2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters: Round four complete in Riyadh as top 16 await

Continuing on from the afternoon session at the Green Halls, a further eight players booked a date with a top 16 player on Tuesday in round five of the new £2.3 million ranking event.

The evening’s first winner was Jack Lisowski, who was in brilliant scoring nick as he registered breaks of 103, 95, 103 and 92 in a 5-2 victory over Martin O’Donnell.

In round three on Sunday, Lisowski squeezed past Andrew Pagett on the final pink ball in the deciding frame. He’ll now face Crucible finalist Jak Jones in the last 32; the two played each other at the recent Xi’an Grand Prix last 32 stage with Jones coming through, 5-4.

Neil Robertson set up a mouth-watering tie with Mark Selby after seeing off the challenge of 17-year-old rookie Gong Chenzhi on the main TV table.

2010 World Champion Robertson - who is trying to get back into the sport’s elite top 16 bracket - compiled runs of 72, 103 and 94 during his night’s work. The Australian has dropped just two frames in his two outings in this event, so far.

David Gilbert continues his brilliant uptick in form and results over recent months as he notched up efforts of 88, 53, 64 and 58 before finishing with a 124 in a 5-3 win over Jordan Brown.

A semi-finalist at the World Championship in May and a quarter-finalist at last month's Xi'an Grand Prix, Gilbert plays Gary Wilson next, and he will be aiming to repeat his victory against him in China less than a fortnight ago that was also in the round of 32.

Scott Donaldson and Elliot Slessor both recorded 5-2 victories against higher ranked opponents; Ryan Day and Zhou Yuelong, respectively.

The final three ‘qualifiers’ for round five were all Chinese, meaning 7 of the 16 players who have emerged from this phase come from that country.

Xiao Guodong finished off with a 90 as he denied Chinese compatriot Lyu Haotian 5-2, while Wu Yize pipped Stephen Maguire on the colours in a deciding frame, despite Maguire posting runs of 88, 132, 64 and 77.

The final result to come in was a thriller between Yuan Sijun and yesterday’s maximum 147 break man, Noppon Saengkham.

Saengkham struck a 126 break in frame three, but it was the only frame he won in the opening five as contributions of 59, 62 and 93 helped Yuan to a 4-1 advantage. Thai ace Saengkham struck back, though, stringing together the next three frames to force a decider.

Yuan had a small profit early on in frame nine, but Saengkham took the lead, and whilst on a break of 49, he was in front by 29 points with one red remaining.

However - a pot that would have left his opponent needing penalty points - Saengkham rattled the tricky last red down a side cushion with the rest and Yuan stepped up to coolly pot red, blue and all the colours to win by just four points on the final black.

For the draw, results and other important details, please visit our 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters Tournament Information Centre, here.