Neil Robertson gained’t be on the 2025 version of the Masters in London after failing to sufficiently enhance his world rating place.
The highest 16 gamers from the official world rating checklist after the conclusion of this week’s UK Championship will probably be invited to the Masters in January.
Robertson is a two-time former Masters champion however will certainly miss the celebrated invitational for the primary time since 2018.
The Australian already knew that his place was in jeopardy coming into this week’s UK Championship in York, which he needed to qualify for.
After efficiently rising from the preliminary levels, Robertson was handed arguably the hardest of first-round attracts towards world primary Judd Trump.
It seemed promising for the Melbourne man when he established a 3-1 interval benefit, however Trump responded by profitable the remaining 5 frames to advance to the final 16 as a substitute.
Robertson was nonetheless provisionally ranked contained in the world’s high 16, however with Barry Hawkins beating David Gilbert on Wednesday to succeed in the quarter-finals on the Barbican Centre, the reigning English Open champion has slipped all the way down to quantity 17.
Hawkins, who pipped Gilbert in a deciding body to again up his earlier conquer Ronnie O’Sullivan this week, is presently occupying the sixteenth and last qualifying place.
However the two-time Masters runner-up is trying over his shoulder within the standings and faces threats from Jak Jones, Jack Lisowski, and Stuart Bingham.
A victory for Jones over Michael Holt in Thursday’s remaining round-of-16 fixtures would see the World Championship finalist transfer above Hawkins once more.
It may very well be back and forth between Hawkins and Jones for the rest of the event as they tussle for that coveted ticket to the Ally Pally.
Chris Wakelin, provisionally in fifteenth as issues stand, may moreover be reeled into the scrap relying on how the outcomes on the UK Championship materialise within the coming days.
Lisowski, in the meantime, beat Ali Carter 6-4 on Wednesday to succeed in the final eight and keep his aspirations of touchdown a maiden rating crown.
The 33 year-old would wish to a minimum of attain the ultimate to have any probability of breaking again into the highest 16.
Former Masters champion Bingham’s solely hope of returning to the Ally Pally is to win the UK Championship and safe a profession Triple Crown.
A really particular and unlikely sequence of outcomes may lead to John Higgins dropping out of the highest 16 as properly, however the Scot seems to be secure sufficient in 14th.
The likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, and Kyren Wilson are already safely assured of that includes within the 2025 Masters draw.
The provisional Race to the Masters rankings can be found at snooker.org.
2024 UK Championship draw and schedule
Spherical 1 (bo11)
Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-6 Barry Hawkins
Xiao Guodong 4-6 David Gilbert
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Zhao Xintong
Ding Junhui 6-5 Robert Milkins
Mark Selby 4-6 Jack Lisowski
Ali Carter 6-4 Ryan Day
Si Jiahui 4-6 Wu Yize
Mark Allen 6-4 Jackson Web page
Judd Trump 6-3 Neil Robertson
John Higgins 6-0 He Guoqiang
Zhang Anda 6-3 Lei Peifan
Mark Williams 5-6 Stuart Bingham
Luca Brecel 5-6 Jak Jones
Gary Wilson 1-6 Michael Holt
Chris Wakelin 6-4 Matthew Selt
Kyren Wilson 6-0 Stephen Maguire
Spherical 2 (bo11)
Instances are in UTC
Matches will happen on Wednesday, Nov 27 and Thursday, Nov 28.
Barry Hawkins 6-5 David Gilbert
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Ding Junhui
Jack Lisowski 6-4 Ali Carter
Wu Yize 4-6 Mark Allen
Judd Trump vs John Higgins
Thursday, Nov 28 – 1pm
Zhang Anda vs Stuart Bingham
Thursday, Nov 28 – 1pm
Jak Jones vs Michael Holt
Thursday, Nov 28 – 7pm
Chris Wakelin vs Kyren Wilson
Thursday, Nov 28 – 7pm
Quarter-Finals (bo11)
Matches will happen on Friday, Nov 29.
Barry Hawkins vs Shaun Murphy
Jack Lisowski vs Mark Allen
TBC vs TBC
TBC vs TBC
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Matches will happen on Saturday, Nov 30.
Ultimate (bo19)
The match will happen on Sunday, Dec 1.
Featured picture credit score: WST
