Marco Fu produced a late blitz to overcome 1997 Crucible king Ken Doherty 10-6 and move within two matches of a first trip to the Theatre of Dreams in six years at Cazoo World Championship qualifying in Sheffield.
Legendary Hong Kong cueman Fu’s last appearance at the Crucible came all the way back in 2018. Since then, he has had to endure a period of exile from the tour with travel restrictions during the pandemic and eye problems which have also kept him out of action for an extended period.
Though the eye issues persist, the three-time ranking event winner has shown flashes of form this season. He made the last 16 at the Welsh Open and thrashed Mark Selby 5-1 at the German Masters, before being forced to retire from his second round match against Alfie Davies in the mid-session.
Fu and Doherty were nip and tuck for much of the match today. However, with the scores locked at 6-6, it was Fu who produced a scintillating burst for the finish line. Breaks of 97, 136 and 61 saw him move one from the win at 9-6. He then embarked on a 147 attempt in the last frame, but the final two reds were at the baulk end and his run ended on 104 attempting to get position on the black.
Next up here at the English Institute of Sport, Fu faces a tough test against Iranian number one Hossein Vafaei.
“Ken is an old friend and old opponent. I’ve been playing him since I first turned professional and he is a tremendous player. You don’t expect him to be the same standard as 20 years ago, but he is still so classy around the table, beautiful to watch. That class will always be there. It is always nice playing him, a bit like a reunion after what happened with Covid.”
Marco Fu
Former Crucible Semi-Finalist
Fu added: “It has always been a privilege and a dream for everybody to play at the Crucible. I miss playing there. I’m just going to take it one match at a time. I needed to win four matches at the start of the event to get there, I’ve won two and it is going to get more difficult. I’m starting to enjoy playing and that is the most important thing.
“It shows the standard nowadays that Hossein is at the qualifiers. That shows you how strong the game is. I’m looking forward to playing him. He is an attacking player and quite quick. It is going to be a good game.”
Belgian Julien Leclecq appears to have all but secured his tour survival after a crucial 10-3 win over Hayden Pinhey. The 21-year-old former Shoot Out finalist now plays Joe O’Connor in round three.
Scotland’s 2006 World Champion Graeme Dott scored a 10-5 win over the Egyptian Mostafa Dorgham, while Jiang Jun sprung a shock 10-8 win over former European Masters winner Fan Zhengyi.
That report as you would expect is mainly about Ken Doherty and Marco Fu. Both deserve the exposure, of course they do, but, in those WST pieces a bit more about the younger players, and some insight on what is at stake for the players in action on the next day would be welcome!
Yesterday, young rookies Ma Hailong (20 years old) and Jiang Jun (18 years old) won their match and whilst Jian Jung win over Fan Zhengyi is mentioned, nothing is said about Ma Hailong 10-7 victory over Martin O’Donnell.
Julien Leclercq is probably safe but he will need to improve to beat Joe O’Connor who will not offer him as many opportunities as Haydon Pinhey did. His friend and fellow Belgian citizen, Ben Mertens really struggled yesterday against Rod Lawler whose pace is… slow … to put it kindly. They only played seven frames and given the way it started it’s a good outcome that Ben is only 4-3 behind.
Round 3 starts today but there are still eighth round 2 matches in progress.
Mohammed Shehab is certainly one of the surprises of those qualifiers. He played well in beating Stan Moody and is only 5-4 behind in his round 2 match against the vastly experienced Tian Pengfei. Tian will be concerned for sure because he was 3-0 up at the start of the match which means that he lost four of the last six frames played.
We are now at this stage of the World qualifiers where one-sided matches become the exception. Almost all players remaining on course are quality and yesterday was filled with tension at the EIS in Sheffield. Play finished very late too.
CRUCIBLE QUALIFYING DAY FOUR: HEATHCOTE WIN LEAVES LINES ON VERGE
Louis Heathcote scored a 10-7 win to move two matches from the Crucible and leave close friend Oliver Lines in danger of relegation from the circuit at Cazoo World Championship qualifying in Sheffield.
Heathcote himself suffered demotion from the tour after last year’s World Championship, but bounced straight back via Q School.
Lines must await other results going his way this year. He is currently projected to stay on tour via the one year list, but that could change.
Today’s match was keenly contested, with there never being more than a single frame between the players until Heathcote moved 7-5 ahead. He then hammered home a break of 118 to consolidate his lead and move 8-5 up.
Yorkshire’s Lines won two on the bounce to keep himself in contention at 8-7. However, a break of 56 was enough to take Leicester cueman Heathcote one from the win.
The 17th frame saw Lines craft a run of 60, before Heathcote responded to make 62 and take the frame down the pink. He eventually deposited it to get over the line and book a round three meeting with Elliot Slessor.
“It is a bittersweet moment. First and foremost, I really do hope the results go Ollie’s way. He is far too good to fall off tour. I think he has one of the best cue actions on tour,” said 26-year-old Heathcote.
“To play well and hold myself together under those circumstances is great for me going forward. I’m gutted for Ollie as well. Any other day I would be buzzing to win that game, but to put your friend in jeopardy of dropping off tour isn’t very nice. I’ve got to focus on my career and he is more than good enough to be on tour, I hope it stays that way.”
Final frame defeats for Liam Highfield and Allan Taylor mean they are relegated from the professional ranks. Highfield was edged out 10-9 by Stuart Carrington, while Taylor bowed out 10-9 against Lukas Kleckers.
Jenson Kendrick kept his tour survival hopes alive with a brilliant 10-8 win against Ben Woolaston. He now faces Jordan Brown in round three, which is another must win match if he is to stand a chance of remaining on the circuit.
Jimmy White’s bid to return to the Crucible ended for another year with a 10-3 loss at the hands of China’s Lyu Hongyu. The six-time finalist now hasn’t competed in the final stages for 19 years, with 2005 his last appearance.
Jamie Clarke beat Andres Petrov 10-7 to relegate the Estonian from the tour, while Jimmy Robertson beat Liam Davies 10-2 and James Cahill edged out Hungary’s Bulcsú Révész 10-8.
Please, someone tell whoever writes for WST that it’s Andres Petrov, not Andrews Petrov AND that there are accented vowels in Bulcsú Révész … UK centrism manifesting itself once again although Andrews instead of Andres was probably an “auto correct” issue.
Speaking of snooker.org, the “new and improved” scoring system makes the team’s task extremely hard. It was always difficult to follow as many as eight matches simultaneously, but now it has become even harder. It’s hell really. When I finished my “shift” yesterday it was midnight here in Greece. For Eddie, from Wales, who took charge after me, it was “only” 10pm but the way things were unfolding we expected a late finish and it was indeed. Eddie joked that he was ready tucked in a sleeping bag, armed with a thermos of coffee …
The matches I particularly “followed” yesterday were He Guoqiang v Ross Muir and Andrew Higginson v Michael White. Going by the scores He played really well. Higginson v White was very tense, both making a lot of mistakes. I always liked Andrew, not just as a player but as a person and I really want to see him do well. I have nothing against Michael White mind. Michael has underachieved imo. In fact, I think that, to an extend, he’s been a victim of the “drinking culture” in the UK and on the tour. He was very young when he first qualified for the main tour and I remember older players encouraging him to drink – under pretext of being “social” – and getting him drunk … and sick. Not right, not nice.
For me today, it will be about the two Belgian lads, Julien and Ben. One win for Julien would probably be enough for him to stay on tour. Ben will have the daunting task to handle Rod Lawler snail pace.
Ben Mertens is one of the best teenage talents in the game (Picture: Facebook/Ben Mertens Snooker)
Ben Mertens is playing for his professional status at World Championship qualifying, but the teenager is thinking positive, saying: ‘I’m confident, I’m playing well, so nothing to worry about.’
The 19-year-old won his place on the World Snooker Tour in 2022 and has had some good results, but goes to Sheffield needing to win matches to retain his tour card as he is outside of the world’s top 64 and off the pace on the one-year ranking list.
The Belgian clearly has the talent to do it, with wins over the likes of Shaun Murphy and Gary Wilson this season and he will be dangerous in qualifying, where he plays Rod Lawler in his first match on Friday.
‘I know what situation I’m in, I have to win a few games to stay on tour,’ Mertens told Metro. ‘So it’s nerves but also exciting because it’s the World Championship and a chance to qualify for the Crucible.
‘Of course I have to think about the good things and not what could go wrong.
‘Qualifying for the Crucible, that’s the only thing to think about, not all the rest. I did well last year in qualifying, I’m confident, I’m playing well, so nothing to worry about.’
The youngster from Wetteren feels tough draws, strong performances from his opponents and fine margins have all cost him, but he is not down about any of it, expecting things to turn round.
Mertens needs wins in World Championship qualifying to remain a professional (Picture: Getty Images)
‘A lot of matches I’ve played have been really close, could have gone both ways and players have played really well against me the last few tournaments,’ he said. ‘I can’t really complain too much about myself because I’m playing well.
‘It is what it is. It’s good to have tough draws. I’ll be a stronger player because of it in the future. I don’t worry too much.
‘I know if I’m playing well I can beat anyone, so I just need to trust in myself, that’s the only thing that matters.’
Mertens would love to stay on the tour in style by qualifying for the Crucible for the first time, then he would be dreaming of replicating his compatriot Luca Brecel’s achievement of last year.
The teenager has never been to the legendary venue before, refusing to go in to watch before playing there.
‘The Crucible, that’s the place to be in snooker, that’s my dream to play there one day. I saw what Luca did there, that gives me inspiration,’ he said.
Luca Brecel became the first Belgian winner of the World Snooker Championship (Picture: Getty Images)
‘We’ve talked a few times in the past. He’s a very nice guy and I want to try and do the same as him in the future, to be at the Crucible and play well there, that’s what I want.
‘I won’t go there before I do that, if I go to the Crucible it will be to play, not watch.’
On the impact of Brecel’s sensational World Championship win back in Belgium, Mertens said: ‘It’s more popular now, clubs are fully booked now, there’s more attention, which is only good news. I would love to see a tournament here.’
‘It’s still there,’ he said. ‘I had some tests and they said everything is normal. In the past it was a mental issue, now it’s getting better, I’m not thinking about it mentally anymore.
‘It isn’t affecting my game, but it was affecting my mental side of the game. I was always thinking about it, that people would see it, but I’m not worrying about it anymore. It is what it is.
‘It was a surprise, I never had it before, so it was something I had to get used to, getting a tremor out of nowhere. But it’s getting better now. If I get nervous you will see it more, but if I’m calm it’s okay. I just have to try and stay calm during games, try not to get too much pressure and then it doesn’t affect me.’
Mertens takes on Lawler over Friday and Saturday in his first round of World Championship qualifying.
Tour rookie Liam Pullen scored his first ever Cazoo World Championship match win with an impressive 10-3 defeat of Ukrainian Anton Kazakov in qualifying at the English Institute of Sport.
Pullen earned his professional status at Q School last year, when he bounced back from the disappointment of losing the WSF Junior Championship final to Stan Moody.
Since then, he has shown glimpses of his considerable talent, highlighted with a run to the last 32 of the International Championship in Tianjin, which included a 6-5 defeat of Thai number one Noppon Saengkham.
Much of the damage in today’s clash was done this morning, when Pullen fired in breaks of 96, 73, 88 and 93 on his way to an 8-1 lead at the close of the first session.
Kazakov did mount a fightback of sorts by taking two of the first three frames this evening. However, a break of 66 from Pullen in the 13th saw him over the line. Defeat for Kazakov sees him suffer relegation from the World Snooker Tour.
Pullen now faces close friend and practice partner Sanderson Lam, who he lost to in Crucible qualifying last year.
“I’m very pleased in the end, but a bit annoyed with how I finished off. It was a bit nervy. Overall I played pretty well,” said 18 year old Pullen.
“Sanderson beat me last year and there were no hard feelings on my side. It obviously isn’t ideal and I would rather play someone else but it is what it is.
“The target is the Crucible, for anyone really. It is tough though. Now I’ve won my first game I can try to get into the competition and aim to play some good stuff.”
Mohammed Shehab of the UAE scored a 10-6 win over Stan Moody to book his place in the second round.
Shehab, who previously spent two seasons as a professional, in 1996 and 2006, hasn’t appeared on the World Snooker Tour since the 2019 Six Red World Championship. However, the 47-year-old will be on the circuit next season after coming through the Q Tour Global Playoff.
Shehab won five frames on the bounce, from 6-5 down, to win this evening. Next up he faces Tian Pengfei.
China’s Gao Yang beat India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha 10-6, while Ashley Carty scored a 10-4 win over Liam Graham.
The afternoon session saw Jimmy White end 7-2 down against Liu Hongyu and Jimmy Robertson establish a 7-2 lead over Liam Davies. They resume tomorrow afternoon at 2:30pm.
Those reports sometimes make me wonder… for instance, in this one, only two of the eigth matches that started yesterday afternoon are mentioned. Why? Anyway all the results are on snooker.org.
Also, I know it’s not nice but I’m absolutely delighted that Shehab beat Moody. I have nothing against young Stan and I’m not in love with Mohammed … no … it’s because it means that I won’t have to cope with Philip Studd’s commentary on another match involving Stan Moody. Philip is so “partisan” it’s unsettling. Yesterday it was felt as if there was only one player deserved to be in that match and he should win it: Stan Moody. Mohammed Shehab earned his right to play in this event and he was the better player by far. Ok, it is better for the future of snooker when young players go through but that’s no reason, nor is it an excuse for a total lack of impartiality and BTW, in my views at least, it is equally better for the future of snooker when more players from outside UK do well. After all the W in “WST” stands for “World”.
Luca Brecel will get the defence of his title underway at the Crucible on 10am on Saturday April 20th, and he’ll conclude his opening match on the same day from 7pm.
Judd Trump will also be in action on the first day, he starts his campaign at 2.30pm, and his match concludes at 2.30pm on Sunday April 21st.
Mark Williams, the man in form having won the Johnstone’s Paint Tour Championship, gets underway on Monday April 22nd at 2.30pm and plays to a finish the following afternoon.
World number three Mark Allen plays on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, while world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan enters the fray at 2.30pm on Wednesday April 24th and concludes the following afternoon.
The draw for the last 32 will be made on Thursday April 18th around 8.45am on BBC Radio 5 Live, streamed on the BBC Sport website. The top 16 seeds will be drawn at random against the 16 qualifiers.
CRUCIBLE QUALIFYING DAY TWO: RÉVÉSZ WEATHERS THE STORM
Hungary’s Bulcsú Révész roared back from 6-1 down to beat Sean O’Sullivan 10-8 and make the second round of Cazoo World Championship qualifying in Sheffield.
The 17-year-old rising star earned his place on the World Snooker Tour from next season by winning this season’s WSF Junior Championship. Révész defeated China’s Gong Chenzhi 5-3 in the final to become his country’s first ever main tour professional.
He’s only appeared on the main circuit three times before, most recently only breaking off and watching Shaun Murphy fire in a stunning 147 break at the Shoot Out just prior to the New Year.
Revesz is appearing in World Championship qualifying for the second time, having lost out to Jamie O’Neill last year. He had looked in trouble again yesterday, when he trailed 6-1 and today when he was 8-5 behind. However, a brilliant blast of five frames on the bounce saw him claim a momentous 10-8 win and set up a second round clash with James Cahill.
“I’m so happy for those people from Hungary who are always supporting me and behind me. I’m getting messages all of the time. It is a really good feeling to have their support. I hope it is going to improve the whole of snooker in Hungary.”
Bulcsú Révész
WSF Junior Champion
Révész added: “I was 6-1 down yesterday and the one thing I wanted to do was not give up. It ended 6-3 and I thought if I played my best today then I could win. At 8-5 down it was the same thoughts again. I didn’t want this match to be 10-5 to him.
“My goal before this tournament was to win this match. I’ve reached my goal and I would like to enjoy the next game. Today I did enjoy it and I hope I will in the next match as well. Of course I would like to win that. I still didn’t play my best game today and I know I can play better. I’ve already played a match and James hasn’t, so I think I can beat him.”
Fergal O’Brien’s 33-year professional career came to an end after a 10-8 loss against Egypt’s Mostafa Dorgham.
The highlight of O’Brien’s time on the World Snooker Tour saw him lift the British Open trophy in 1999 and he’s appeared at the Crucible on 10 occasions. However, the Dubliner has taken the decision to hang up the cue and focus on commentary and coaching.
It’s Dorgham’s first full match win of the season and he will now play 2006 World Champion Graeme Dott.
Louis Heathcote set up a crunch second round clash with close friend Oliver Lines, after scoring a 10-4 win over Oliver Sykes this afternoon.
Last year Heathcote lost his professional status after defeat here in Sheffield to Andrew Higginson. He bounced straight back on to the circuit via Q School. Relegation could await Lines if he loses to Heathcote, with his position on tour hanging by a thread.
Heathcote said: “It’s not very nice, but it is dog eat dog in this game. We will both be wanting to win and after that we will shake hands and be friends again.”
Swiss number one Alexander Ursenbacher completed a 10-0 whitewash win over Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko, while Oliver Brown defeated 12-time Women’s World Champion Reanne Evans 10-0.
URSENBACHER REFLECTS ON WHITEWASH WIN
Note that I have edited the text above … I have corrected “Bulcsú Révész” spelling all over WST report. Why on earth that they even make the effort to spell the names of some of the non British players correctly? In snooker we hear all the time “This (anything) is disrespectful” and most of the time it’s so minor that I wonder why people even bother with it. But WST can’t even be arsed to spell the names of their non British professional players correctly. Well … that IS disrespectful.
Ok, now that I got this out of my system … here are my thoughts on what happened on the baize.
The women – all of them so far, except for Bai Yulu – have been terrible. Mink got beat by 10-5 having lead 4-1 and it’s not as if Adam Duffy played outstanding either: his HB was 55 and his pot success a mere 51%. Reanne Evans managed to get herself whitewashed by Oliver Brown who is a very decent player but hardly a world beater. This isn’t the Reanne who beat Robin Hull by 10-8 as this same event in 2017 and ran Dominic Dale uncomfortably close the next year. Baipat unsurprisingly was beaten 10-1 by Marco Fu, and ok, that was to be expected as Marco is a top player and he scored very heavily: he had seven breaks over 50 during the match. All the same it’s all quite disheartening.
And then, we say goodbye to Fergal O’Brien … I had the pleasure to meet Fergal on several occasions, notably in Jason’s Francis’s “Legends Cups”. His pace on the baize drove me mad a few times, but off the table he’s a truly charming person, a family man, and great company … jovial, smiling … he likes his Guinness and and his Irish Square Dances! He’s a good mover, is Fergal. I will miss him and I do hope that he gets involved in Seniors Snooker in some capacity. Fergal, come on … we need a Seniors Irish Masters in Goffs every season!
All the best for the future Fergal ! ☘️
I was agreeably surprised by Mostafa Dorgham, the man from Egypt who beat Fergal yesterday. I thought he played really well although to succeed as a pro he need to score more heavily. Despite what was at stake, it was a good match to watch.
It was a match with two very different halves yesterday, as Willo raced to a 9-0 lead before Mark Allen started mounting a very serious comeback challenge. The final score – 10-5 to Willo – looks comfortable but the last third of the match was extremely tense.
Mark Williams survived a late charge from Mark Allen to win 10-5 in the semi-finals of the Johnstone’s Paint Tour Championship, setting up his first ranking event final against Ronnie O’Sullivan in 24 years.
From 9-0 down, Allen got half way to what would have been snooker’s greatest ever comeback and his opponent was getting edgy at 9-5, but Williams came up with an excellent break in the 15th frame to get the job done. Having beaten Judd Trump 10-4 in the previous round, the veteran Welshman has scored two of his best results in recent years back-to-back, knocking out two of the top three in the world rankings.
And on Sunday he’ll be up against the world number one, a rival he has known and respected since their junior days, before they both turned professional in 1992, along with John Higgins. The last ranking event final between Williams and O’Sullivan was the 2000 China Open, and tomorrow’s meeting at the superb Manchester Central venue will be a huge occasion.
“I’m just going to enjoy it,” said Williams. “How many more times is this going to happen? I couldn’t pick a better player to play in a final. I’m going to attack and try my best.“
O’Sullivan leads the head-to-head 33-9, and Williams has won just two of their last 24 meetings, but if the 49-year-old can play as well as he did today, then it could be a classic contest. Williams will be playing in his 41st ranking final and aiming for a 26th title and second of the season having landed the Cazoo British Open in September.
Three-time World Champion Williams took all eight frames of the opening session against Allen, knocking in breaks of 57, 99, 105 and 112. When he took the opener tonight with a 140 total clearance, a remarkable whitewash was on the cards, and it would have been the first televised match to finish 10-0 since Shaun Murphy beat Luo Honghao by that scoreline at the Crucible in 2019.
Allen, whose never-say-die attitude has won him plenty of matches over the past two seasons, gained a foothold with a break of 65 in frame ten, then reeled off four more with runs of 53, 79, 56 and 69. But Williams knocked in a long red at the start of frame 15 and clinched the result with a break of 75.
“I was a bit worried at 9-5,” admitted Williams. “I had a couple of chances to win 9-1 or 9-2. Mark played really well after that. If it had gone 9-6 then I was really under it. But the break I made in the last frame was as good as any I made in the match, it’s nice to know I’ve still got that bottle.
“In the first session my safety was really solid, my breaks and long potting were good. I could have easily had six or seven centuries during the match. He had one chance at 5-0 when he missed a tricky blue, apart from that in a lot of frames he was never in them because I tied him up in knots. At the end he wished me best of the luck in the final. Mark is more than capable of winning the world title, as for me, who knows? That’s for other people to say.
“I know I haven’t played Ronnie in a final for a long time but that’s because he keeps beating me before the final!”
The match gets underway at 1pm on Sunday with eight frames, then the remainder from 7pm. First to ten will lift the trophy and receive £150,000.
In frame 5, Willo missed the last red for a 147…
So today’s final will be contested between a 49 years old and a 48 years old, both still in the top 16, and the “younger man” being world number one! I love them both and I’m over the moon for both but, lets face it, that’s worrying for the future of the sport. All of those older players who still thrive today have developed through a tiered system. In fact Judd Trump – who isn’t old of course, but is in his mid thirties – is the last player who really managed to establish himself in the top 8, and by establish I mean get into that group and manage stay there as a resident member for seasons in a row. He too came through the old tiered system. I remember him being very unhappy when the announcement came about making the flat draw the norm. He felt that he had earned the right to be a seed at major events through hard work and that this was somehow taken away from him. If you look at the current top 16, all but Kyren Wilson and Luca Brecel have “grown” with the tired system and neither Kyren nor Luca have been consistent winners, despite Luca’s truly exceptional talent. I’m absolutely convinced that the tiered system is better for players development and that’s why I am happy with yesterday’s announcement.
Now let’s go back to a less “top heavy” point system that “reward” similar tournaments the same way and it will be even better. Tournaments with longer formats should be more rewarding ranking wise than the ones with shorter formats, no matter how much money a sponsor is wanting to throw in any particular event. The old point system was probably rewarding consistency a bit too much but that can be easily “corrected”.
A ELO type rating system would be even better and fairer, of course, because it would take the relative strength of the players, as well as the match score, into account in every match. And, NO, it isn’t hard to understand.
TIERED FORMAT FOR HOME NATIONS AND GERMAN MASTERS IN 2024/25
Next season’s Home Nations events, as well as the German Masters, will have a tiered format, which means that all of the world’s top 32 will start in the last-64 round at the final venue.
The round structure for the 2024 English Open, Northern Ireland Open and Scottish Open as well as the 2025 German Masters and Welsh Open will be:
Qualifying rounds Round one Players seeded 65-96 v players seeded 97-128
Round two Those 32 winners v players seeded 33-64
Final venue Last 64 32 qualifiers v players seeded 1-32
This change gives the lower ranked players the opportunity to earn prize money through the earlier rounds and beyond, while ensuring that television audiences and ticket-holders can see the leading players at the final venue. To support this change, we will be increasing prize money for all of these events to over £500,000.
WST Chairman Steve Dawson said: “The 2024/25 season will undoubtedly be the biggest season in the history of the sport. We have announced events with prize money in excess of £16 million and there will be further announcements regarding prize money and new events that will take us close to our target of £20 million; a target we had set for the 2026/27 season and that we expect to hit well in advance of time. This could see not only two or three players hitting over £1 million prize money from a single season that we will witness this year, but four, five or six players joining that group.”
(The “green highlighting” above is my doing.)
This is excellent news , in my view at least. That will come to no surprise to regular readers of this blog. This new approach will mean that at most 32 players will come out of those events penniless, instead of 64 currently. It will also mean that the lowest ranked players will play their first match against opponents ranked outside the top 64. They will be guaranteed a more winnable first match. This is particularly important for the young players and the rookies. Adapting to the professional tour isn’t easy and being hammered all the time is not helping in any way. It destroys both confidence and self-esteem. Being guaranteed matches of progressive difficulty should help.
I have had disagreements about this subject with some of the older (former) pros who came through the old tiered system. Yes, there was too much protection because the players entering at level “n”, should they lose, were guaranteed the same points the “n-1” level winners. I expect that, in this system, even IF the players entering at a “higher” level get some money if they lose their first match, it won’t count towards their ranking, just as it is the case now for the seeds losing their opening match at the Crucible.
Barry Pinches – who I respect and like – was particularly vocal against the tiered system, arguing that it meant that the lower ranked players had to win more matches to win a tournament than the higher seeds. This is true, but I’m not sure it’s a bad thing… in particular for the younger ones. They need to “grow” as professionals and for that they need to play as much as they can. The current system often left them for weeks with nothing at all to play in, brooding over yet another first round defeat against an opponent far too strong and experienced for them.
The next good move would be to have those qualifiers played at, or next to, the main event venue, the week before the main event. That would guarantee that the in-form players are in the “main” draw, as opposed to having there the players who were “in-form” two months earlier in the season. The wildcards, in any, should enter those events at the bottom, play in those qualifiers in front of their friends and family with a reasonable hope to be able to show what they can do.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 