Joe Perry’s victory in the first Asian Tour event of the event already feels like a long time ago, but today World Snooker have published the draw for the season’s second such event, the Zhangjiagang Open, which will immediately follow next week’s Shanghai Masters.
- Click here to view the draw at snookerorg
As will immediately become apparent, the draw is short on star names, with just Ding Junhui and Matthew Stevens entering as top 16 ranked players and just 31 of the 128 main tour professionals in total.
For those that have entered however, including top seeded Scott Donaldson and others fighting for their tour lives such as Mike Dunn and David Grace, there is clearly a significant opportunity now to gain crucial points towards the Asian Order of Merit, with four main tour places up for grabs at the end of the four events.
You can view the current Order of Merit by clicking here.
Congratulations to world number 24 Joe Perry, who has today defeated Mark Selby 4-1 to claim the AT1 event in Yixing China ahead of next week’s Wuxi Classic. His first professional title since the 2008 Championship League, the win sees Joe take the top prize of £10,000, as well as all but assuring him of a place in the PTC Grand Finals tournament later in the season…
Following eight long days of qualifying in Gloucester, there is no rest for snooker’s biggest stars this week, as the action moves on to Bulgaria tomorrow, for the first European Tour event of the season.