World Championship Qualifying 2024 - Judgement Day 1

It's been a brilliant week so far and the tension is about to go up a notch as a place in the sports showpiece event is on the line, all 16 players in action today will feel they have a realistic opportunity of qualifying with a best of 19 between them and an appearance at the Crucible. Let the twitching begin...

Jack Lisowski 10-5 Matthew Stevens

Impressive 10-6 win for Stevens to get to Judgement day defeating Jimmy Roberston with breaks of 135, 64, 64, 60, I fear this could be a step too far for the Welshman though as he may not be able to compete with the quality of Lisowski.

Ricky Walden 10-8 Mark Davis

With Davis having the upper hand in Head to Head’s against Walden, this will not be a straight forward victory. Davis has recorded 2 impressive victories this week to get this stage (v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh & Andrew Pagett) with his high scoring being a stand out attribute in both wins. On current rankings, Walden should progress but I expect a close encounter.

Dominic Dale 10-8 He Guoqiang

Guoqiang has taken down 2 Scotsmen already this week in two ultra impressive victories (v McGill & Muir) but it’s a Welshman standing in his way of a first appearance at the Crucible. Dale played solid in a 10-6 victory over David Grace with breaks of 105, 82, 76, 75, 64, 63 looking very comfortable making breaks when presented with opportunities. The spaceman will have his sights set firmly on making his 10^th Crucible appearance.

Zhou Yuelong 10-8 Jak Jones

Yuelong holds a 4-0 lead in H2H’s with the Welshman, which’ll no doubt give him confidence going into this match. An emphatic 10-0 victory in the previous round over James Cahill was another confidence boost for Yuelong. Jones had a convincing 10-6 win over fellow Welshman Jamie Clarke to get to this stage, after a quiet year results wise it’s good to see him returning to near the form that got him to last years Crucible Quarter-Final. This is a very tough one to call. I’m going to side with Yuelong tentatively.

Stephen Maguire 10-7 Yuan Sijun

Predicting which Stephen Maguire will show up and in what form is unpredictable to say the least, but if the form he showed at times in his 10-7 defeat of Ashley Hugill is anything to go by, the Scotsman may be hitting form at the right time. After a relatively quiet season on tour, I've been impressed with Sijun at times and his victory against Michael White (Who many including myself tipped to be a darkhorse to qualify) may not have grabbed many headlines but from 4-0 down he played excellent snooker. Not an easy one to call given the unpredictability of Maguire lately, expect high scoring in this one.

Louis Heathcote 6-10 Stuart Bingham

Having played 3 matches to get to this stage, Heathcote seems to be building some momentum that could be important in a match as close as this one. He showed serious character to come through against Slessor having lost 5 frames on the spin, but was able to close out the match 10-8 after being pegged back to 7-7. Usually in this scenario, I would be confident of a Bingham win but his form this season along with rumours that he is focusing more on playing pool mean this may not be as straight forward as I first thought. I still expect Bingham to have enough.

Robbie Williams 9-10 Chris Wakelin

2 players that I have been really impressed with this season. Stand-out results for both and an appearance at the Crucible will top off an excellent season for the winner of this match. Williams was convincing in his victory against Anthony Hamilton while Wakelin never looked in danger as he dispatched Lukas Kleckers making 2 centuries on the way. Both have appeared at the Crucible 3 times. There really is very little to separate the pair.

Lyu Haotian 10-4 Jenson Kendrick

In some ways, Jenson Kendrick’s results over the past week have been the biggest talking point of the World Championship Qualifiers so far. His victories against Bai Yulu, Ben Woolaston and Jordan Brown have not only been surprising but also extremely impressive. Against the odds, he will aim to reach the Crucible for the first time and he will relish the underdog tag going into the biggest match of his life. A semi-final at the Wuhan Open and quarter-final at the German Masters this season mean Haotian is no stranger to big matches and he will fully expect to have too much experience & quality for his opponent. He will hope to qualify for his 4^th Crucible appearance and should have too much on the day for Kendrick.