THE line-up for the Dafabet World Championship final qualifying round was completed on Sunday night as eight more players made it through to the final hurdle.
In total 32 players now stand just 10 frames away from a date at the Crucible, many trying to clinch a return while several are seeking to make their debut on snooker’s greatest stage.
More hopes were raised and dreams dashed at Ponds Forge on Sunday, with some impressive performances ahead of Monday’s day off.
Scotland’s Jamie Burnett, who along with all Sunday’s other winners play their next match on Wednesday, came through 10-8 against China’s Cao Yupeng and will now face Ben Woollaston.
The two live streamed matches were first to finish, as Martin Gould and Matt Selt made short work of their opponents.
Brazil’s Igor Figueiredo has made more friends over the past week – beating recent PTC finalist Gerard Greene and showing a natural talent only in need of some fine-tuning.
But he could not live with Gould who produced a disciplined and ruthless display more in keeping with the form that took him into the top 16, rather than this season’s below-par performances.
Gould won 10-1 and now plays Liang Wenbo, while Selt won the last eight frames against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh to score a 10-2 victory. Un-Nooh made a number of errors and his shot selection is at times baffling and undermines a high level of ability.
But Selt can be a formidable force certainly in this company when he is applying himself properly, and he took his breaks in very tidy and confident fashion. He will give Michael White plenty to think about on this showing.
There were excellent wins for Robbie Williams, 10-7 over India’s Pankaj Advani, as he chases a Crucible debut – and Robin Hull, who did appear once in 2002 before health problems forced him to quit the tour some years later.
Stuart Carrington would love to uphold a proud Grimsby tradition of snooker with players such as Mike Hallett, Dean Reynolds and Ray Edmonds emerging from the fishing port – and he will face Ryan Day after a 10-5 win over former world finalist Nigel Bond.
And Li Yan was another to make it three wins out of three and remain a potential debutant as he edged past Joe Swail, twice a semi-finalist at the Crucible, with a 10-8 victory.