International Championship 2024 snooker: Judd Trump, Mark Williams and John Higgins ease through as Jimmy White loses
Updated 01/10/2024 at 06:41 GMT+1
The qualifiers for some of the key events on the World Snooker Tour calendar continue to come thick and fast. Only a day after the final line-up for the Northern Ireland Open was settled at Ponds Forge in Sheffield, the opening stages of the International Championship began at the same venue with world No. 1 Judd Trump, Mark Williams and John Higgins making a winning start to their campaigns.
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World No. 1 Judd Trump bounced back in style from his quarter-final defeat to Mark Allen at the British Open by completing a 6-1 win over Chris Totten to qualify for the International Championship.
After losing 5-3 to Allen on Friday night in Cheltenham, Trump quickly put that reverse behind him in Sheffield on Monday afternoon.
Breaks of 54, 66, 103, 60 and 71 were enough to see the former world champion ease through after Scottish professional Totten claimed the opener with a 55.
Trump, winner of the International Championship in 2012 and 2019, will face Sanderson Lam or Alexander Ursenbacher when the final stage of the event begins in the Chinese city of Nanjing on November 3.
Mark Williams was equally convincing in his 6-0 drubbing of Haris Tahir as the Welshman produced knocks of 75, 100, 79 and 58 to illustrate his formidable scoring power.
The three-time Crucible winner will next encounter Mark Davis or Baipat Siripaporn.
John Higgins showed no signs of dejection from his 10-5 defeat to Mark Selby in Sunday's British Open final, as he pieced together some classy breaks in a 6-1 win over Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion.
Doherty leveled at 1-1 with a contribution of 96 in the second frame, before the Scot produced runs of 119, 62 and 59 to seal his progress.
Higgins will face Ben Woollaston or Duane Jones in his first match in China.
Stuart Bingham, the 2015 world champion, also enjoyed a productive evening against Liam Graham.
Breaks of 55, 79 and 119 were enough to secure a meeting with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, who missed the final black in the second frame for a 147 break in his 6-4 win over Lei Peifan.
It is the third time it has happened to the talented Thai player in his career after failing on the final ball at the 2015 UK Championship and 2016 World Championship.
But six-time world finalist Jimmy White suffered a 6-0 whitewash defeat to Anthony Hamilton in crashing out in his opener.
White edged Jackson Page 4-3 to qualify for the Northern Ireland Open on Sunday, but could not replicate that success.
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Former German Masters champion Hamilton finished with three 50-plus breaks to advance to a meeting with Shaun Murphy or Louis Heathcote in the round of 64.
Qualifying continues until Wednesday, with seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan beginning his title bid against former women's world champion Mink Nutcharut at the finals venue.
The International Championship runs between November 3-10 and is live on Eurosport and discovery+, with Zhang Anda defending the prestigious title.
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- British Open 2024 results
International Championship latest results
Judd Trump 6-1 Chris Totten
Mark Williams 6-0 Haris Tahir
Wu Yize 6-4 Wang Yuchen
Xiao Guodong 6-3 Kreishh Gurbaxani
Anthony Hamilton 6-0 Jimmy White
Chris Wakelin 6-2 Cheung Ka Wai
Anthony McGill 6-1 Ashley Carty
Pang Junxu 6-1 Iulian Boiko
John Higgins 6-1 Ken Doherty
Stuart Bingham 6-0 Liam Graham
Ben Mertens 6-4 Graeme Dott
Martin O'Donnell 6-2 Julien Leclercq
Haydon Pinhey 6-2 Stephen Maguire
Jamie Clarke 6-3 Mostafa Dorgham
Xu Si 6-5 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Daniel Womersley 6-2 Liam Davies
Dylan Emery 6-3 Scott Donaldson
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