Shocks Galore as Robinson Claims English Snooker Success
Neil Robertson returned from the doldrums to land Snooker’s English Open last weekend. By taking the first leg of the Home Nations Series – and the first British televised tournament of Snooker’s 2024/25 season – the Australian catapulted himself back into the world’s top-16 from the 26th spot he had dropped to during a baren two-and-a-half-year spell.
Neil Robertson lifted Snooker’s 2024 English Open trophy following two seasons without visiting a final table. ©Getty
The sport has entered a busy period, with the Unibet British Open now underway in Cheltenham. As with the English Open, the winner’s prize is £100,000. However, results from that competition left form students scratching their heads and provided few clues as to the destination of future ranking tournaments.
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 4-2 loss to little-known Chinese player He Guoqiang in the opening round of the English Open set the tone for the carnage to come. The quarterfinal stage produced upsets so big that Eurosport’s commentators described the day as “freaky Friday”. Even Robertson’s eventual victory could not have been predicted by anyone other than crystal ball owners.
Chanda Was the Star of Freaky Friday
“Freaky Friday” saw world number one Judd Trump – successful in July’s Shanghai Masters and September’s £2.3 million Saudi Arabian Snooker Masters – lose 5-3 to 20-year-old world-ranked 41 Wu Yize. Mark Allen, ranked 3, was beaten by a bigger scoreline (5-2) by Chris Wakelin, who was positioned 19 places lower down the rankings.
Robertson’s 5-1 quarterfinal success over Barry Hawkins was not such a shocking result, but he was the betting sites underdog due to his residence 11 places below his rival in the rankings. The result that did have experts setting fire to the formbooks was Mark Selby’s 5-4 loss to Ishpreet Chadha in a match where the massive underdog needed a clearance.
Nerves of steel 🥶️
How Ishpreet Singh Chadha defeated Mark Selby. @WeAreWST | #BVEnglishOpen pic.twitter.com/4AL3dKctV2
— Eurosport (@eurosport) September 20, 2024
Chada joined the pro tour with a two-year card earned by winning an Asia-Oceania Q School event. On his first season on the tour (2023/24), he made it to the second round of just two tournaments, where he promptly tasted defeat. However, in the 2024 English Open, he became the first Indian player to reach a ranking event semifinal since 2013.
En route to his quarterfinal victory over the four-time World Champion, Ishpreet Chanda beat world number 13, Jak Jones, 4-3. He prevailed over Hossein Vafaei (ranked 20) and He Guoqiang (ranked 61) – once again in a deciding frame. Sadly for him, he failed to qualify for this week’s British Open and so, for now, cannot claim any more big scalps.
The Chinese Challenge Is Here
Five Chinese players remained in the competition in the final-16 stage of the English Open. They included Fan Zhengyi, who recorded a 147 break during the tournament. However, only one, Yu Wize, progressed to the quarterfinals. He marched on to the final, but after a spirited comeback from 8-2 down, he lost by a 9-7 scoreline.
Despite age being very much on the side of Chinese players currently playing on the World Snooker Tour, the predicted breakthrough for the nation’s players has yet to truly materialise. 37-year-old Ding Junhui, who burst onto the scene when winning the 2005 UK Championship, is the only Chinese player currently resident in the top 10 of the World Rankings.
Zhang Anda and Si Jiahui complete the trio that is in the top 25. On the One Year Rankings, things are more hopeful for Chinese fans. Si Jiahui (5th), Wu Yize (8th), Xiao Guodong (10th) and Pang Junxu (12th) are currently in the top-16. Will one of these players capture a ranking title during the 2024/25 campaign?
Last season, Zhang Anda was the only Chinese player to win a ranking competition. The nation did have a representative in six other finals – courtesy of Anda, who made an additional two finals, Cao Yupeng, Si Jiahui and Ding Junhui (two finals) – but they failed to lift a winner’s trophy.
