Hot on the heels of last week’s Wuxi Classic qualifiers at the South West Snooker Academy, the past five days have seen the early rounds of the 2013 Australian Goldfields Open tournament take place at the same venue.
Click below for my round-up of the key stories from the qualifiers, together with links to the results in full and latest projected seedings…
- Click here to see all of the results from the 2013 Australian Goldfields Open qualifiers
- Click here to view the latest projected seedings
- Click here to view the updated provisional money list
Through to the venue stages of the Australian Goldfields Open is Thailand’s Dechawat Poomjaeng, who today followed up wins against Stuart Carrington and Pankaj Advani, with a 5-2 victory against Scotland’s Jamie Burnett to qualify.
It was a low-scoring match, Poomjaeng’s 53 break in the fifth frame proving the highest run in all, but the man who recently lit up the Crucible with his unorthodox behaviour will not care about that, as he booked his place at a fourth consecutive venue since the 2013 China Open. Indeed far from being a novelty act, Dechawat has made a 100% start to this season and will now have a shot at defending champion Barry Hawkins in Australia.
Like Dechawat, both Michael White and Ben Woollaston made their Crucible débuts in April this year and both are through to Bendigo with victories against Nigel Bond and Jimmy White today.
Indeed Michael almost made a perfect start to the match, as he potted 15 reds with blacks, followed by the first five colours to leave his break at 140, but unfortunately he was unable to get nicely on the final black. Having come so close to his first professional max, Michael could have been forgiven for letting the disappointment affect him, but he kept his focus well, adding four of the next five frames to seal victory and a tie with Shaun Murphy in Bendigo.
Woollaston meanwhile hit a top break of 73 on his way to qualification and a clash with Gloucester’s Robert Milkins at the venue.
Elsewhere, Irish duo Ken Doherty and Fergal O’Brien both ensured that they will be in Bendigo, with wins against Simon Bedford and James Wattana respectively. A semi-finalist at the venue back in 2011, Doherty will face Marco Fu as he looks to go on another run at the venue, while Fergal will take on Ricky Walden.
Also through this morning was Mike Dunn, who defeated Peter Ebdon 5-2 to reach his first venue since the 2012 German Masters. Having trailed 4-0 against Saqib Nasir in his opening match, Mike dropped just three further frames to see off both Ebdon and Craig Steadman, to give himself a lift at the start of a very important season for him.
In the evening session, Jamie Cope, Xiao Guodong and Noppon Saengkham were all quickly through, 5-1 winners in their respective matches. A good win for Jamie in particular against Belgian talent Luca Brecel, he now moves on to a clash with Martin Gould in Bendigo, while Saengkham’s four victories this week have earned him a shot at 2011 champion Stuart Bingham.
Soon after, Alfie Burden survived early breaks of 94 and 115 from Mark Joyce, to win the last four frames and set up a match with Michael Holt at the venue stage, while Zhang Anda edged out David Gilbert in a decider to join him.
Also through this evening was Ian Burns, the 2012/13 Rookie of the Season defeating Matt Selt 5-2 to make it to another venue, while Marcus Campbell edged out Liam Highfield in a decider, repeating his victory against Liam at last season’s World Championship qualifiers.
Next up, the action moves on to Bulgaria, with the first European Tour event of the new season from Thursday…