Bai Yulu secures dramatic win over Liam Pullen in German Masters qualifying, Stan Moody and Ken Doherty through

ByAlec McQuarrie

Updated 16/12/2024 at 21:07 GMT

Bai Yulu is one match away from securing her spot in the main draw of the 2025 German Masters after coming from behind three times to beat Liam Pullen in the first round. Elsewhere, 18-year-old Stan Moody completed a sensational whitewash win over Ahmed Aly Elsayed, Ken Doherty needed a dramatic decider against Oliver Lines and Jimmy White suffered a rare equipment-related mishap in his defeat.

Bai Yulu came from behind three times to secure a dramatic deciding-frame victory over Liam Pullen in qualifying for the 2025 German Masters.

The 21-year-old needed to fight back from 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3 down, sinking two half-century breaks in a topsy-turvy contest against the teenager.

The reigning women’s world champion has already reached the main phase of the Saudi Arabia Masters this season and became the first woman to claim three wins at a ranking event, in the qualifying stages of the 2024 UK Championship.

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Having pulled level at 3-3 against Pullen, Bai surrendered a chance to re-take the lead and saw the 19-year-old build a break of 71 to go one away from a second-round berth.

But Bai pulled through a tightly contested eighth frame and closed out the match with a couple of solid contributions in a final-frame decider.

Bai will take on compatriot and 41st seed Yuan Sijun in the second and final qualifying round on Tuesday, December 17.

Also through to the last hurdle of qualifying, Stan Moody demolished American Ahmed Aly Elsayed 5-0, with the 18-year-old registering two centuries in the whitewash win.

Moody brought the contest to an end with a sublime break of 133, his highest of the match, having gone 4-0 up with a controlled run of 108.

In addition, the teenager sunk two half-centuries in the match, and his prize is a meeting with Irish 22-year-old Aaron Hill in the second round.

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Earlier on Monday morning, Jimmy White suffered a strange mishap at a crucial moment in his match-up with Julien Leclercq.

The 62-year-old had fought back to 3-2 behind before snapping his cue tip and forcing an emergency interval.

With his equipment back in working order, White lost two frames in a row to see his hopes of competing in Berlin go up in smoke.

Doherty rolls back the years to produce fine match-winning clearance

Video credit: TNT Sports

Ken Doherty rolled back the years to dump out Oliver Lines, but needed to survive a touch-and-go decider after giving up a four-frame advantage to the Englishman.

The former world champion saw his commanding 4-0 lead vanish in a series of tight frames, though a break of 66 – his only half-century of the match – came at a vital time to push him over the line.

Bai will not be joined by fellow women's snooker stars Mink Nutcharut and Baipat Siripaporn, with the Thai pair beaten by Gong Chenzhi and Bulcsu Revesz respectively.

The women’s world No. 1 brought her contest against Gong level at 2-2, but could not prevent a 5-3 loss, while Siripaporn went down 5-2 to her Hungarian opponent.

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