Yesterday was the last day at the Wuhan Open Qualifiers and here is WST report on the day:

RED HOT ROBERTSON EASES THROUGH

Australia’s 2010 World Champion Neil Robertson continued an undefeated start to the new season with a 5-0 whitewash win against 1997 Crucible king Ken Doherty at Wuhan Open qualifying.

The Thunder from Down Under endured a torrid 23/24 campaign and slumped to 27th in the world rankings. However, is yet to lose a match this term after winning his group at the Championship League, before withdrawing from the next phase and then also beating Allan Taylor to qualify for the Xi’an Grand Prix. Robertson crafted runs of 55, 101, 91 and 80 during today’s victory. 

World number one Mark Allen earned his spot in the final stages thanks to a 5-1 defeat of Women’s World Champion Bai Yulu. Allen top scored with 102 during the comfortable win. 

Hong Kong’s three-time ranking event winner Marco Fu registered a fine 5-1 win over Zhou Yuelong, while Jack Lisowski was a 5-2 victor against Liam Graham.

Once again this report is short, far from comprehensive, and focussed on the well known names whilst it’s actually the other ones who need exposure. Also this is actually the first round of the tournament, players don’t need to “qualify” for tournaments but they have to “qualify” for the “right” to play at the actual event venue… and that’s wrong.

All the results are, as usual, on snooker.org.

There were some interesting results yesterday in the matches that WST overlooked.

• Andrew Pagett beat Lyu Haotian by 5-1 in a low scoring match. It must have been pretty scrappy and that, IMO, doesn’t suit Lyu. The only telling break was a 87, made by Lyu in the only frame he won.
• Louis Heathcote beat Theppy by 5-4. Again it was a contrast in styles. Theppy came back from 0-3 down and scored breaks of 59, 56, 88 and 78 in the process. Louis didn’t have a single break over 50 in the course of match but he won the decider …
• Mark Davis defeated Chris Totten by 5-3 in a match where both scored well given the opportunity. The Dark One had breaks of 122, 100 and 77, Chris Totten scored breaks of 58, 127 and 57. This was a true clash of generations: Mark will turn 52 in less than two weeks, Chris is only 25.
• In another clash of generations, Stan Moody (17 years old) beat Matthew Stevens (46 years old) by 5-2. Stan was the better scorer, his highest break in this match was 135 AND he won the majority of the closer frames as well.
• Jak Jones beat Ross Muir by 5-3 in a high quality encounter. Between them they had 6 breaks over 70 in this 8 frames match: 116, 77, 89 and 102 for Jak, 71 and 82 for Ross.

Here is WST report on the second day of the 2024 Wuhan Open Qualifiers:

CAPTAIN SET FOR WUHAN

Ali Carter recovered from 2-0 down to beat Wang Yuchen 5-3 and secure qualification for the final stages of the Wuhan Open. 

The Captain was runner-up in the inaugural event last season. He beat the likes of Mark Allen and Stuart Bingham to make the title match, but lost out 10-7 at the hands of Judd Trump. 

Carter’s place in Wuhan this year was under threat when he found himself two behind early on. However, breaks of 57, 135, 82 and 64 helped him to five out of the next six frames to emerge victorious.

Luca Brecel’s early season woes continued with a 5-4 defeat against Welshman Duane Jones. Belgium’s Brecel hasn’t won a match since March, having lost in the first round to Si Jiahui in Shanghai.

The 2023 World Champion then had to concede his Xi’an Grand Prix qualifier to Hammad Miah after being stuck in traffic. Jones had trailed 4-3 this evening, but made breaks of 53 and 66 to take the last two frames and victory. 

Tom Ford bowed out 5-3 at the hands of returning professsional Sunny Akani. Thailand’s Akani clinched his win with a fine break of 102 in the eighth frame. 

Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko came through 5-4 against Manasawin Phetmalaikul, while Xing Zihao scored a shock 5-1 win against 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham.

All results are, as always, on snooker.org

In general the young Chinese players continued to do well and impress. Not all of them won of course but the “winning rate” of that group is very encouraging. Snooker needs young players.

I was particularly happy to see Sunny Akani win again. He beat Tom Ford, seeded 13 in this competition, quite convincingly.

Another result that pleased me is Iulian Boiko (who replaced Sam Craigie) 5-4 win over Manasawin Phetmalaikul. Nothing against “Quid” but Iulian had so many “near wins” and disappointments in recent times that I feared he might get dispirited. This will do him a lot of good.

There will be no Belgian in Wuhan. Indeed Julian Leclercq also lost yesterday, by 5-2 to Graeme Dott. Julien had the highest break of the match, a 135, but that’s a meagre consolation. Now, this is a match he might learn a lot from. Dotty is probably the most underrated player on tour. You don’t become a World Champion, and twice a World Championship runner-up if you are not a very top player and competitor. I like him as a person as well. He speaks his mind and is genuine. BTW, if you haven’t read his biography “Frame of Mind” … I recommend it.

As for Luca… I couldn’t care less. The guy is infuriating. He’s blessed with incredible talents but, after every significant success, he goes walkabout… It’s been the story of his career and I’m not sure he can or is willing to change.

The last match to finish was the one between Anthony Hamilton and Reanne Evans. It went to a decider and finished past midnight local time.Reanne was absolutely gutted but this is by far her best performance in a long time. It’s encouraging and I hope that, in a couple of days, she can take the positives out of it.

Qualifiers continued in Leicester yesterday, this time for the 2024 Wuhan Open. That tournament is scheduled early October so it’s unlikely that current players’ form will still be relevant then.

Anyway… again there is no report by WST at the time of writing this piece¹. So here goes …

All the results can be found on snooker.org.

The day started with Mink and Baipat being whitewashed by Fan Zhengyi and He Guoquiang respectively. Fan and He are both very good players, of course, but those disaster results “en serie” must be damaging for these young women and, I’m now seriously questioning the alleged benefits of having the women playing in the main tour. But that’s for another day…

So… here are the matches/results that caught my attention

• Cheung Ka Wai 5-4 Stephen Maguire. That’s an excellent result for the rookie especially considering that Maguire lead 4-3. Everything I’ve seen from Cheung, including in the Final of the 2024 WSF Championship, tells me that he has a very good temperament and a solid head on his shoulders. One to follow this season.
• Si Jiahui beat Gong Chenzhi by 5-3 to qualify for Wuhan, but he was made to work by his 17 years old opponent. This was anything but a walk in the park for Si.
• Barry Hawkins was another one one who was made to work by a Chinese teenager rookie, the 18 years old Jiang Jun. Every frame was closely contested and Jiang had three breaks over 50 during that match. Experience prevailed but I stand by my opinion that it’s not right that the likes of Jiang get nothing for their efforts given the strength of the opposition.
• Jamie Clarke had to win the last three frame of his match to beat Alfie Burden by 5-4 and get through. There were 5 breaks over 60 in that match, three by Alfie who will wonder how he lost this one.
• Mostafa Dorgham from Egypt, beat Ricky Walden by 5-4. Ricky had three breaks over 60 in that match, for just one by Mostafa, but it was the Egyptian who took the close frames.
• The tie of the day saw Gary Wilson prevail by 5-4 over Alex Ursenbacher. This match was high quality and hard fought.
• John Higgins beat Ben Mertens by 5-1 but the match was closer than the score suggests, and Ben made the highest break of the match, a 96, in the only frame he won. In many ways this was a typical Higgins performance. Nothing fancy but very efficient.
• Haris Tahir from Pakistan created another surprise as he beat Jamie Jones by 5-3. Tahir is a rookie and qualified via the Asia/Oceania Q-School. He certainly can play, and score. He had 4 breaks over 50 in this match, including a century.
• In a battle of veterans, Jimmy White prevailed over Dominic Dale: 5-3 with breaks of 77 and 62. Yes, the Wind is still blowing!
• And then… the most extraordinary match on the day … next day actually: Long Zhehuang beat Mark Selby by 5-4 from 4-1 down. Mark had scored a 130 and a 135 to lead 4-1 but Long won four frames in a raw to deny him. Long scored a 50+ break in every frame he won: 53, 50, 67, 54, 67 … Mark had considered his future in snooker at the end of last season. I’m afraid that results like this one will not vindicate his decision to carry on, in his own mind at least. I’m sure that Mark has plenty more to give but he’s been struggling mentally a lot over the years. He has to prioritise his health above anything else.

1. There was a piece by WST yesterday, eventually. Late, very short and reporting on only four players, all British. ↩︎

Yesterday was the last day of the 2024 Xian Grand Prix qualifiers. Only two sessions were scheduled and, at the time of writing, there is no report whatsoever by WST¹. There were some notable matches though…

Shaun Murphy continued to show great form as he defeated Mitchell Mann by 5-1 in a match that featured a 50+ break in every frame but the fifth.

Mark Davis, now 51 years young, still has it. He beat Ishpreet Singh Chadah by 5-3, with breaks of 52 and 63 in the last two frames. “Dark Mavis” reward is to face Willo at the venue… snooker is a young man’s game they say…

Another veteran who did really well but still lost is Jimmy White. At 62, having turned professional in 1980, he still fascinates. Si Jiahui, who is only 22 years old – half of the years Jimmy has spent on tour – and a very, very good player needed a decider to beat him. The match is on YouTube. Frame 6 was particularly dramatic. Jimmy was 67-0 up with 67 on the table. Si cleared with a break of 67 to force a re-spotted black … that Jimmy eventually potted to win that frame.

It is however a young man who delivered the most extraordinary result of the day. Indeed, Julien Leclercq came back from 0-4 down to beat Ben Woollaston by 5-4! That’s the two young Belgians – Julien and Ben – Xi’an bound … I’m very happy for Julien but I’m a bit sorry for Ben Woollaston who i like as well.

Speaking about Belgians, what exactly happened to Luca Brecel is still not known. He probably got stuck in heavy traffic but that has not been actually confirmed.

There were also wins for Judd Trump (easy) and Gary Wilson (not so easy). Judd beat Antoni Kowalski who is a rookie and has been interviewed by WST recently. Antoni comes across as a pretty assertive character with a lot of ambition. Let’s see if he can walk the walk after talking the talk.

All the results are on snooker.org as usual

So that’s the draw for the main event set.

Ronnie is set to face Wang Yuchen in his first match at the venue. The winner of that match will then play Bulcsú Révész … and the winner of that match will play the winner of Neil Robertson v Yuan Sijun.

Other interesting (in my opinion of course) matches played in the first round at the venue are:

• Anthony McGill v Ricky Walden
• John Higgins v Sunny Akani
• Lyu Haotian v Artemijs Zizins
• Ben Mertens v Gary Wilson

1. Not that the reports on previous days were particularly comprehensive … but they existed.
   ↩︎

Here is WST report about day 2 at the 2024 Xi’an Grand Prix Qualifiers

ONES BATTLES PAST MCGUIGAN

Crucible runner-up Jak Jones won the final three frames to snatch a trip to China from tour rookie Robbie McGuigan’s grasp, prevailing 5-4 in Xi’an Grand Prix qualifying. 

Jones began last season’s World Championship as a 150-1 outsider. However, giant killing exploits saw him defeat the likes of Judd Trump and Stuart Bingham to make the title match. The Welshman was denied glory after a battling 18-14 loss to Kyren Wilson in the final. 

McGuigan is entering his debut season as a professional after earning a tour card by winning this year’s European Amateur Championship. Breaks of 64 and 106 took him to the cusp of victory at 4-2, but Jones rallied to force a decider. The final frame saw Northern Ireland’s McGuigan come within one ball of triumph, but was denied on the black as Jones came through. 

Former Shoot Out champion Chris Wakelin needed to produce some heavy scoring to see off Malaysia’s Rory Thor 5-4. The Englishman crafted runs of 112, 135, 74, 63 and 87 in the narrow win. 

Pang Junxu scored a 5-2 win over returning professional Michael Holt, while Yuan Sijun beat Women’s World Champion Bai Yulu 5-1. 

As so often this report only covers a fraction of what happened at the tables, and, in this case, off the tables as well.

Indeed Luca Brecel never showed up and nobody seems to know what happened. The last news WST had was that he was in the car, apparently at the euro tunnel. Now, this being the holidays period and thanks to Brexit, there might have been huge lines of vehicles caught there, stuck for hours. Hopefully nothing worse than that happened but for Luca it’s a mini disaster because he really need the ranking points this season.

All the results are on snooker.org as always.

Here is what caught my attention:

• Paul Deaville, an amateur, beat Wu Yize by 5-3. Paul was only in the draw because Stuart Carrington withdrew.
• 17 years old Gong Chenzhi beat Anthony Hamilton by 5-4 in a hard fought match. Gong is in his first season as a pro and beating the shrewd Sheriff of Pottingham is never easy.
• Willo duly qualified, whitewashing 19 years old Liam Graham … the lad scored a grand total of 86 points during the match.
• Former Seniors Champion, David Lilley, beat Louis Heathcote by 5-3.
• And in the last match of the day¹ Daniel Wells beat Ali Carter by 5-4. Daniel’s highest break of the match was just 51… Ali had three breaks over 50, including a 98. Judging by the scores this wasn’t pretty … and Ali won’t be happy.

1. It was already the next day actually… ↩︎

Here is the report by WST:

THUNDER SCORCHES PATH TO XI’AN

Neil Robertson fired in two centuries on his way to clinching a place in the Xi’an Grand Prix, beating Allan Taylor 5-2 in qualifying. 

The Australian is aiming to bounce back from one of his worst ever seasons as a professional, which saw him drop to 27th in the world. Robertson looked sharp in today’s win and will hope it is a sign of things to come. He composed breaks of 137, 131 and 66 en route to victory and qualification for the final stages. 

Scotland’s four-time World Champion John Higgins was also a 5-2 victor, beating Swiss number one Alexander Ursenbacher. With Higgins leading 4-2, Ursenbacher made a break of 57 in the seventh. However, Higgins summed a trademark clearance to steal from behind, making 67 to take the frame on the pink. 

Hungary’s first ever professional Bulcsu Revesz showed his credentials with a 5-0 whitewash win over David Grace, while Latvian Artemijs Zizins scored a 5-3 win over Robbie Williams. 

The qualifying action continues on Friday with the likes of Mark Williams, Luca Brecel and Ali Carter in action. 

They still aren’t able or willing to spell Bulcsú Révész name correctly… Seriously it’s not that difficult and it’s only correct and polite to make the effort.

Other than that all the results are on snooker.org

Iulian Boiko put up a disappointing performance but, maybe, he got the call late and didn’t really have time to prepare properly. I’m sad for Martin Gould really. He’s a better player than his record tells and he’s very good to watch.

I was sorry for Cheung Ka Wai. He led 3-1 and 4-2 and at that point had scored three centuries (116, 100 and 103). But then Ryan Day came back at him and Cheung couldn’t close the match out. I suppose that experience matters and I hope that he will learn from it. With the winning line in sight, Cheung didn’t handle it well.

Although I didn’t see it – I was just following the scores – the Simon Blackwell v Ben Mertens was apparently a gruelling affair. Simon Blackwell is one of those players who doesn’t score particularly heavily – he didn’t have a single 50+ break in this match – but always seems to find a way to make it hard for their opponent. The match lacked any fluency and the players were pulled off at 4-4 and only finished when a table became available in late evening. I’m glad the Ben won it.

I was also happy to see Sunny Akani win on his return on tour. He beat Fan Zhenghyi quite convincingly.

I’m a bit surprised that Jackson Page’s defeat at the hands of Dylan Emery isn’t even mentioned.

BTW ALL matches are streamed in China, meaning there is a camera operating on every table. Why is is not offered to fans in other regions? I’m not asking for commentary or anything sophisticated. Just the images …