Snooker Players

Shanghai Masters 2011 - Qualifying Round-Up

After five days of tough matches we know who will be catching the plane to Shanghai in September. Amongst them is rising star Jack Lisowski who dropped only one frame in his three matches and Dominic Dale who's recent run of good form continues.

Shanghai Masters 2011 Snooker Qualifiers

Results & Century Breaks

One of the first players through in the morning was Essex's Mark King who since dropping out of the top 16 has done little of note, but he bounced back today as he came from behind to beat China's Liu Song 5-4. He attributes his success to coach Gary Filtness and looks to be a force to be reckoned with once again. He faces the defending Shanghai Masters champion Ali Carter in China, tough match to call.

It was a good day for another Essex player, Basildon's Stuart Bingham who's remarkable run of form continued as he beat Tom Ford 5-1 which included three century breaks from the Australian Goldfields Open champion. His opponent in the televised stages will be Judd Trump in a match that could easily go either way.

Jack Lisowski Snooker

The big story of the qualifiers came from last year's World Snooker young player of the year; Jack Lisowski. After reaching a PTC final and appearing in two televised events he was under a lot of pressure to continue his success this year and has made a good step in that direction by beating the Masters finalist Marco Fu 5-1 in the final round of qualifiying. He dropped no frames in his previous matches against David Grace and Mike Dunn and looks like he could break in to the top 32 sooner than later. He will play a wildcard first in Shanghai and has a tough test in the shape of Jamie Cope waiting after that.

Legends Jimmy White, Tony Drago and Steve Davis failed to reach the final round of qualifying but one of their fellow veteran's; Nigel Bond managed to fair a bit better. After beating the Whirlwind 5-0 he managed to do the same to Scotland's Marcus Campbell, a clear cut 5-0 victory for the Snooker Shoot-Out champion. Nigel has a tough test in the form of Mark Selby if he can beat the wildcard in Shanghai.

Dominic Dale Snooker

Australian Goldfields Open quarter-finalist Dominic Dale's rich vein of form continued today as he joined fellow On Q Promotions players Mark Davis, Robert Milkins and Mark Allen in Shanghai with an impressive 5-3 win over last year's Shanghai Masters runner-up Jamie Burnett. Dominic is one of the circuit's more extroverted characters and always gives a great interview, so it is good to see him do well again. He took the title in 2007, can he win it again? He has to beat a wildcard and then Shaun Murphy so it wont be easy.

The other big surprise result of the qualifiers was between was the progress of Thailand's James Wattana who won four matches to qualify for the televised stages in Shanghai. Asia's first ever big snooker star received the wildcard at the end of the last season after dropping off the tour, but he has bounced back and looks to be set to rise up the rankings once again. If he can beat a wildcard he will face no one less than Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last 32 in Shanghai, could be a cracker of a match.

Full Results:

Mark King (26) 5-4 Liu Song (62)

Fergal O'Brien (37) 5-1 Ricky Walden (20)

James Wattana 5-1 Joe Perry (27)

Anthony Hamilton (36) 5-2 Ken Doherty (29)

Dominic Dale (31) 5-3 Jamie Burnett (39)

Ryan Day (28) 5-2 Aditya Mehta h2h

Jack Lisowski (52) 5-1 Marco Fu (23)

Nigel Bond (40) 5-0 Marcus Campbell (24)

Andrew Higginson (25) 5-4 Barry Pinches (41)

Robert Milkins (33) 5-4 Gerard Greene (32)

Stephen Lee (18) 5-1 Passakorn Suwannawat