Latest projected seedings – subject to change!
Day one of the Australian Open qualifiers from the Academy has seen a number of winners including Sam Baird, Tian Pengfei and Robin Hull. Click below for all of the day’s stories and scores…
Day One Results:
Sam Baird 5-1 Luca Brecel
Andrew Pagett 5-4 Adam Wicheard
Paul Davison 5-3 David Hogan
Bjorn Haneveer 3-5 Andrew Norman
Joe Meara 3-5 David Morris
Michael White 4-5 Yu Delu
Dechawat Poomjaeng 1-5 Robin Hull
Cao Yupeng 1-5 Kurt Maflin
Sam Craigie 5-1 David Grace
Aditya Mehta 1-5 Tian Pengfei
Li Yan 5-0 Kacper Filipiak
James Wattana 5-2 Daniel Wells
Ben Woollaston 5-2 Adam Duffy
Liam Highfield 5-4 Simon Bedford
David Gilbert 5-4 Passakorn Suwannawat
Scott MacKenzie 5-4 Stuart Carrington
One of the most intriguing matches on paper this morning was that between Sam Baird and Luca Brecel but in the end it proved to be the more experienced Baird who ran out a 5-1 winner. Of the thew two I had fancied Sam to come through by virtue of his greater experience and he now moves on to a tie with the out of form Adrian Gunnell tomorrow morning. For Luca meanwhile it is all good experience at this stage of his career and he can only learn from playing the likes of Sam in such conditions with ranking points on the line. His time will surely come.
Also using their greater experience to good effect were Scandinavian duo Kurt Maflin and Robin Hull, 5-1 winners against Dechawat Poomjaeng and Cao Yupeng respectively. A particularly good win for Robin who notched up a 136 along the way, he now moves on to a tie with Jack Lisowski while Kurt meets former UK Championship quarter-finalist Peter Lines.
Andrew Pagett
The other clear winners of the day were Sam Craigie and Tian Pengfei, two talented players who I feel could both make a mark this season. Tian is no stranger to snooker fans out there but young Sam is perhaps less well known to fans out there despite his excellent junior record. Today he came through against David Grace who is embarking on his second spell on the circuit, while Tian defeated India’s Aditya Mehta, despite a break of 118 from the loser.
It was not so comfortable however for Andrew Pagett who won the battle of the On Q players against Adam Wicheard to move into the second round. Nor was it easy for China’s Yu Delu who held off a battling performance from Michael White who recovered from 1-3 down at the interval to force a decider, before Delu came through 5-4.
Elsewhere, yet another On Q player Andrew Norman also marked his tour return with a 5-3 victory against Belgian Bjorn Haneveer, despite dropping the opening two frames in little time at all. David Morris also began his campaign with a win against Northern Ireland’s Joe Meara.
In the evening session it was to prove a baptism of fire for 15-year-old Kacper Filipiak as the Polish youngster found himself whitewashed by China’s Li Yan. As with Luca it will all be a good learning experience for him this season while Li moves on to a tie with Alan McManus.
David Gilbert
It was a closer encounter altogether however for David Gilbert as the man who toppled Judd Trump at the PTC last week survived a nailbiter with Passakorn Suwannawat, eventually edging it 5-4 with a break of 37 in the decider. Next up for David will be a second round match with Alfie Burden.
Elsewhere the recently married Ben Woollaston recovered from an early defeat at the PTC last week with a 5-2 victory against local lad Adam Duffy, a top break of 110 helping him to victory. On paper his next match against Ian McCulloch would appear to be a winnable one but there is a sense of deja vu as Ian played some excellent snooker last season to topple him at the same stage of a qualifying tournament.
It was a good night for another On Q Promotions player as young Liam Highfield came through a tight match with Simon Bedford thanks in part to a break of 115, while veteran James Wattana comfortably saw off Daniel Wells with a 5-2 victory.