2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters: Sunday's Day Three Preview, Matches, Order of Play

Following the opening two days of action in Riyadh, the initial field of 144 has already been whittled down to 80, although there are still two more rounds to play until the world’s top 16 enter the fray on Tuesday 3rd September.

All matches in round three are the best of seven frames and will be played across eight tables and two sessions starting at 12:00BST and 18:00BST. There are two blocks of eight matches in each session.

Among those beginning their Saudi title tilt on Sunday at the Green Halls is Neil Robertson, who won the last ranking event to be held in the Middle East, the 2008 Bahrain Championship.

The 23-time ranking event winner from Australia faces 19-year-old Paul Deaville, who is an amateur, but received an invite due to his high finish on the most recent UK Q School top-up list.

Deaville - the 2023 English Amateur Snooker Champion and a current university student - defeated Ian Burns 4-0 in round two.

If matches go according to the world rankings, seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan would face Hossein Vafaei in round five, but the Iranian has to first navigate two matches, starting with India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha.

2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham gets his pursuit underway with a tie against China’s Xing Zihao.

The legendary Jimmy White is still going strong in Saudi, and the 62-year-old now faces German Masters runner-up Si Jiahui, who is four decades younger than him. The two recently met in the first round of the Xi’an Grand Prix; the match went all the way where Si ousted it for a 5-4 win.

A plethora of other ranking event winners feel the match cloth for the first time this week - Robert Milkins, Fan Zhengyi, Anthony McGill, Chris Wakelin, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Ricky Walden, Matthew Selt, Joe Perry, Matthew Stevens, Stephen Maguire, David Gilbert, Jordan Brown and Ryan Day.

Day Three Order of Play at the 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters

12:00

• Robert Milkins v Rory Thor
• Fan Zhengyi v Jimmy Robertson
• Anthony McGill v Ashley Carty
• Chris Wakelin v Robbie McGuigan
• Jamie Jones v Anthony Hamilton
• Stuart Bingham v Xing Zihao
• Thepchayia Un-Nooh v Artemijs Zizins
• Ricky Walden v Liu Hongyu

Not before 13:00

• Joe O'Connor v Louis Heathcote
• Si Jiahui v Jimmy White
• Matthew Selt v Allan Taylor
• Joe Perry v Ben Woollaston
• Robbie Williams v Lei Peifan
• Hossein Vafaei v Ishpreet Singh Chadha
• Pang Junxu v Stuart Carrington

18:00

• Neil Robertson v Paul Deaville
• Jackson Page v Gong Chenzhi
• Matthew Stevens v Martin O'Donnell
• Stephen Maguire v Ben Mertens
• David Gilbert v Alfie Burden
• Wu Yize v Antoni Kowalski
• Jordan Brown v Bulcsu Revesz
• Jack Lisowski v Andrew Pagett

Not before 19:00

• Ryan Day v Stan Moody
• Xiao Guodong v Duane Jones
• Lyu Haotian v Marco Fu
• Elliot Slessor v Haydon Pinhey
• Yuan Sijun v Sanderson Lam
• Zhou Yuelong v Jiang Jun
• Scott Donaldson v Tian Pengfei
• Noppon Saengkham v Amir Sarkhosh

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