Scottish Open snooker: Who has qualified for the World Grand Prix? World champion Luca Brecel leads frantic scramble
World champion Luca Brecel faces James Cahill in the second round of the Scottish Open on Tuesday afternoon needing a victory to keep alive his hopes of qualifying for the World Grand Prix next month (15-21 January in Leicester).
The Belgian Bullet needs to finish his week in Edinburgh inside the top 32 on the sport’s one-year list to make the cut-off point for the Grand Prix, but is 37th on the provisional list – 2,000 points behind Robert Milkins, who occupies the final place in 32nd spot.
“I said to my taxi driver I was in a hurry and he did really well,” said Brecel on Eurosport. “He ignored the red lights and stuff like that, so it was handy!
“I felt quite good. I enjoyed it. I’m just trying to have a bit more fun on the table. I was really just happy to be here because of the travel. I was really up for this one. I’m trying to enjoy it. I haven’t done that enough this season, and I’ve been thinking too much.
“Probably because I’m world champion and there is more attention. That is never a good thing in snooker, so I just tried to go back to my World Championship frame of mind.”
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Welsh Open champion Milkins is almost certainly out of the event after he lost 4-0 to Mark Davis in the first round of the Scottish Open on Monday evening.
Davis is among a number of players within striking distance of Milkins and World Championship semi-finalist Si Jianhu, who both have 40,000 points.
Si is seeking to consolidate his spot in the World Grand Prix by progressing in Edinburgh. He faces Julien Leclercq in the second round of the Scottish Open on Wednesday.
Davis and Brecel will need two more wins to reach the last 16, and earn the £7,500 in prize money that would carry them past Milkins in the ranking list.
But Dominic Dale and He Guoqiang require only more one victory to reach the 32, and collect £4,500 to knock Milkins out of the Grand Prix.
Anthony McGill, Kyren Wilson and Ryan Day are among the tournament winners all chasing a last-32 spot in Edinburgh.
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Dale will face Jamie Jones on Wednesday in an all-Welsh second-round clash after Jones boosted his own hopes with a 4-2 win over Shoot Out champion and World Grand Prix holder Mark Allen on Monday evening that saw him roll in breaks of 141 and 103.
“Not the way I wanted to end the year but well done to Jamie tonight,” said Allen on social media. “He never really looked like missing and a few mistakes from me is all it took. Fair play.”
Defending Scottish Open champion Gary Wilson needs a run to the semi-finals to keep alive his hopes of making the World Grand Prix, while 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham would need a quarter-final berth to remain in the running.
Masters holder Judd Trump and new UK champion Ronnie O’Sullivan are set to be seeded one and two for the first ranking event of 2024.
Latest provisional one-year ranking list
Top 32 qualify for World Grand Prix
- 1. Judd Trump 406,000
- 2. Ronnie O’Sullivan 306,500
- 3. Zhang Anda 256,000
- 4. Mark Williams 173,000
- 5. Barry Hawkins 159, 500
- 6. Ding Junhui 148, 500
- 7. Tom Ford 131,500
- 8. Ali Carter 115,500
- 9. Mark Selby 112,000
- 10. Hossein Vafaei 89,000
- 11. Mark Allen 88,500
- 12. Lyu Haotian 75,000
- 13. John Higgins 74,500
- 14. Chris Wakelin 71,000
- 15. Zhou Yuelong 68,000
- 16. Stephen Maguire 60,000
- 17. Jack Lisowski 59,500
- 18. Noppon Saengkham 57,000
- 19. Shaun Murphy 56,500
- 20. Xiao Guodong 56,500
- 21. Matthew Selt 55,000
- 22. David Gilbert 51,500
- 23. Yuan Sijun 50,500
- 24. Wu Yize 50,000
- 25. Jordan Brown 49,500
- 26. Cao Yupeng 48,000
- 27. Ricky Walden 46,500
- 28. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 45,000
- 29. Jamie Jones 42,000
- 30. Pang Junxu 42,000
- 31. Si Jiahui 40,000
- 32. Robert Milkins 40,000
- – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
- 33. Dominic Dale 39,500
- 34. He Guoqiang 39,500
- 35. Robbie Williams 39,500
- 36. Mark Davis 38,000
- 37. Luca Brecel 38,000
- 38. Daniel Wells 36,500
- 39. Martin O’Donnell 36,500
- 40. Anthony McGill 36,000
- 41. Kyren Wilson 36,000
- 42. Ryan Day 36,000
- 51. Stuart Bingham 31,500
- 60. Gary Wilson 27,000
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