faced him four times in pro tournaments and each time I lost by a close margin. In previous matches I held back quite a bit, but today I played more freely and went for my shots. It wasn’t scared. I approached the game as an opportunity to learn from him.“

Although Pang narrowly missed out on the perfect break, his Chinese compatriot Xu Si did achieve the feat of making a 147 in his 6-2 defeat of Welshman Ryan Day.

Xu is now in line to scoop the £5,000 high break prize and it is the 15^th perfect run to have been made in mainland China. Next up for Xu is the daunting prospect of meeting world number one Judd Trump, who battled past Joe O’Connor 6-4.

Barry Hawkins scored a 6-1 win over Neil Robertson to enhance his hopes of making it into the world’s top 16 and automatically qualifying for the UK Championship ahead of the seeding cut off, which comes at the end of this week.

Hawkins crafted breaks of 77, 50, 80 and 51 on his way to victory. He now faces World Champion Kyren Wilson, who made three centuries in a thrilling 6-4 win over Wu Yize.

Australia’s Robertson is now relying on other results to remain in the automatic qualifying spots for York. Hawkins must reach the semi-finals to surpass him, while Wuhan Open winner Xiao Guodong just needs to make the quarters. Xiao scored a 6-2 win over world number three Mark Allen today and now plays Jack Lisowski.

Chris Wakelin was a 6-3 victor against Shaun Murphy, while Chinese legend Ding Junhui whitewashed Iranian number one Hossein Vafaei 6-0. They now face Mark Williams and Jiang Jun respectively. 

All the detailed results are on snooker.org

Ronnie’s defeat is the big story of the day but … but in fact his match versus Pang was high quality from both, albeit Ronnie appeared tired towards the end. Here are the scores:

I honestly can’t brand this a “shock”.

Pang has shown his quality over the last couple of years and Ronnie has struggled this season. I did expect this match to be a difficult one for Ronnie and so it proved to be.

Here is the last frame of the match shared by Eurosport on their Youtube channel

It starts with Ronnie missing a long red, but during the course of the match he had knocked his fair share of similar balls in. Ronnie didn’t play badly at all. The main factor was that Pang was excellent, very consistent, and, particularly towards the end, he showed how solid mentally he has become.

Here ares some pictures shared by various sources on the Internet

Regarding the other results…. Ronnie is was not the only highest seed to lose today. In fact, 9 of the 16 matches played today were won by the lowest seed.

• Zhang Anda, the defending champion, went out beaten 6-1 by Lyu Haotian and incredibly it isn’t even mentioned in the above report. This is seriously wrong.
• Mark Allen, seed 4, lost to Xiao Guodong (6-2)
• Shaun Murphy, seed 9, lost to Chris Wakelin (6-3)
• Ali Carter, seed 12, lost to Jackson Page (6-4)
• Si Jiahui, seed 13, lost to Jack Lisowski (6-5)
• Neil Robertson, seed 15, lost to Barry Hawkins

and that’s to mention only the fate of the “top 16” seeds who went out today….

This is WST report on what happened on the first day at the 2024 International Championship, other than Ronnie’s win over Mink Nutcharut this morning.

Defending champion Zhang Anda, who won his first ranking title at this event a year ago, was pushed all the way by India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha before scraping a 6-5 victory. China’s Zhang made a 131 to lead 3-2 but later saw a 5-3 lead vanish at 5-5. The decider lasted 35 minutes and Zhang took it with a 39 clearance to earn a second round tie with David Grace.

John Higgins came from 3-0 and 4-2 down to beat Ben Woollaston 6-4, as breaks of 117, 64 and 81 helped the Scot to take the last four frames. Mark Selby, who beat Higgins in the recent British Open final, also enjoyed a fine comeback from 4-2 down, beating Jamie Clarke 6-4 with runs of 112, 114 and 70 in the last four frames.

Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong top scored with 130 in a 6-0 whitewash of Ricky Walden while Ding Junhui made a 124 in a 6-0 win over Reanne Evans. World Champion Kyren Wilson was another 6-0 winner, beating Mitchell Mann.

China’s Xu Si won a thrilling battle with Stan Moody by a 6-5 scoreline, taking frame ten with a 43 clearance and the decider with an 83. Matthew Stevens came from 5-3 down to beat amateur Simon Blackwell 6-5, making a 140 total clearance in frame nine. Pang Junxu edged out Elliot Slessor 6-5 with a 58 in the decider, while Si Jiahui earned a 6-4 success against Andrew Pagett.

All the detailed results can be found on snooker.org

As you can see, today’s matches were a mix of held-over matches, and round 2 matches.

Surprisingly, there were withdrawals from three players who had already won their first round match: Anthony Hamilton, Mark Davis and Zak Surety, offering a free passage to round 3 to Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams and Chris Wakelin. I’m not sure why those players withdrew.¹

All of the held-over matches were won by the highest seeded player. Still, some of the very young wildcards gave a good account of themselves.

As mentioned in the above report, Ishpreet Singh Chadha pushed the defending champion all the way. So much so that this match, scheduled in the morning session, had to be pulled off and only finished in the evening.

Other than Ronnie’s match, which I enjoyed thoroughly, I watched the Mark Selby v Jamie Clarke match. I like both players, so I didn’t really care who won that one. That said, I still found it hard to watch because it brought back all the frustration I used to feel supporting Jamie Clarke when he was still an amateur trying to get on tour. Time and again, Jamie started brilliantly, playing really well, only to apparently succumb to pressure when the chips were down. I’m not trying to belittle Mark Selby’s win here, we all know what a competitor he is. He was there to do a job and did it well. It was just that uncomfortable “déjà vu” feeling …

Also worth nothing … THIS … reported by Phil Haigh

Ronnie O’Sullivan match delayed ‘for safety reasons’ at International Championship

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s game against Mink Nutcharut at the International Championship had to be delayed ‘for safety reasons’ due to the size of the crowd in Nanjing.

The Rocket beat the women’s world number one 6-3, making two centuries, including a brilliant 132 in the final frame.

The 48-year-old tends to attract the biggest crowds in the sport all over the world and that was certainly the case at the South New City National Fitness Center.

The amount of spectators wanting to get in to see O’Sullivan vs Mink meant that the match on the main table in the morning session had to be cut short and the main event started nearly an hour late.

World Snooker Tour posted on social media: ‘Due to the amount of spectators, for safety reasons the afternoon session has been delayed until 2:50pm.’

Eurosport commentator David Hendon explained during the match: ‘It actually started nearly an hour late because there was such a lot of people to get in, the previous session had to be curtailed. They had to get everybody in, it took a while.’

The previous contest on the main table was defending champion Zhang Anda facing Ishpreet Singh Chadha, which was dragged off with Zhang leading 5-4 and the pair will return later to complete the game

…

But yeah… snooker would be better without him, he? ²

1. Either the reasons weren’t given or, likely, I missed something… ↩︎
2. say those who hate him… among them a significant number of gamblers who lost bets … ↩︎

Ronnie has beaten Mink Nutcharut by 6-3 to progress to round 2 at the 2024 International Championship in Nanjing. I was a good and enjoyable match.

Here is the report by WST:

Ronnie O’Sullivan returned to the World Snooker Tour after a seven-week absence and battled to a 6-3 first round win over women’s world number one Mink Nutcharut at the International Championship in Nanjing.

O’Sullivan’s last appearance on the circuit was a 4-2 defeat against He Guoqiang at the English Open in September, but the 48-year-old looked sharp today as he compiled two centuries and four more breaks over 50 setting up another meeting with China’s He in the last 64 on Monday. 

Nutcharut, the 2022 World Women’s Champion, threatened a huge upset when she took the opening frame on the colours, before seven-time Crucible king O’Sullivan recovered to take the next four with runs of 124, 89, 61 and 53. Thailand’s Nutcharut battled back to 4-3, only for O’Sullivan to claim the last two frames with breaks of 69 and 132.

World number five O’Sullivan wrote on X: “An absolute privilege to play such a talented opponent. Thank you for the game and good luck in the future.” And in a post-match press conference he added: “Hopefully I’ll get a chance to see more of Nanjing because I hear it is a very beautiful city. All the players love being in China because the people treat us very well and make us feel special.” 

O’Sullivan was also asked a recent meeting with legendary actor Jackie Chan and added: “We have spoken a few times on the phone and we have mutual friends. This was the first time we he had met, he’s a lovely guy.“

Here are the scores for this match:

Ronnie wasn’t at his absolute best but he played much better and looked much happier than the last time we had seen him on the baize. Mink played well too, she really did. This was the best I remember seeing her play actually. Ronnie’s praise is absolutely genuine. When the match finished the camera was on the two of them and it was obvious how Mink felt happy and valued despite the defeat. Ronnie turned to the crowd and invited them to applaud her. Here is a short footage of the end of the match, shared by WST on Weibo:

And here some images of the match, shared by WST on Weibo and on their website

Ronnie was wearing a classy white shirt. That was a nice change from the usual all black attire. I loved it!

Here are short videos shared by Eurosport on their YouTube channel: