World Champion Luca Brecel faced a race against the clock, after a delayed flight nearly caused him to miss his opening round clash with Iulian Boiko at the BetVictor Scottish Open, but the Belgian arrived just in time to score a 4-0 win and reach round two in Edinburgh.
Brecel was set to be the second game on this afternoon, following Mark Williams’ clash with Sam Craigie. With Williams leading 3-0, Brecel was still at Edinburgh airport. However, Craigie mounted an incredible comeback charge to win 4-3 and bought Brecel the time he needed to arrive at the venue just before his match got underway.
It was just as well that Brecel got himself to the Meadowbank Sports Centre in time, as his place in the World Grand Prix is on the line this week. Only the top 32 players of the season so far will qualify for the event and Brecel sits in 38th. He must at least win his next match against James Cahill to stand a chance of earning a place.
When he eventually arrived and the match got underway, the Bullet flew to victory, taking just over an hour and making breaks of 56 and 75 along the way.
“It is a miracle I got here. When Mark Williams was 3-0 up, I was still on the plane. I was checking the scores and knew Sam needed to win at least one frame to give me a chance. That’s what he did. I’m thankful to Sam and just happy to be here. I want to play well and enjoy it,” said 2021 Scottish Open winner Brecel. “I said to my taxi driver I was in a hurry and he did really well. 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.”
Scotland’s four-time World Champion John Higgins got his quest for a home title underway with a convincing 4-0 whitewash win over Oliver Brown.
Higgins is a two time finalist in the event, but was beaten by Marco Fu in 2016 and Brecel in 2021. The 31-time ranking event winner is hunting his first ranking silverware in any event since the 2021 Players Championship, having lost four finals.
The first frame saw Higgins steal from requiring snookers and he went on to coast home from there. Breaks of 69, 74 and 82 saw Higgins over the line and earned him a second round clash with China’s He Guoqiang.
Higgins said: “I’m delighted to win. Playing in front of a home crowd, you only get to do that once a year up here for the Scottish boys. I was really happy to get through my first game. I hope I can have a good run. The crowd were tremendous tonight.”
Judd Trump scored a 4-0 whitewash win over Sydney Wilson to set up a mouth watering second round meeting with International Champion Zhang Anda.
Player of the Season so far Trump is seeking his fourth ranking crown of the campaign. He required just 47 minutes to wrap up victory this evening.
Jamie Jones scored an impressive 4-2 win over Mark Allen, while Shaun Murphy bowed out 4-1 at the hands of Liu Hongyu and defending champion Gary Wilson beat Elliot Slessor 4-2.
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