Former World Champion Luca Brecel shows return to form after clean sweep of qualifying wins

Conqueror of the Crucible in 2023, Brecel endured three frustrating seasons on the professional circuit since but is now showing signs of a return to form.

His 4-0 whitewash win over Gong Chenzhi on Tuesday in the Scottish Open preliminaries meant that the 31-year-old Belgian completed a clean sweep of qualifying victories at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester over recent days.

Last week, Brecel defeated Mitchell Mann, 4-1, to qualify for the Northern Ireland Open, and then Jamie Clarke, 6-3, to reach the main draw of the International Championship that will be staged in Nanjing, China.

Against Chinese cueist Gong - who was playing on his 20th birthday - Brecel claimed the opening frame with a 55 break before coming from behind to pinch the second on the final black ball. The four-time ranking event winner then completed his passage through with the assistance of runs of 51 and 71.

Brecel is set to face Tom Ford in the round of 64 during the televised phases which take place at the Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh between December 14-20.

The Scottish Open holds fond memories for Brecel; he lifted his second ranking trophy at the 2021 edition when he defeated John Higgins in the final, although the competition was actually held in Llandudno, Wales.

Since his Crucible crowning over three years ago, Brecel has appeared in one ranking event semi-final (2025 Welsh Open) on the World Snooker Tour. From a high of second in the world rankings, he has fallen outside of the top 32.

Currently ranked 43rd in the global snooker standings, before this latest stint of qualifying began, Brecel was projected outside the top 64 on the end-of-season provisionals, meaning his professional tour card could be under threat come the end of the campaign. However, his hat-trick of match wins in Leicester is set to earn him at least over £12,000, which gets added to his ranking tally and may slightly ease any concerns he may have.

Elsewhere on Tuesday at the Mattioli, 15 other players booked a ticket for the main draw in the Scottish capital just before Christmas.

The Republic of Ireland's Aaron Hill was very impressive as he registered breaks of 139, 121 and 100 in a 4-1 win over Antoni Kowalski.

On his 21st birthday, Ukraine's Iulian Boiko ousted Ben Mertens, 4-3. There were several other deciding frame finishes: Chatchapong Nasa pipped Louis Heathcote on the final pink, and Matthew Stevens denied Florian Nuessle on the final black. Ryan Day (against Michal Szubarczyk) and Ben Woollaston (Alexander Ursenbacher) also got the job done in a seventh frame.

Yao Pengcheng (break of 133), Jordan Brown (122) and Jiang Jun (114) all qualified by making a century in the final frame of their respective ties. Gao Yang (109, 122) and Oliver Lines (108) also struck three figures in triumphs.

Scotland's Scott Donaldson made it through to his home professional event, meanwhile Dylan Emery, Stan Moody, and Jimmy Robertson can also make plans for Edinburgh towards the end of the year.

The final 16 qualifiers will be discovered on Wednesday.