Amidst all of the announcements today, the China Open qualifiers have been ongoing at Sheffield and it has been a dramatic day which at the time of writing close to midnight is still not over as Steve Davis and Rod Lawler are deep into a decider. Click below for a summary of the day’s action…
Trailing 4-1 to the heavy scoring Michael White, the situation looked bleak for 1997 world champion Ken Doherty but as he did recently against Sam Craigie from 4-0 behind, the Irishman bounced back to win the match in a deciding frame. As well as securing him a final qualifying round tie with Scot Marcus Campbell tomorrow, the result also earns Ken vital ranking points as he looks to retain his top 32 status at the end of the season.
Other comeback kings today were Anthony Hamilton and David Grace, who hit back from 3-1 and 4-2 down against Luca Brecel and Matt Selt respectively to progress, while Jimmy White was a 5-3 winner against Liam Highfield in a close match.
Having experienced an indifferent run of form recently, Jack Lisowski produced an excellent display against the in-form Dave Harold, winning 5-3 with top runs of 103 and 101 as he looks to consolidate his position inside the top 48.
Former Masters champion Alan McManus produced an excellent comeback from 3-1 down against Aditya Mehta to earn a tie with Jamie Cope in the last 48, while Ben Woollaston continued his push for a top 48 place with victory against Nigel Bond in the afternoon session.
Tomorrow morning begins with Andrew Higginson v Jimmy White and Barry Hawkins v Liu Chuang on the livestream as the players look to book their places on the plane to Beijing…