John Higgins and Neil Robertson were among the marquee names who qualified for the Xi’an Grand Prix on Thursday in Leicester.
The pair of former world champions secured respective 5-2 triumphs over Alexander Ursenbacher and Allan Taylor.
Both players have endured difficult periods of their careers of late, with Higgins just about clinging on to a place among the top 16 of the world rankings.
Robertson has long since lost his membership within the elite bracket and will be hoping to bounce back this term having failed to qualify for last season’s World Championship in Sheffield.
There were wins for several of the other heavy hitters in action on day one as well.
Jack Lisowski and Hossein Vafaei recorded 5-1 victories while David Gilbert matched that scoreline in his defeat of Reanne Evans.
Ryan Day had a much harder time of it, the Welshman forced to win the last three frames to pip rookie Cheung Ka Wai in a decider – the latter having compiled a hat-trick of tons to lead 4-2.
Among the others to qualify for the venue stages in China next month were two of the sport’s rising stars from Europe, though.
Hungary’s Révész Bulcsú produced a fine display to power past David Grace, the 17 year-old whitewashing the experienced competitor at the Mattioli Arena.
“It was as good as it could be I think,” the confident WSF world junior champion told the World Snooker Tour.
“I was playing so brave but smart as well. I knew when I had to play safety, and I knew when I had to attack. Everything was perfect.”
“The first year is about the improvement, to get used to the conditions. Every win is a bonus I feel like.
“Every time I lose, I’m going to learn from it. So improvement first year, and the second year is going to be the harder one.
“But of course I would like to win matches all the time when I get to the table.”
Artemijs Žižins of Latvia, who like Révész is competing on the main tour for the first time this season, also advanced with a 5-2 victory over Robbie Williams.
Elsewhere, He Guoqiang – who won the Rookie of the Year award last season – fought back from behind to beat Ashley Carty 5-4.
Veteran former Masters and UK champion Matthew Stevens thrashed Andrew Higginson 5-0.
Among the others to safely make it through were Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Xiao Guodong, Jordan Brown, and Dominic Dale.
The Xi’an Grand Prix qualifiers continue on Friday with the likes of Mark Williams, Luca Brecel, and Ali Carter competing.
2024 Xi’an Grand Prix qualifying draw and schedule
Round of 128 (bo9)
Thursday, July 25
He Guoqiang 5-4 Ashley Carty
Fan Zhengyi 2-5 Sunny Akani
Jamie Jones 5-2 Mostafa Dorgham
Martin O’Donnell 3-5 Ma Hailong
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-3 Lei Peifan
Scott Donaldson w/o Lim Kok Leong
Xiao Guodong 5-2 Iulian Boiko
John Higgins 5-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
David Grace 0-5 Révész Bulcsú
Joshua Thomand 3-5 Amir Sarkhosh
Robbie Williams 3-5 Artemijs Zizins
Jordan Brown 5-2 Liam Pullen
Simon Blackwell 4-5 Ben Mertens
Ryan Day 5-4 Cheung Ka Wai
Neil Robertson 5-2 Allan Taylor
Hossein Vafaei 5-1 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Jackson Page 2-5 Dylan Emery
Jack Lisowski 5-1 Ross Muir
David Gilbert 5-1 Reanne Evans
Dominic Dale 5-4 Mohammed Shehab
Matthew Stevens 5-0 Andrew Higginson
Friday, July 26
10am UTC+1
Elliot Slessor vs Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Chris Wakelin vs Rory Thor
Xu Si vs Jiang Jun
Yuan Sijun vs Bai Yulu
Anthony Hamilton vs Gong Chenchi
Tian Pengfei vs Farakh Ajaib
Joe Perry 5-0 Mink Nutcharut
2:30pm UTC+1
Tom Ford vs Stan Moody
Joe O’Connor vs Duane Jones
Sanderson Lam vs Zak Surety
Luca Brecel vs Hammad Miah
Jak Jones vs Robbie McGuigan
Wu Yize vs Stuart Carrington
Pang Junxu vs Michael Holt
7pm UTC+1
Ricky Walden vs Liam Davies
Mark Williams vs Liam Graham
Matthew Selt vs Ian Burns
Ali Carter vs Daniel Wells
Barry Hawkins vs Kreishh Gurbaxani
David Lilley vs Louis Heathcote
Saturday, July 27
10am UTC+1
Anthony McGill vs Xing Zihao
Jimmy Robertson vs Huang Jiahao
Mark Davis vs Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Lyu Haotian vs Baipat Siripaporn
Noppon Saengkham vs Andrew Pagett
Ben Woollaston vs Julien Leclercq
Zhou Yuelong vs Haydon Pinhey
2:30pm UTC+1
Robert Milkins vs Dean Young
Si Jiahui vs Jimmy White
Judd Trump vs Antoni Kowalski
Gary Wilson vs Long Zehuang
Aaron Hill vs Chris Totten
Shaun Murphy vs Mitchell Mann
Stephen Maguire vs Ken Doherty
Heldover Matches
Monday, August 19
Kyren Wilson vs Haris Tahir
Stuart Bingham vs Wildcard
Ding Junhui vs Alfie Burden
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Wang Yuchen
Zhang Anda vs Oliver Lines
Graeme Dott vs Wildcard
Mark Selby vs Wildcard
Jamie Clarke vs Wildcard
Mark Allen vs Liu Hongyu
How to watch the Xi’an Grand Prix qualifiers
While there is no access for fans at the venue for the Xi’an Grand Prix qualifiers, supporters in Europe can watch the snooker online for free.
All three days of action are available to watch for free on the World Snooker Tour Facebook page.
In China, coverage is available on Huya.com while fans in all other territories can watch via a subscription on Matchroom.Live.
Featured photo credit: WST
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Publish date : 2024-07-26 02:23:39
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