Luca Brecel misery continues as former world champion suffers early exit at English Open with loss to Antoni Kowalski
Published 27/07/2026 at 09:20 GMT+1
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Luca Brecel famously won the World Championship three years ago with a glorious 18-15 win over Mark Selby at the Crucible, but there is no sign of the 'Belgian Bullet' turning the corner in his form slump after another early exit at a major ranking tournament on Sunday.
Former champion Brecel beaten in World Championship qualifying
Video credit: TNT Sports
Brecel was bundled out of the English Open qualifiers in the second qualifying round in Leicester, after being edged 4-3 by Antoni Kowalski at the city's Mattioli Arena.
It is in keeping with the theme of Brecel's early outings this season, which saw him whitewashed 6-0 by Stuart Bingham in the final qualifying round of the China Open last month.
He was then drubbed 5-1 by Steven Hallworth at the same stage of qualifying for the Wuhan Open before failing to make the final stages of the Shenzhen Open in a 5-2 defeat to Pang Junxu.
When Brecel became the first player from mainland Europe to conquer the Crucible, he was lauded for his all-out attacking approach to the game, but it seems his style of play has been malfunctioning since his greatest hour.
After reaching a career high of world No. 2 following his victory over Selby in May 2023, Brecel has dropped to 42nd in the rankings, and a series of early exits from the ranking events will not improve his standing.
His run to the quarter-finals of the English Open last season, when he lost 5-4 to Zhou Yuelong, was the highlight of his season after losing 9-6 to Selby in the 2022 final.
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Brecel produced breaks of 55, 82 and 65 against Crucible qualifier Kowalski, who secured his progress with a closing run of 73 after earlier knocks of 50 and 78.
The four-time ranking event winner is due to return to action against Chris Wakelin in the first round of the British Open, which is staged between Aug 31-Sep 6 in Cheltenham.
Elsewhere on Sunday, former UK semi-final David Grace compiled breaks of 118, 100 and 106, but still lost 4-3 to Stan Moody in qualifying.
Meanwhile, Wakelin began his Shanghai Masters with a 6-0 whitewash win over local wildcard Tang Hewen on Monday morning, producing four 50+ breaks.
He will face Mark Williams in the last 16 on Tuesday morning at 07:00, live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.
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