Elliot Slessor wins blockbuster on final day of Shenzhen Open qualifying

Following four days of qualifying action at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester, the professional player line-up for the £850,000 Shenzhen Open - which takes place in China between September 28th to October 4th - is now complete.

Wednesday’s schedule consisted of matches from the round of 64, although the top 16 seeds were not involved, as their opening assignments have been held over to the main venue.

On table one in the late afternoon session, Slessor and Chang Bingyu served up a feast of high-quality and high scoring that went all the way.

Two players towards the top of most people’s lists for the next maiden title winner on the World Snooker Tour, world number 20 Slessor started strong with efforts of 114 and 94 in going 2-0 up before the previous day’s maximum break-maker Chang racked up runs of 130, 86, and 142 to turn the tables for a 3-2 profit.

At one point in frame six - the first frame where a player didn’t end up on zero points - Chang stretched his unanswered points sequence to 394, but it was Slessor who pinched it on the final black with a classy counter clearance of 57.

Chang nudged back in front after a 131 but Slessor forced the contest all the way courtesy of a 76. And it was five-time ranking event semi-finalist Slessor who came through the classic with a 102 in the deciding frame - the fifth century break of the afternoon.

Another player who can make travel plans for Shenzhen is Iran’s top cueist Hossein Vafaei who staged a comeback to deny Antoni Kowalski.

Young Pole Kowalski registered runs of 94, 69, and 93 in establishing a 3-0 lead before reaching the hill at 4-1. However, Vafaei - who has been in very good form recently and had made a 100 in frame four - strung together the final four frames with the aid of efforts of 134, 69 and 80 for a 5-4 victory.

World number 17 Jack Lisowski - the highest ranked player at these qualifiers - will not be heading to Shenzhen for the televised rounds, though, as he was eliminated by Zak Surety who wrapped up a 5-1 win with a 130. Surety also racked up contributions of 64, 78, 52 and 92.

It has been a difficult start to the new professional snooker season for Lisowski having not qualified for any of the first three ranking events to be held in the Far East: China Open, Wuhan Open, Shenzhen Open.

Another high-profile cueist out of all three of those aforementioned tournaments is Luca Brecel. The 2023 World Champion fashioned a 129 in building a 2-0 lead in his latest outing, but opponent Pang Junxu won five consecutive frames to make it a trio of successful qualification campaigns this term, so far.

Reigning World Open champion Thepchaiya Un-Nooh scored a morale-boosting victory to qualify, and 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham can look forward to another competitive Asian trip.

Newly-minted Championship League winner Jak Jones was defeated 5-2 by Anthony McGill, although Dave Gilbert (101 break) - the opponent that Jones pipped in that final last week - squeezed past Ashley Hugill, 5-4, to stay on course for the £177,000 winner’s purse on offer.

Zhou Yuelong, Zhang Anda, and Joe O’Connor were all dispatched by lowed seeded opponents in Jimmy Robertson, Jackson Page, and Xu Si (110) respectively.

Lei Peifan, Yuan Sijun (115), Gary Wilson, Ali Carter (104, 104) and Stephen Maguire all advanced to the round of 32.

Qualifying action continues on Thursday at the Mattioli with the start of the 2026 British Open. All the opening round matches not featuring the top 16 seeds will be completed across Thursday and Friday.