‘Like playing Federer in tennis’ – Alexander Ursenbacher aims to emulate Ronnie O’Sullivan magic at snooker Q School

Alexander Ursenbacher completed a comfortable win in his first match at the 208-player Q School event with a 4-0 whitewash of Tan Wang Chooi in Leicester.

The man dubbed ‘Federer of the Baize’ endured a forgettable season to finish outside of the top 64 despite defeating Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-1 at the British Open, but is aiming to bounce back at the first attempt by securing a fresh tour card.

He compiled 51, 76 and 50 to advance to the third qualifying round and a match against Belgium’s Daan Leyssen on Monday evening.

“The key is to keep calm and be yourself,” said Ursenbacher, who has a 3-1 career winning record against O’Sullivan. “That is the most important thing.

“I’m always trying to have the same mindset against other players than Ronnie. I just really fancy playing him every time.

“I just love playing him. It is like playing Roger Federer in tennis. I was going to say it is like fighting Mike Tyson, but it is not quite the same.

“That was a special day for me with my mum and my friends there. But against other players, it is not quite the same.”

Michael ‘The Hitman’ Holt also enjoyed a solid 4-1 win over Jeff Cundy in his Q School opener on Sunday.

Holt, who first turned professional in 1996, enjoyed breaks of 69 and 107 to ease through to the third round of Event One needing four more wins to earn a two-year World Snooker Tour card for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons.

He will meet Rhys Clark or Hayden Staniland on Monday evening.

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