A lot to the shock of no person, it was revealed on Monday that Ronnie O’Sullivan had withdrawn from the 2024 Scottish Open.
The Rocket had been scheduled to face Xing Zihao within the opening spherical of the venue levels on Tuesday on the Meadowbank Sports activities Centre.
But it surely in all probability would have been extra of a shock if he had really turned as much as compete, such has been the regularity of his no-shows from these sorts of tournaments in latest instances.
It’s the fourth occasion this season that O’Sullivan has entered however subsequently withdrawn from, tending to formally pull out on the eve of the week’s motion itself.
On the time of writing, no official motive has been supplied for his absence on this event, though prior to now he has cited medical causes.
It marks the second marketing campaign in succession that he has withdrawn from the Scottish Open on the final minute.
4 of the highest 32 seeds, who have been anticipated to enter the fray following the qualifiers in October, have now withdrawn from the calendar 12 months’s concluding rating occasion.
World primary Judd Trump, Champion of Champions Mark Williams, and World Championship semi-finalist David Gilbert had all beforehand pulled out forward of the 2024 version.
It isn’t an important search for the Residence Nations occasion, which might be already considered the weakest of the 4 tournaments on the sequence.
As a result of there was already a preliminary section staged to whittled down the lower-ranked contenders, the chance for top-up replacements within the draw has lengthy since handed.
It’s excellent news, nevertheless, for qualifiers Xing, Ishpreet Singh Chadha, David Lilley, and Robbie Williams.
All 4 cueists profit from the walkover outcomes and advance instantly into the final 32, the place they’re assured £5,400 in prize cash.
The 2024 Scottish Open commenced on Monday, in the meantime, with two-time defending champion Gary Wilson’s reign ending with defeat to Lengthy Zehuang.
It was a startling choice to place the reigning champion’s opening match on through the morning session -not for the primary time the World Snooker Tour has handled the supposed lower-profile winners with disrespect.
A number of marquee names did make it by their preliminary hurdle, although.
Residence favorite John Higgins defeated Ian Burns 4-2, Mark Allen overcame He Guoqiang 4-1, and Ali Carter ousted Graeme Dott 4-2.
There have been victories elsewhere for Zhang Anda, Barry Hawkins, Chris Wakelin, Jak Jones, Stuart Bingham, and Ryan Day.
Among the many others to qualify for the subsequent spherical have been 2022 Scottish Open runner-up Joe O’Connor, reigning Wuhan Open winner Xiao Guodong, and this time period’s English Open finalist Wu Yize.
The spherical of 64 will proceed on Tuesday with world champion Kyren Wilson becoming a member of the motion along with former Scottish Open winners Neil Robertson and Luca Brecel.
Monday, December ninth
Outcomes
Zhang Anda 4-3 Stan Moody
Lengthy Zehuang 4-2 Gary Wilson
Joe O’Connor 4-1 Lyu Haotian
John Higgins 4-2 Ian Burns
Ali Carter 4-2 Graeme Dott
Ryan Day 4-1 Anthony McGill
Chris Wakelin 4-0 Scott Donaldson
Barry Hawkins 4-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
Wu Yize 4-1 Farakh Ajaib
Xiao Guodong 4-1 Xu Si
Mark Allen 4-1 He Guoqiang
Jak Jones 4-1 Jamie Jones
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Jimmy Robertson
Tuesday, December tenth
Order of Play
10am UTC
Si Jiahui vs Ma Hailong
Ding Junhui vs Mark Davis
1pm UTC
Noppon Saengkham vs Ricky Walden
Jack Lisowski vs Jordan Brown
Robert Milkins vs Jackson Web page
Kyren Wilson vs David Grace
Following 1pm video games
Mark Selby vs Stuart Carrington
Pang Junxu vs Dean Younger
Luca Brecel vs Julien Leclercq
Stephen Maguire vs Matthew Selt
7pm UTC
Hossein Vafaei vs Lei Peifan
Shaun Murphy vs Daniel Wells
Zhou Yuelong vs Yuan Sijun
Following 7pm video games
Neil Robertson vs Fan Zhengyi
Tom Ford vs Antoni Kowalski
Click on right here to view up-to-date outcomes
(snooker.org)
Featured picture credit score: WST
