Veteran Doherty schools youngster Moody to qualify for International Championship

Tuesday was the first of three days qualifying action at Ponds Forge in Sheffield for the £825,000 world ranking event in China that will hold its main venue, televised stages in Nanjing between November 2-9.

56-year-old Doherty trailed 3-2 before stringing together three consecutive frames to reach the hill first at 5-3 up.

Moody - who has appeared in his first two ranking event quarter-finals in recent weeks - battled back, taking frames nine and ten to force the contest all the way.

However, Irishman Doherty claimed the decider to book a berth for the Far East in a few weeks time.

Elsewhere in Yorkshire, it was a very good day for the top 16 stars in action, with all of them making it through to the round of 64.

World number two Kyren Wilson navigated a tricky tie against Gong Chenzhi, top scoring with a 100 in a 6-2 win.

Mark Selby deals in trophies on the World Snooker Tour, but he has had a decent start to the season having reached three semi-finals from five events.

The only player in International Championship history who has won back-to-back titles (2016 and 2017), Selby remains on course for a hat-trick following a 6-0 whitewash of Steven Hallworth during which he registered runs of 124 and 131.

World number five Mark Williams fashioned a 113 in a 6-2 victory against Iulian Boiko, while Si Jiahui took six of the final seven frames to eliminate Sunny Akani, 6-3.

Neil Robertson notched up his 1,000th century break in professional competition en route to a 6-1 win over Umut Dikme. The Australian, who is set to face Doherty in the next round, is only the fourth player in snooker history to have achieved the feat.

John Higgins survived a deciding frame with youngster Liam Pullen to keep alive his hopes of the £175,000 top prize.

A semi-finalist at last week's British Open, Higgins was in control at 3-0 up, but Englishman Pullen deposited five of the next six frames in going 5-4 ahead. Higgins, though, came good at the end to record a 6-5 win and gain snooker revenge on Pullen who had defeated him in Xi'an Grand Prix qualifying earlier in the month.

Runner-up in Cheltenham only a couple of days ago, Anthony McGill got back to business with a 6-0 sweep of Mink Nutcharut.

There have been green shoots of recovery for 2023 world champion Luca Brecel in recent events this calendar year, but the Belgian - who made the quarter-finals of the English Open a couple of weeks ago - will play no further part in this year's International Championship after bowing out 6-4 to rookie professional Liu Wenwei.

Two-time ranking event champion Robert Milkins' tour card concerns got a bit more serious as he was pipped by Hong Kong cueist Wang Yuchen, 6-5.

Milkins, who has been an ever-present on the professional circuit since 1995, is 74th on the end-of-season provisional ranking list and is therefore projected to lose his top flight status.

Yuan Sijun, Ben Mertens, Jack Lisowski and Jak Jones all compiled two centuries each during their respective wins.

Jiang Jun, Xu Si, David Lilley, Lyu Haotian, Ben Woollaston, Fan Zhengyi and Martin O’Donnell were also winners from Tuesday's programme at Ponds Forge.

For details on the 2025 International Championship qualifiers, visit our tournament information centre here.