Neil Robertson advanced to the venue stages of the Wuhan Open after a comfortable 5-0 defeat of Ken Doherty in the qualifiers on Tuesday.
After a lengthy tactical battle at the end of the first frame, Robertson potted pink and black to snatch an early lead.
From then on, the Australian controlled the contest and compiled breaks of 55, 101, 91, and 80 in the following four frames.
It has been a positive start to the 2024/25 snooker season for Robertson, who ended the last campaign outside the world’s top 16 and without a spot in the World Championship.
Many expect the 42 year-old to bounce back this term, and it’s a case of so far so good with two qualifying victories from two.
He was also undefeated in the season-opening Championship League Snooker but was forced to withdraw from that following a scheduling mishap.
World number one Mark Allen was among the other players who progressed in the Wuhan Open.
Despite his esteemed ranking, the Antrim man’s round-of-128 match was somewhat surprisingly not chosen as one of the several held over to the main stages in October.
Still, Allen made light work of his clash with Bai Yulu – beating the reigning women’s world snooker champion 5-1 with a high contribution of 102.
Jack Lisowski also made it through courtesy of a 5-2 triumph over Liam Graham.
Like Robertson, Lisowski has endured a difficult spell of form that has seen the talented Cheltenham cueist drop outside the top 16.
There were victories elsewhere for World Championship finalist Jak Jones, his fellow Welshman Jackson Page, and veteran Mark Davis.
Marco Fu rolled back the years, meanwhile, with a fine 5-1 success against Zhou Yuelong that included a 105 break and three more above 50.
Xiao Guodong, Jimmy Robertson, Louis Heathcote, Stan Moody, and Andrew Pagett were the others to record wins.
With the preliminary phase for the Wuhan Open over, it’s on to the next batch of qualifiers at the Mattioli Arena.
On Wednesday, Lisowski and Si Jiahui are among the higher-profile names back in action.
2024 Wuhan Open qualifying draw and schedule
Round of 128 (bo9)
Sunday, July 28
Sanderson Lam 5-3 Huang Jiahao
Fan Zhengyi 5-0 Mink Nutcharut
He Guoqiang 5-0 Baipat Siripaporn
Stephen Maguire 4-5 Cheung Ka Wai
Xu Si 5-1 Ian Burns
Si Jiahui 5-3 Gong Chenzhi
Chris Wakelin 5-1 Ma Hailong
Barry Hawkins 5-3 Jiang Jun
Gary Wilson 5-4 Alexander Ursenbacher
Anthony McGill 5-3 Simon Blackwell
Aaron Hill 5-2 Ashley Carty
Robert Milkins 5-1 Farakh Ajaib
Jamie Clarke 5-4 Alfie Burden
Ricky Walden 4-5 Mostafa Dorgham
Joshua Thomand 0-5 Allan Taylor
Robbie Williams 5-4 Kreishh Gurbaxani
John Higgins 5-1 Ben Mertens
Jamie Jones 3-5 Haris Tahir
Mark Selby 4-5 Long Zehuang
Shaun Murphy 5-1 Michael Holt
Dominic Dale 3-5 Jimmy White
Monday, July 29
Stuart Bingham 1-5 Xing Zihao
Pang Junxu 5-2 Révész Bulscú
Ali Carter 5-3 Wang Yuchen
Wu Yize 5-1 Rory Thor
David Grace 3-5 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Iulian Boiko 5-4 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Tian Pengfei 5-3 Andrew Higginson
Hossein Vafaei 5-0 Ahmed Elsayed
Ryan Day 5-3 Liu Hongyu
Scott Donaldson 1-5 Zak Surety
Graeme Dott 5-2 Julien Leclercq
Tom Ford 2-5 Sunny Akani
Matthew Selt 5-2 Liam Pullen
Joe Perry 4-5 Daniel Womersley
Anthony Hamilton 5-4 Reanne Evans
Elliot Slessor 5-3 Artiemijs Zizins
Luca Brecel 4-5 Duane Jones
Ben Woollaston 5-1 Oliver Lines
David Lilley 5-1 Mohamed Shehab
Noppon Saengkham 5-1 Daniel Wells
Joe O’Connor 3-5 Hammad Miah
Tuesday, July 30
Mark Allen 5-1 Bai Yulu
Jackson Page 5-3 Lei Peifan
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-5 Louis Heathcote
Dylan Emery 5-1 Kok Leong Lim
Lyu Haotian 1-5 Andrew Pagett
Xiao Guodong 5-1 Haydon Pinhey
Zhou Yuelong 1-5 Marco Fu
Jimmy Robertson 5-2 Amir Sarkhosh
Neil Robertson 5-0 Ken Doherty
Jack Lisowski 5-2 Liam Graham
Jak Jones 5-3 Ross Muir
Mark Davis 5-3 Chris Totten
Matthew Stevens 2-5 Stan Moody
Heldover Matches
Schedule TBC
Judd Trump vs Antoni Kowalski
Yuan Sijun vs Wildcard
Ding Junhui vs Robbie McGuigan
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Mitchell Mann
Zhang Anda vs Dean Young
Jordan Brown vs Wildcard
Martin O’Donnell vs Wildcard
David Gilbert vs Wildcard
Kyren Wilson vs Liam Davies
Featured photo credit: WST
Source link : https://snookerhq.com/2024/07/30/neil-robertson-thrashes-ken-doherty-wuhan-open-qualifiers/
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Publish date : 2024-07-30 23:13:54
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