Luca Brecel’s struggles on the principle tour continued as he did not qualify for the 2026 English Open on the weekend in Leicester.
The preliminary stage for the 2026/27 season’s opening Residence Nations Sequence match passed off on the Mattioli Area on Saturday and Sunday.
Brecel had been one of many highest-profile names within the qualifying draw, however the Belgian Bullet missed out after shedding 4-3 to Antoni Kowalski.
Since successful the 2023 World Championship, Brecel has been on a downward trajectory within the rankings and his provisional end-of-season standing is across the essential top-64 cut-off level for tour survival.
A participant who’s on a totally reverse trajectory is Chang Bingyu, whose inventory has been quickly rising since rejoining the skilled circuit at first of final season.
Chang, a Scottish Open finalist on the Residence Nations Sequence final time period, certified for this 12 months’s English Open courtesy of a 4-3 defeat of Cheung Ka Wai.
Among the many others to make it via to the venue phases in Brentwood have been Tom Ford, Anthony McGill, Ricky Walden, and Aaron Hill.
Stan Moody additionally certified after beating David Grace in a deciding body, whereas teenage sensation Wang Xinbo edged Lengthy Zehuang by the identical slim margin.
There have been a couple of notable names who exited the operating early on, with Noppon Saengkham and Matthew Stevens struggling respective 4-0 losses to Florian Nuessle and Ashley Hugill.
Ryan Day, Ben Woollaston, and He Guoqiang have been different higher-ranked contenders who have been dumped from the competitors.
The 32 qualifiers be a part of the highest 32 seeds from the world rankings who’re mechanically within the draw on the last-64 level.
The 2026 English Open, which is able to function the like of world champion Wu Yize, world primary Judd Trump, and defending champion Mark Allen, is scheduled for September 7 to 13 on the Brentwood Leisure Centre.
That brings an finish to the newest batch of qualifiers in Leicester, in the meantime.
Subsequent up on the calendar is the 2026 Shanghai Masters, the place lots of the recreation’s prime gamers will likely be making their maiden appearances for the fledgling marketing campaign.
2026 English Open qualifiers: outcomes
Spherical of 128
Sam Craigie 4-3 Sean O’Sullivan
Florian Nuessle 4-2 Liu Yang
Dylan Emery 4-0 Paul Norris
Ashley Hugill 4-3 Chatchapong Nasa
Leone Crowley 4-3 Andrew Higginson
Marco Fu 4-0 Hammad Miah
Cheung Ka Wai 4-0 Jimmy White
Mateusz Baranowski 4-0 Bai Yulu
Connor Benzey 4-2 Mitchell Mann
Xu Yichen 4-1 Vladislav Gradinari
Louis Heathcote 4-1 Huang Jiahao
David Grace 4-1 Deng Haohui
Phil O’Kane 4-3 Fergal Quinn
Liam Highfield 4-3 Michael Larkov
Gong Chenzhi 4-0 Iulian Boiko
Luo Zetao 4-2 Mahmoud El Hareedy
Craig Steadman 4-0 Reanne Evans
Ashley Carty 4-0 Liu Wenwei
Oliver Sykes 4-0 Sahil Nayyar
Julien Leclercq 4-2 Michal Szubarczyk
Antoni Kowalski 4-3 Lan Yuhao
Ross Muir 4-1 Panchaya Channoi
Jamie Clarke 4-2 Ng On Yee
Artemijs Zizins 4-1 Alfie Burden
T Tirapongpaiboon 4-0 Zhao Hanyang
Duane Jones w/o Ian Burns
Stuart Carrington 4-1 Yao Pengcheng
Liam Graham 4-0 Kaylan Patel
Wang Xinbo 4-1 Oliver Brown
Liam Davies 4-0 Steven Hallworth
Anton Kazakov 4-1 Alexander Ursenbacher
Gao Yang 4-1 Joshua Thomond
Spherical of 96
Sam Craigie 4-0 David Lilley
Florian Nuessle 4-0 Noppon Saengkham
Michael Holt 4-2 Dylan Emery
Ashley Hugill 4-0 Matthew Stevens
Zak Surety 4-0 Leone Crowley
Ricky Walden 4-3 Marco Fu
Chang Bingyu 4-3 Cheung Ka Wai
Mateusz Baranowski 4-2 Jamie Jones
Oliver Strains 4-1 Connor Benzey
Tom Ford 4-2 Xu Yichen
Louis Heathcote 4-3 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Stan Moody 4-3 David Grace
Jackson Web page 4-1 Phil O’Kane
Robbie Williams 4-3 Liam Highfield
Gong Chenzhi 4-2 He Guoqiang
Luo Zetao 4-1 Scott Donaldson
Jordan Brown 4-2 Craig Steadman
Ashley Carty 4-1 Ben Woollaston
Fan Zhengyi 4-0 Oliver Sykes
Anthony McGill 4-1 Julien Leclercq
Antoni Kowalski 4-3 Luca Brecel
Ross Muir 4-0 Liam Pullen
Jamie Clarke 4-3 Ryan Day
Artemijs Zizins 4-2 Martin O’Donnell
T Tirapongpaiboon 4-0 Ben Mertens
Matthew Selt 4-3 Duane Jones
Lyu Haotian 4-0 Stuart Carrington
Daniel Wells 4-1 Liam Graham
Wang Xinbo 4-3 Lengthy Zehuang
Liam Davies 4-3 Liu Hongyu
Aaron Hill 4-1 Anton Kazakov
Gao Yang 4-3 Jiang Jun
Featured picture credit score: WST
