Snooker Qualifying Review: Results guide from Leicester, who had a perfect record?

The opening round of three ranking events got underway - the inaugural Xi'an Grand Prix, the Wuhan Open and the British Open - as competing players aimed to reach the main venues stages of those respective tournaments.

A handful of round one matches in both Chinese events were held over, though, whilst all opening fixtures involving the world’s top 16 players in the British Open will be contested during the televised stages next month.

How did the top 16 players do?

Only World Champion Kyren Wilson, seven-time World Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan and China's top two ranked stars Ding Junhui and Zhang Anda were completely excused from qualifying; everyone else within snooker's elite bracket at least featured once.

The biggest story was Luca Brecel's continuing troubles in ranking events, with the 2023 World Champion missing out on trips to the Far East for both the Xi’an Grand Prix and Wuhan Open.

Brecel - who has not won a ranking event match since March - did not arrive in time for his Xi’an match against Hammad Miah after getting caught up with traffic on the day. A few days later, he was ousted by Duane Jones in a deciding frame for Wuhan qualification.

On the current provisional end-of-season ranking list, Brecel is 55th.

Mark Selby will also not be in Wuhan after being eliminated by world number 69, Long Zehuang, 5-4. Four-time World Champion Selby made breaks of 135 and 130 as he built a 4-1 lead, but Chinese cueist Long crafted at least a break of 50 in each of the final four frames for a comeback success.

Elsewhere, recent Championship League winner Ali Carter lost his opener for Xi'an and Tom Ford was defeated for Wuhan.

Mark Allen played his first ranking event match as the world number one and denied world women's champion Bai Yulu, 5-1, while Gary Wilson won back-to-back deciding frame matches on the final black.

Several players finish with perfect records

A plethora of players finished the qualifying stint with a perfect record (although not all of these competitors played three matches).

One of the higher profile names who won a trio of matches was Neil Robertson; the 23-time ranking event winner - who is looking to restart his career after a difficult couple of seasons - dropped only three frames in the process.

It could be a big season for Chinese youngster Si Jiahui as the 22-year-old aims to win his first professional title. The runner-up at the German Masters earlier this year also went three from three.

Hossien Vafaei, Chris Wakelin, Noppon Saengkham, Xiao Guodong, Elliot Slessor, Tian Pengfei, Mark Davis and Xu Si also each won a hat-trick of matches. So too did Thailand’s Sunny Akani, who made his return to the professional snooker tour following a near two-year absence.

Miah - who was the beneficiary of Brecel’s non-arrival - followed up with two victories.

David Gilbert, Pang Junxu, Yuan Sijun, Graeme Dott, Jamie Clarke, Aaron Hill and Marco Fu all registered two victories from two. This is the same for professional rookie Haris Tahir, who was contesting his first two matches on snooker’s top tier.

Jordan Brown, and amateurs Paul Deaville, Mark Joyce and Anton Kazakov won the only match they competed in.

Sam Craigie, Martin Gould and Stuart Carrington each entered all three events, but subsequently withdrew and were replaced by amateur players from the Q School top-up list. Mark Williams withdrew from the Wuhan Open.

There were several victories for amateur invites during the spell as well as those from Deaville, Joyce and Kazakov. Both Dylan Emery and Iulian Boiko won two out of three, while Simon Blackwell also qualified for a main venue.

Results for the Xi’an Grand Prix, Wuhan Open and British Open are via the respective links.

Results guide

• Order of events: Xi’an Grand Prix - Wuhan Open - British Open
• Key - W: Won, L: Lost, H: Held over match, WD: Withdrew, N: Not entered
• * Did not arrive/opponent did not arrive

Mark Allen H-W-H

Judd Trump W-H-H

Kyren Wilson H-H-H

Luca Brecel L*-L-H

Ronnie O'Sullivan H-H-H

Mark Selby H-L-H

Shaun Murphy W-W-H

Ding Junhui H-H-H

Mark Williams W-WD-H

Ali Carter L-W-H

Gary Wilson W-W-H

Zhang Anda H-H-H

Tom Ford W-L-H

Jak Jones W-W-H

Barry Hawkins W-W-H

John Higgins W-W-H

Robert Milkins L-W-H

Ryan Day W-W-H

Jack Lisowski W-W-L

Si Jiahui W-W-W

Hossein Vafaei W-W-W

David Gilbert W-H-W

Zhou Yuelong W-L-W

Chris Wakelin W-W-W

Stuart Bingham H-L-W

Noppon Saengkham W-W-W

Neil Robertson W-W-W

Joe O'Connor W-L-L

Pang Junxu W-W-H

Stephen Maguire W-L-W

Lyu Haotian W-L-W

Anthony McGill W-W-L

Ricky Walden W-L-W

Xiao Guodong W-W-W

Cao Yupeng N-N-N

Wu Yize L-W-W

Matthew Selt W-W-L

Robbie Williams L-W-W

Jackson Page L-W-L

Dominic Dale W-L-L

Yuan Sijun W-H-W

Jamie Jones W-L-L

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh W-L-W

Elliot Slessor W-W-W

Jordan Brown W-H-H

Joe Perry W-L-L

Sam Craigie WD-WD-WD

Matthew Stevens W-L-L

Scott Donaldson W*-L-L

Fan Zhengyi L-W-L

Jimmy Robertson W-W-L

Tian Pengfei W-W-W

Martin O'Donnell L-H-W

Graeme Dott H-W-W

Ben Woollaston L-W-W

Mark Davis W-W-W

David Lilley W-W-L

Xu Si W-W-W

Anthony Hamilton L-W-L

Sanderson Lam L-W-H

David Grace L-L-W

Jamie Clarke H-W-W

Aaron Hill W-W-H

He Guoqiang W-W-L

Daniel Wells W-L-L

Liu Hongyu H-L-L

Ashley Carty L-L-W

Marco Fu N-W-W

Long Zehuang L-W-W

Martin Gould WD-WD-WD

Stuart Carrington WD-WD-WD

Louis Heathcote L-W-H

Ian Burns L-L-H

Ross Muir L-L-H

Xing Zihao L-W-L

Ma Hailong W-L-W

Jiang Jun L-L-L

Alfie Burden H-L-W

Ishpreet Singh Chadha L-W-L

Andrew Higginson L-L-L

Alexander Ursenbacher L-L-L

Liam Pullen L-L-L

Hammad Miah W*-W-W

Rory Thor L-L-H

Stan Moody L-W-W

Andrew Pagett L-W-L

Jimmy White L-W-L

Liam Graham L-L-W

Dean Young W-H-L

Mostafa Dorgham L-W-L

Robbie McGuigan L-H-L

Reanne Evans L-L-L

Manasawin Phetmalaikul L-L-H

Ka Wai Cheung L-W-W

Farakh Ajaib L-L-L

Liam Davies L-H-H

Mitchell Mann L-H-L

Ben Mertens W-L-W

Michael Holt L-L-W

Zak Surety W-W-L

Chris Totten L-L-W

Antoni Kowalski L-H-W

Lei Peifan L-L-L

Mink Nutcharut L-L-L

Gong Chenzhi W-L-H

Allan Taylor L-W-W

Duane Jones L-W-W

Sunny Akani W-W-W

Bulcsu Revesz W-L-H

Haydon Pinhey L-L-L

Artemijs Zizins W-L-L

Bai Yulu L-L-L

Baipat Siripaporn L-L-L

Julien Leclercq W-L-H

Amir Sarkhosh W-L-L

Kok Leong Lim L*-L-W

Wang Yuchen H-L-L

Oliver Lines H-L-W

Kreishh Gurbaxani L-L-L

Haris Tahir H-W-W

Ken Doherty L-L-L

Ahmed Aly Elsayed L-L-L

Huang Jiahao L-L-L

Mohamed Shehab L-L-H

Amateur players

Dylan Emery W-W-L

Josh Thomond L-L-L

Simon Blackwell L-L-W

Paul Deaville W-N-N

Iulian Boiko L-W-W

Daniel Womersley N-W-L

Mark Joyce N-N-W

Anton Kazakov N-N-W

Joshua Cooper N-N-L