The first round of the 2024 Scottish Open concluded yesterday afternoon, and the second round started in the evening. Here is the report by WST:
BETVICTOR SCOTTISH OPEN QUALIFIERS DAY TWO
Edinburgh’s Dean Young booked a place in the final stages of his home tournament with a superb 4-3 win over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the BetVictor Scottish Open qualifiers in Sheffield on Tuesday.
Following up Monday’s 4-2 victory over Daniel Womersley, Young came from 3-2 down to beat Un-Nooh, taking the deciding frame with a break of 59. The 22-year-old is through to the last 64 of the world ranking event and will be among the field for the televised stages in his home city in December.
Glasgow’s Anthony McGill also made it through as breaks of 80 and 89 helped him beat Allan Taylor 4-2. Last season’s Rookie of the Year He Guoqiang top scored with 116 in a 4-0 defeat of Louis Heathcote. India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha, a semi-finalist at the BetVictor English Open, enjoyed a 4-2 success against Sanderson Lam with a top break of 92.
Belgium’s Julien Leclercq edged out Jamie Clarke 4-3 with a top break of 95, while Lyu Haotian came from 3-0 down to beat Wang Yuchen 4-3, taking the last four frames with a top run of 87.
In round one, Jimmy White saw off Hatem Yassen 4-1 to set up a second round tie with Jackson Page on Wednesday.
The final stages at the Meadowbank Centre in Edinburgh run from December 9-15.
There were eight round 1 matches played yesterday, but typically only the one involving Jimmy White is reported on. Two of the female players, Bai Yulu and Baipat Siripaporn. Both were beaten heavily. I had hoped that Bai, who has been competing successfully with the male young players in China, would do better than the other women on tour, but, alas, that does not seem to be the case.
There was an interesting round 1 match between the vastly experienced Hammad Miah and Haris Tahir, a rookie from Pakistan. The rookie prevailed by 4-3, from 3-1 down. Tahir is a good match player.
Jimmy Robertson beat Ben Mertens by 4-2. The turning point in the match was frame 4. It went to a re-spotted black at 59-59 and Jimmy won it. That appeared to take the stuffing out of Ben, that and probably fatigue. The Belgian youngsters don’t live in the UK, they travel every time they need to play. On one side it’s probably good psychologically that they continue to live with their families, but, on the other side, all those travels are tiring.
The last session of the day is completely overlooked in this report … likely because the person in charge had called it a day. I didn’t, despite living in Greece where we are two hours later than in the UK.
Fan Zhengyi beat Andrew Higginson by 4-0 without making any break of note. It was probably a very scrappy affair.
Stuart Carrington beat Aaron Hill by 4-1. Aaron had won the first frame with a break of 67, but scored only 16 points in the rest of the match. Stuart had a break of 132 in frame 2.
Ricky Walden beat Huang Jihao by 4-2. Huang had led 2-1, aided by breaks of 60 and 53. From there, the more experienced Ricky dominated, finishing the match with breaks of 67 and exactly 100.
Antoni Kowalski beat Joe Perry by 4-3 in an extremely hard-fought match. There was never more than one frame difference in the scores from start to finish. Antoni scored the only century of the match: a 127 in frame 3.
Scott Donaldson beat Amir Sarkosh by 4-3, in the small hours of the night. It was an extremely hard-fought match. Every single frame was close. Scott lead 3-0 only for Amir to come back and force a decider. The highest break of the match was a 53, by Scott. He scored it in frame 4, a frame he actually lost.
The 2024 Scottish Open started yesterday. The players ranked outside the top 32 have to win one or two matches to qualify for the main venue. Yesterday was the first day of those “qualifiers”.
Stan Moody won a battle of the teenagers against Iulian Boiko by a 4-2 scoreline as the BetVictor Scottish Open qualifying rounds got underway in Sheffield.
The qualifiers run until Wednesday this week, with winners going through to the final stages in Edinburgh in December.
Moody, age 18, enjoyed a run to the last 16 of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open in Belfast last week and kept his momentum going with an impressive win over 19-year-old Boiko, compiling breaks of 60 and 63.
Louis Heathcote was a quarter-finalist in Belfast and he beat Joshua Thomond 4-0 with top breaks of 79, 69 and 65. Scotland’s Dean Young took a step towards qualifying for his home tournament as he saw off Daniel Womersley 4-2, but there were defeats for Chris Totten, Jack Borwick and Liam Graham.
Andrew Pagett recovered a 3-0 deficit to beat Dylan Emery 4-3, and Egypt’s Mostafa Dorgham enjoyed an equally good fight-back as he won each of the last four frames on the colours to beat Liam Pullen 4-3. Michael Holt came from 3-0 down to 3-3 only for his opponent Alexander Ursenbacher to win the decider.
RANT ALERT
Not one match that involved a Chinese player is reported on properly and the two Belgian players won their match but that’s been ignored as well. Worse even they mention that there were defeats for Chris Totten and Liam Graham, but the players who won those matches aren’t even named. For the record they were Farakh Ajaib from Pakistan and Jian Jun from China. Clearly WST only cares about UK fans and UK players. It’s NOT WST, It’s UKST … and some guests when they care to remember about them that is.
So here goes…
Liu Hongyu (China) beat Reanne Evans by 4-1
Lei Peifan (China) beat Haydon Pinhey by 4-3
Rory Thor (Malaysia) beat Mitchell Mann by 4-2
Antoni Kowalski (Poland) beat Gong Chenzi (China) by 4-2
Wang Yuchen (Hong Kong) beat Liam Davies by 4-3
Julien Leclercq (Belgium) beat Alfie Burden by 4-2
Huang Jiahao (China) beat Artemijs Zizins (Latvia) by 4-2
Ben Mertens (Belgium) whitewashed Robbie McGuigan
Ishpreet Singh Chadha (India) beat Ahmed Aly Elsayed (USA) by 4-3
Mostafa Dorgham (Egypt) beat Liam Pullen by 4-3
Alexander Ursenbacher (Switzerland) beat Michael Holt by 4-3
Amir Sarkosh (Iran) beat Duane Jones by 4-2
As you can see there are plenty of players from outside the UK on tour, and many of them are plenty good enough, but apparently they are not worth reporting on in the eyes of the governing body. No wonder so many UK people continue to support the idea that the UK–Centric organisation of the sport is OK because “we are the majority and we are the best” (sic someone on social media I won’t name).
Kyren Wilson, the reigning World Champion, really honours his status1. Yesterday, he won his second ranking title of the season, beating Judd Trump, the World number one, in the final… again!
Crucible king Kyren Wilson is the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open Champion for the first time, after thrashing old adversary and world number one Judd Trump 9-3 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.
A packed crowd of over 1,500 fans watched on for this clash between the top two players in the world rankings. However, the match turned out to be a more one-sided affair than many would have predicted.
The barnstorming victory for Wilson sees him capture the Alex Higgins Trophy and a top prize of £100,000. Having made the semis in the inaugural event back in 2016, the Warrior had failed to make it beyond the last 16 after that heading into this week.
It’s been a tremendous start to Wilson’s reign as World Champion. He’s already claimed silverware at the Xi’an Grand Prix, where he again defeated Trump in the final, this time by a 10-8 scoreline. His career total ranking title tally now stands at eight.
Wilson’s two tournament victory this season have seen him become only the sixth first time World Champion to win multiple titles in the next season. He follows in the footsteps of Trump, Stephen Hendry, John Parrott, John Higgins and Mark Selby.
Trump’s title defence here in Belfast ends a win shy of claiming what would have been a record extending fifth Northern Ireland Open crown. However, his relentless consistency in 2024 continues. The Ace in the Pack has made at least the quarter-finals of every event he’s entered this year. He still leads the head-to-head standings with Wilson 12-10.
It was a dominant afternoon of snooker from Wilson which set up this evening’s victory. He came into tonight leading 7-1 and needing just two more frames for the title.
When play got underway, Trump made his intentions clear early on as he adopted an all-out attack approach. A run of 64 gave him the opener to move within five.
Trump continued to go for his shots in the second frame of the night, but it still lasted 43-minutes before Wilson eventually won on the colours to move one from the finishing post at 8-2.
A sublime run of 143 from Trump equalled Mark Williams’ tournament high break to keep the contest alive, but a contribution of 119 from Wilson in the 12th frame got him over the line with a momentous 9-3 victory.
“It feels amazing. What a venue and what a crowd. They were a pleasure to play in front of. The juices were flowing and it was the icing on the cake to walk away with the trophy. It was a mouth watering match for the fans. On paper, it doesn’t get better than number one vs number two. Hopefully this is going to be a regular occurrence and we meet in many more finals, for many more years to come.”
Kyren Wilson
World Champion
Wilson added: “Winning a final is hard enough, let alone playing the world number one and most consistent player on the tour at the moment. To win quite comfortably is very flattering on myself. I have taken away the burden of backing up being World Champion. I’m proving it is no fluke.
“We all know Judd is capable of reeling frames off in a row. It was about doing the right things. I turned up an hour before this evening’s session when nobody would have blamed me for turning up ten minutes before thinking it was won. You can’t allow that to happen against Judd.”
Trump said: “I want to thank everyone for their support tonight. It was always going to be difficult to come back from 7-1 down, but I got an amazing reception. Kyren was too good today. The way he has bounced back after winning the World Championship is inspiring. I hope we can have many more battles.”
Most fans were expecting a Trump win, given his dominance this season, but I had my doubts precisely because Kyren had beaten him in Xi’an. I wasn’t expecting such a “one-sided” scoreline though.
Players are human, they all have lesser days. It’s normal and maybe, regarding Judd, after reaching the latter stages of most events this season, there is a bit of tiredness. All the same Judd will be disappointed. There was a marvellous moment though during the trophy ceremony: Bailey, Kyren’s youngest son, sensing Judd’s disappointment, ran towards him and hugged him warmly. That brought a smile on Judd’s face and it wasn’t “forced” at all. You could see that Judd was really touched by the kid’s spontaneous gesture.
Yesterday yielded two very different semi-finals. The afternoon match saw Kyren Wilson prevail by 6-4 over Pang Junxu in a close hard-fought match. Kyren of course is the reigning World Champion and by far the most experienced of the two but Pang really did give a good account of himself. Both have reasons to be proud of themselves and proud of what they offered to the fans. The evening match was as one-sided as it can be. Judd Trump whitewashed Elliot Slessor whose contribution to the scores amounted to a mere 62 points, not even enough to win one single frame in most occurrences. Here are the reports by WST:
World Champion Kyren Wilson is through to the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open final for the first time in his career, after scoring a hard fought 6-4 win over Pang Junxu at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.
The Warrior captured a maiden Crucible crown back in May, following a momentous 18-14 win over Jak Jones at the Theatre of Dreams. His first season as World Champion has got off to a tremendous start, having already secured silverware at the Xi’an Grand Prix with a win over world number one Judd Trump.
Tomorrow’s final will see Wilson pitted against either Trump or Elliot Slessor, who do battle in this evening’s second semi-final. The title match will be contested over the best of 17 frames, with a top prize of £100,000 and the Alex Higgins Trophy on the line.
Victory tomorrow would see Wilson become only the sixth first time World Champion to win multiple titles in the following campaign. Trump, Stephen Hendry, John Parrott, John Higgins and Mark Selby achieved the feat before him.
Pang will have to wait for a maiden ranking title. He was runner-up to Selby in the 2023 WST Classic, but is yet to taste silverware as a professional.
A superb break of 110 got Wilson off to the perfect start this afternoon. Pang restored parity with 83 in the second, but further contributions of 77 and 46 helped Wilson make it 3-1 heading into the mid-session.
When they returned, the fifth came down to the final two balls, but a risky double attempt on the pink from Englishman Wilson went array and Pang stepped in to deposit it and pull within one at 3-2.
The next frame saw Pang end up in a difficult snooker on the last red. The Chinese cueman failed to hit it three times, leaving himself only able to tie. He was unable to turn the frame around and fell 4-2 behind.
Pang embarked on a maximum attempt in the seventh, with balls in promising positions in the early stages, but a missed black off the spot on 49 allowed Wilson to ruthlessly punish with 72 and make it 5-2.
With his opponent on the verge of victory, Pang dug deep and claimed the next two frames to stay in contention, but a crucial run of 83 saw Wilson over the line a 6-4 victor.
“I wouldn’t say I made glaring errors for him to come back, just the odd little shot you knew would be a match winner. They went awry and I just had to make sure I kept calm. It was just about staying in the present and making sure that I took the next opportunity,” said 32-year-old Wilson.
“Pang is a methodical player. He puts an awful lot of feathers in on every shot. You almost get zoned out on his technique, but he doesn’t make many mistakes. I knew I had to be clinical from the off.
“You never want to fall over the line and it sends a message to your opponents you can handle anything thrown at you. To get through with a one visit frame is good for the crowd to see as well.
“I showed a little bit of emotion at the end, because I’ve never managed to make the one table setup here at the Waterfront. As soon as I walked out today I thought, wow, what a an arena and what a crowd. This is definitely one of the best venues I’ve ever played in. I was desperate to make the final so I’m delighted to do that.”
World number one Judd Trump scored an emphatic 6-0 whitewash defeat of Elliot Slessor to reach the final of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open and set up a mouth- watering meeting with World Champion and world number two Kyren Wilson.
The Ace in the Pack is aiming to capture the Alex Higgins Trophy for a record extending fifth time. He’s the defending champion after last year’s final win over Chris Wakelin. Trump has also beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan in three consecutive title matches between 2018 and 2020.
Tomorrow sees a continuation of 2019 World Champion Trump’s rivalry with current Crucible king Wilson. The pair met in this season’s Xi’an Grand Prix final, with Wilson prevailing. However, the head-to-head record stands at 12-9 in Trump’s favour.
The title match will be contested over the best of 17 frames, with a top prize of £100,000 on the line. Trump is bidding for his 30th career ranking crown, while Wilson is gunning for an eighth.
The heavy loss for Slessor sees him depart at the last four in Belfast for a second time. He made the semis here in 2017, losing out to Mark Williams. The Gateshead cueman has now appeared in four ranking semi-finals, but is still seeking his first appearance in a final.
This evening’s one-sided contest lasted just over an hour and a half. Trump crafted runs of 78, 61 and 90 on his way to victory, to secure a comfortable evening and early night ahead of tomorrow’s blockbuster showdown with Wilson.
“No game is ever easy, but the damage was done at the start. Going 4-0 up, it was going to be tough for him to come back from there. I’m pleased with how I started the game. A few mistakes at the end. It is always tricky to keep your composure, but to be through to another final is nice,” said 35-year-old Trump.
“It is a great match up with Kyren. Over the next ten years, with his hunger and my hunger, we are going to be meeting a lot. It’s nice to have someone pushing me and going away to give their all every single time. It is good to have that kind of rivalry when you reach the top and we are both really enjoying it.
“I think he has improved a lot. From where he was a couple of years ago he has gone to another level. Him playing a lot faster has helped. He was very methodical, but he now looks like he enjoys what he’s doing.
“You can see a difference in him. The way he walks round the table is different. I had the same thing as well. It is nice to see someone who has become World Champion go away and really work at it.”
So there we go … today the reigning World Champion will face the World Number One. Mark Allen, joked on twitter the “the World Number Three” (himself) would be watching from the pub 😂. Judd is 35, Kyren in 32 and Mark is 38. Those three are likely to be the dominant forces in the coming five to ten years as the “Class of 92” is now nearing fifty. It’s a good thing for the sport to have this kind of rivalry at the top. It keeps things interesting. After that … we shall see. I will risk another prediction 😂 … the next top “trio” will be dominantly Asian. We shall see if this one is as wrong as most previous ones 😂1
I won’t make a prediction about who wins today. Most polls on social media have Judd Trump as the clear winner but Kyren is one of those who beat him this season, and beat him in a big final actually. We shall see.
BETVICTOR NORTHERN IRELAND OPEN DAY FIVE AFTERNOON
Shaun Murphy came from 3-1 down to beat Stuart Bingham 4-3 in a thrilling black ball finish at the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open to reach his 80th ranking event quarter-final.
Murphy admitted it was “panic stations” when Bingham surged 3-1 ahead in a high quality tussle, but eventually a brilliant last-gasp clearance from Murphy gave him victory and a last-eight clash with Judd Trump or Barry Hawkins in Belfast on Friday. World number eight Murphy is seeking his first title since the 2023 Championship League.
He was on track for a 147 in the opening frame before missing a tough penultimate red on 104. In a repeat of the 2015 Crucible final, Bingham stormed back to take three in a row with top runs of 121 and 101. Back came Murphy with 56 and 52 for 3-3, then Bingham looked set to take the decider until he missed a difficult red to a top corner on 60. It came down to the last two reds, and Murphy converted a mid-range pot to set up a match-winning 40, finishing with a tricky black along the baulk cushion.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to win easily!” said the 42-year-old, who reached his first ranking quarter-final in 2004. “Stuart played incredibly well. At 3-1 I hadn’t done much wrong. It was panic stations but the trick is to stay calm because you usually get a chance. I got lucky in the last frame, if Stuart had got a good pack split on 60 in the decider it would have been over. I love coming here to Belfast and I’ve got strong ties here.“
World Champion Kyren Wilson ended the run of 18-year-old Stan Moody with a 4-1 success. A top break of 91 helped world number two Wilson to reach his only quarter-final this season other than the Xi’an Grand Prix, which he went on to win.
“I was on a bit of a hiding to nothing because I was expected to beat Stan,” said Wilson. “I had to make sure I stayed professional, played the right shots and kept him under pressure. I had a week off after the Wuhan Open so I’m pleased to come here, switch back on and get to another quarter-final.
“Stan hits the ball lovely. You have to learn on the job in this game and obviously he needs more experience and probably to take a few hidings. He is in a great position to have so many tournaments to play in and the prize money is huge. He’s showing he can beat some of the top players.”
Wilson will now meet Mark Williams, who saw off Ma Hailong 4-2 with a top break of 51. After losing in the final of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters last month, Williams chose to change his cue, and has no doubt it was the right decision.
“When I started using the new cue I was expecting to lose in the first round a few times, but it’s something I wanted to do,” said the three-time World Champion. “I’m in another quarter-final here. The cue is beautiful, it’s all down to the person using it.“
China’s Pang Junxu reached his fourth ranking event quarter-final with a 4-0 whitewash of Martin O’Donnell. His next opponent is Oliver Lines or Neil Robertson.
Judd Trump kept up his incredible streak of reaching at least the quarter-finals of every tournament he has contested in 2024 as he beat Barry Hawkins 4-2 in the last 16 of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open.
By far the most consistent player on the tour and the runaway world number one, Trump has now reached the last eight of 15 consecutive tournaments this year. He has won four of those, reached two other finals and banked over £1.5 million in prize money.
Bristol’s Trump is defending the title in Belfast and has lifted the trophy four times since 2018. Breaks of 69, 63 and 105 helped him beat Hawkins tonight and set up a blockbuster clash with Shaun Murphy at 7 pm on Friday at the Waterfront Hall.
Neil Robertson is another player on form, having landed the BetVictor English Open last month, and is just three wins away from becoming the first player to have lifted all four Home Nations trophies. The Australian eased to a 4-1 win over Oliver Lines with top breaks of 76, 65, 53 and 107.
“It’s nice to keep the progress ticking over this week,” said Robertson, who now meets Pang Junxu. “There is extra motivation as it’s the last one I need to complete the Home Nations set. Whenever the calendar comes out it’s a tournament I look forward to.”
Louis Heathcote, enjoying the best run of his career so far, beat Tian Pengfei 4-2 to reach his second ranking event quarter-final, the only previous one coming at the 2021 Shoot Out. Breaks of 72, 87, 80 and 57 helped the Leicester cueman to a fine win over China’s Tian.
“I have got stronger as the week has gone on and I am delighted to get this far,” said 27-year-old Heathcote. “I made a big clearance to go 2-2 tonight and felt very focussed. I didn’t miss much under pressure. I’ve had two days before this match, it was a lot of time to think about it and play things out in my head. This afternoon I was nervous, but once I got out there I was relaxed. Tomorrow I want to try to enjoy the occasion more.”
He will now meet Elliot Slessor, who reached the ninth ranking event quarter-final of his career with a 4-1 win over Lei Peifan.
Friday’s quarter-finals: 12pm Neil Robertson v Pang Junxu Not before 2pm Kyren Wilson v Mark Williams 7pm Judd Trump v Shaun Murphy Louis Heathcote v Elliot Slessor
The Bingham vs Murphy match was really excellent. What happened “in parallel” on the other table is the only match overlooked in the above reports. It was likely unspectacular. Indeed Pang Junxu beat Martin O’Donnell by 4-0, in a match that was only 10 minutes shorter than the Bingham v Murphy one and featured only one break worth a mention, a break of exactly 50 by Pang in frame 2.
Neil Robertson played and scored well but Oliver Lines had chances. He was often first in the balls but was unable to construct any significant break from there. Once Neil was in, it was basically frame over.
We have some very good matches in prospect today. The only one that I can see being possibly one-sided is the Robertson v Pang one.
BETVICTOR NORTHERN IRELAND OPEN DAY FOUR AFTERNOON
Oliver Lines cited the power of positive thinking as the reason for his improvement this season as he knocked home favourite Mark Allen out of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open with a 4-3 victory at the last 32 stage.
Allen’s fans in Belfast had hoped their man could go all the way to the title this week, as he did in 2021 and 2022, but the Antrim cueman was well below his best today as world number 83 Lines registered one of the biggest wins of his career so far. The Leeds potter will meet Neil Robertson or Wang Yuchen next.
Lines, age 29, first turned professional ten years ago and reached his first ranking event semi-final last month at the British Open. “I’m not beating myself up as much if I miss a ball,” he said after today’s win. “And I’m not thinking negatively. In the last frame today I missed a chance but I told myself to keep calm because I might get another opportunity. As long as I think the right way, things seem to be happening for me. You can start doubting shots and looking for problems that aren’t there. I was nervous towards the end of the match but I had to convince myself that I still felt good.
“I have worked harder in general this season, concentrating more in practice, and it seems to be paying off at the moment. It’s a big win for me because Mark is a top player and it’s his home tournament.“
Lines took the opening frame with a 31 clearance before world number three Allen levelled with a break of 87. Lines regained the lead with a 73 before Allen took two scrappy frames to lead 3-2. A run of 53 helped Lines level at 3-3, and he led 30-0 in the decider when he missed the blue off its spot. Allen had a clear scoring chance but took just one red before failing to pot the pink to a centre pocket, and Lines added 26 which proved enough.
Allen said: “It was a poor performance and Oli deserved to win. I felt edgy today and I’m not sure why. I had more than enough chances but I wasn’t good enough.”
Stan Moody continued to build his reputation as one of snooker’s best up-and-coming talents as he thrashed Crucible finalist Jak Jones 4-0 to set up a clash with Kyren Wilson at the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open.
Moody is through to the last 16 of a ranking event for the third time in his short career and will meet World Champion Wilson in an intriguing clash in Belfast on Thursday evening. Victory would give 18-year-old Moody his first quarter-final.
During a tough rookie season in 2023/24, the teenager won only eight matches, but Moody has clearly improved this term and has 12 victories under his belt already, beating the likes of Zhang Anda, Tom Ford, Ryan Day and now Jones.
“I wasn’t ready to beat the better players last season, I needed to change my game,” said Yorkshire’s Moody, who fired breaks of 92 and 103 tonight. “That’s what I have worked on, and it has paid off. I have always known that I could play to this level and I am doing it more this season. I am playing the right shots at the right time. Last season I was going for one too many, so I have had to reign it in a bit, while also keeping my natural attacking side.
“I have changed my diet completely and done some fitness work. I feel a lot better for it and that’s another reason I’m doing well. I grew up wanting to have the chance to compete against the best players on the TV table, showing what I can do and hopefully winning.“
Wilson edged out Anthony McGill 4-3 in a battle which had echoes of their epic 2020 Crucible semi-final, which the Englishman won 17-16. He is chasing a second title of the season having landed the Xi’an Grand Prix in August.
World number two Wilson took the opening frame tonight with a break of 77 then McGill hit back with 112 and 131 to lead 2-1. The Scot’s momentum was stopped in frame four when he went into the pack on 50 and was unlucky to see a red drop in. Wilson cleared with 62, then his break of 70 in frame five put him 3-2 ahead. In the sixth, Wilson looked set for victory until he missed the last red to a top corner at 40-37, and his opponent punished him to set up the decider.
Both players had chances and it came down to the colours, McGill making two mistakes on the green which cost him. First he went in-off, and later knocked the green on to the black which dropped into a corner pocket, ending his hopes.
“I don’t know what it is when we play each other!” said a relieved Wilson. “When we got down to the green, I said to him ‘I’m not sure I’m ready for this again’ and he said ‘just don’t fluke it this time!’ I played some good stuff earlier in the match and hopefully I can show more of that tomorrow.“
Neil Robertson, front-runner for the £150,000 BetVictor Home Nations Series bonus, needed just 56 minutes to beat Wang Yuchen 4-0 with a top break of 100. Mark Williams’ 4-1 win over Noppon Saengkham was highlighted by a 143 total clearance in the third frame, the highest break of the tournament so far.
I find it extremely strange1 that WST report on the afternoon session is about one match only. How come?
That afternoon …
Pang Junxu beat Luca Brecel by 4-1. Pang played well, he won the first three frames with breaks of 63, 71 and 118. All the same, Luca’s approach to the game, to his sport, his job, is baffling and obviously wrong. He says that he wants to be “ironman”… maybe he will have full time for it if he drops off the tour which would be baffling but is entirely possible. Luca is currently ranked number 6, but down to 56 in the provisional end of season ranking list and he hasn’t qualified for the International Championship.
Lei Peifan beat Tom Ford by 4-1 with breaks of 115, 56 and 63. Tom is clearly struggling this season.
Elliot Slessor beat Long Zhehuang by 4-2 in what appears to have been a quality match. They had one century each. Slessor is a bit of a mystery to me. When playing well he’s really, really good but at times, too often really, he allows frustration to get the better of him. I didn’t watch the match but, obviously, this wasn’t the case yesterday.
Martin O’Donnell put an end to Jimmy White’s run in the tournament. This must have been a difficult match for both of them. Jimmy is 62, he turned pro 44 years ago, he still loves the game with a passion, he still can play very well in patches but maybe he doesn’t have the stamina to sustain a high level match after match. He’s well loved, many took on the game because of him, and, probably Martin had to remind himself that he’s there to do a job … and he did just that. But Jimmy should be proud of himself.
In the evening, I watched Neil Robertson vs Wang Yuchen. Neil played really, really well. It was scary at times. Wang never really got “in the match”, he wasn’t allowed to. If Neil keeps this level he should win the tournament. IF.
Veteran Jimmy White reached the last 32 of a ranking event for the first time in ten months with an impressive 4-2 win over Hossein Vafaei at the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open.
Still determined to compete at the top level at the age of 62, White has now won three matches in this event, having knocked out Paul Deaville and Jackson Page in the qualifying rounds before beating a man 32 years his junior in Belfast – world number 24 Vafaei. Ten-time ranking event winner White, who has been ever present on the tour for 44 years and remains a crowd favourite, faces Martin O’Donnell next.
“My game was there in parts, I potted some good balls,” said White. “I still enjoy practising and exhibitions, I enjoy entertaining and I still make 147s. Now and again I have a little buzz where I can beat anyone. I am not as consistent as I was, but that will come with a few wins and that was a decent one for me today. Belfast is an amazing place, I have been coming here for a long time. There was the late, great Hurricane Higgins, Dennis Taylor, Joe Swail and now an incredible player in Mark Allen, so there is always great support here.”
Neil Robertson is determined to make sure of his place at the UK Championship and the Masters and took an important step in the right direction with a hard-fought 4-3 win over Graeme Dott.
Robertson’s victory at the BetVictor English Open last month was his first ranking title in over two years and boosted him to 16th in the rankings. But he must keep that place in the top 16 by the end of the International Championship to make sure of a seeding in York for the UK Championship, and then the end of that event will be the cut off for the Masters.
“I‘m one of the few players in the world who can win those events multiple times,” said the Australian after today’s victory in Belfast. “I know I’m in that small group who can get the job done so I want to be there. But I can’t get ahead of myself, I have to push through and keep the momentum.“
In a repeat of the 2006 Crucible final, Dott made breaks of 94, 52 and 76, while Roberton made 58 and 54. The decider lasted 30 minutes and Robertson took it to set up a last-32 tie with Jack Lisowski or Wang Yuchen.
“It was enjoyable, we both played to a very good level and it was a big crowd,” added Robertson, who is the front-runner for the £150,000 bonus on offer for the leading money winner across the four BetVictor Home Nations Series events. “At the British Open I had a couple of technical things which needed tweaking. I had time to prepare for this one and I’ve got it right now.”
China’s Zhang Anda came from 3-0 down to 3-3 against Martin O’Donnell only for the Englishman to win a tense deciding frame. Newly crowned Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong suffered a 4-2 reverse against Jimmy Robertson, while Tian Pengfei enjoyed a 4-2 success against Si Jiahui.
Tom Ford, who is also on the fringes of the top 16, enjoyed a much-needed 4-2 win over Rory Thor, while Elliot Slessor top scored with 81 in a 4-2 victory against Joe O’Connor.
Home favourite Mark Allen thrilled the Belfast crowd in a 4-0 victory over Liu Hongyu to reach the last 32 of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open.
Allen won this title in 2021 and 2022 and would raise the roof again at the Waterfront Hall if he lifts the Alex Higgins Trophy for a third time on Sunday night. “The support I get here is amazing and I really appreciate it,” said the world number three, who fired breaks of 71, 76 and 70 during a convincing display.
“I didn’t deserve that from them in the first few years I played in this event because I wasn’t getting the results, but hopefully now I’m repaying them and trying to put on a show. It would mean everything to win it again, but I’m keeping that at the back of my mind, I’m just trying to enjoy it.“
Allen had to pull out of the recent Wuhan Open because his mother was unwell, but thankfully her health has since improved and he made the decision to compete this week. “I feel I have turned a corner in my game and I’m playing good stuff,” added the Antrim cueman, who meets Wu Yize or Oliver Lines next. “I also have to mention that the conditions were beautiful tonight and I told the table fitters after the game.”
British Open runner-up John Higgins continued his recent revival as he recovered from 1-0 down to beat Fan Zhengyi 4-2 with runs of 66, 139, 53 and 62.
Hong Kong’s Wang Yuchen enjoyed one of his best ever wins as he beat Jack Lisowski 4-3, making an 82 in the decider. Barry Hawkins came from 2-1 down to beat Matthew Stevens 4-2 while Anthony McGill top scored with 75 as he won a Glasgow derby against Stephen Maguire by a 4-1 scoreline.
This time all the matches are covered, or at least mentioned except one that was actually the held-over second round qualifying match between Oliver Lines and Ricky Walden. Oli won it by 4-2.
The Robertson vs Dott match was indeed a good one and it’s a shame that one of them had to lose and exit the tournament so early. That’s the only afternoon match I watched. In the evening, we – my visiting friend and me – watched the McGill v Maguire match. Maguire was really poor. I know for certain that he doesn’t enjoy these short format events. He doesn’t enjoy traveling a long way to, maybe, play just four frames and go home. It shows in his game and demeanour … and, as a result, he does indeed go out after only a few frames.
After that we watched Barry Hawkins v Matthew Stevens. Barry didn’t play particularly well but Matthew Stevens was totally unable to compete with him in the scrappier frames. He made two breaks over 80, in the two frames he won, but was outplayed in the tactical department.
Finally we watched Jack Lisowski v Wang Yuchen . I’m very pleased for Wang but, boy, Jack is so frustrating to watch. With so much talent, he should win much more. That said, my friend reflected that maybe, after surviving cancer as a teenager, Jack has other priorities, that he just wants to enjoy his life and that, because of that mindset, he isn’t as driven as most players around him. Se has a point indeed.
I’m happy to read that (at lest some of) the other top players take a reasonable stand on this matter.
Kyren Wilson and Shaun Murphy speak out after Ronnie O’Sullivan withdrew from UK event
Ronnie O’Sullivan has withdrawn from competing at the Northern Ireland Open.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has not competed since the English Open (Image: Getty)
Snooker stars Shaun Murphy and Kyren Wilson have jumped to the defence of Ronnie O’Sullivan following his decision to pull out of the Northern Ireland Open due to medical reasons.
The Rocket was set to play against Long Zehuang in the first round of the Belfast tournament on Monday before the World Snooker Tour (WST) announced that the world No. 1 had withdrawn on the eve of the competition.
O’Sullivan has spoken openly about his fitness struggles previously, and a statement from the WST confirmed that he had pulled out of the tournament due to medical reasons.
The decision means that O’Sullivan has missed his third consecutive tournament after pulling out of the British Open and Wuhan Open, with some raising eyebrows that the snooker legend has not been seen since his shock first-round defeat in the English Open last month.
Speaking to The Metro, Murphy has defended O’Sullivan’s decision not to compete in Belfast though. He said: “It’s completely players’ prerogative to play as and when he sees fit. He’s under no obligation to play, ever, he doesn’t have to play.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to be queuing up to scrutinise his medical excuse, but withdrawing on medical grounds is a way out of an event once you’ve entered. If he’s unwell and can’t play then that’s terrible and everyone wishes him well.
“I feel for the fans, but sports people and artists perform circumstances permitting. The truth of the matter is none of us know what’s going on in somebody else’s life. We can all make assumptions but nobody knows what’s going on with somebody else and we should all probably mind our own business.”
Similarly, Wilson also played down any ill feelings about O’Sullivan’s withdrawal and understands why the seven-time world champion is not demanding that he competes at every competition given his immense catalogue of victories in years gone by.
He added: “Nobody comes before yourself, you have got to think of yourself. If you’re not mentally there you have to put yourself first.
“We all know the pressures that Ronnie has to deal with, being the icon that he is, and he’s done everything so he’s probably not quite as hungry as myself or the younger players who are still trying to achieve half of what he has. I don’t necessarily blame him. You’ve just got to enjoy him while he’s there, I suppose.”
Ronnie O'Sullivan 