Neil Robertson sent to the qualifying rounds for the 2024 UK Championship

Following Xiao Guodong's 6-3 victory over Jack Lisowski in the last 16 of the International Championship on Wednesday, it means that Robertson will not be inside the world's top 16 rankings when the standings are updated following the conclusion of this week's big-money tournament in Nanjing.

The International Championship is the final ranking event before the UK Championship. The top 16 players in the world rankings following the IC will automatically qualify for the main venue stages of this season’s first Triple Crown event which takes place between November 23 to December 1. These players will all be seeded, meaning they can’t face each other in round one (last 32).

All the remaining entrants ranked outside the top 16 will need to go to the qualifying rounds in Leicester (November 16-21) where there are 16 available spots to reach York and set up a date with one of the top seed players.

In the Far East earlier this week, following a sizzling 6-0 whitewash win over Fan Zhengyi which saw him make four century breaks, Robertson was eliminated the next day in the last 32 by Barry Hawkins, 6-1.

As a consequence, that left the Australian clinging on to 16th in the live standings, and in a vulnerable position with several players just below him in the rankings still in contention at the International Championship.

One of those was Xiao, who is now guaranteed to leapfrog Robertson with the prize money he has already guaranteed in Nanjing this week.

The latest new winner of a ranking event when he triumphed at the Wuhan Open a few weeks ago, Xiao is aiming to break into the world's top 16 for the first time in his career. Provisionally, he is inside the elite bracket, but he too could be surpassed, although only Chris Wakelin can now dislodge and deny him.

As for Robertson, he will join round three of qualifying at the Mattioli Arena later this month.

After a difficult few seasons on the World Snooker Tour, Robertson lost his top 16 status shortly before the World Championship earlier this year and had to go to the English Institute of Sport in order to qualify for the Crucible.

The former world number one comfortably won his opening match, but was subsequently ousted by Jamie Jones, 10-9, in the final qualifying round. Defeat for Robertson meant he failed to reach the Crucible Theatre for the first time since 2004 - breaking his streak of 19 successive appearances.

However, results have generally been on the up this season for Robertson. After an encouraging and profitable quarter-final run at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, he ended a near two-and-a-half year wait for a ranking event title at the 2024 English Open in September.

The triumph at the Brentwood Centre pushed him back into the world's top 16.

Since then, he made the last eight of the second Home Nations Series event of the term at the 2024 Northern Ireland Open - and currently leads the BetVictor Bonus race - but relatively early exits elsewhere have cost him.

Robertson’s participation in another Triple Crown event this season is also in doubt, with the invitational 2025 Masters being around the corner in January.

The UK Championship is the last counting event for that qualification race, with only the top 16 players in the world in line to be invited. In recent years, the draw for the Masters is conducted during the final of the UK Championship.