The preliminaries wrapped up at the Chase Leisure Centre.
David Gilbert was among the final qualifiers as the last 32 for this season’s German Masters was completed in Cannock on Tuesday.
The Englishman, who won the season-opening Championship League during the summer to capture a maiden ranking event title, beat Zhao Jianbo 5-2.
The venue stages of the competition will take place in January at the Tempodrom in Berlin, where Gilbert previously finished as runner-up in 2019.
Masters champion Yan Bingtao and fellow Chinese competitor Liang Wenbo also made it through, beating Lei Peifan and Ben Hancorn respectively.
Meanwhile, Hossein Vafaei couldn’t build on his astonishing 5-0 drubbing of Ronnie O’Sullivan on Monday as the Iranian went down in a 5-3 reverse to Andrew Higginson.
Gilbert and Yan will face off against one another for a berth in the last 16, with Liang next in action against Higginson.
Among the top 16 players in the world rankings, ten have qualified for the last 32 of the German Masters – including world number one Judd Trump and world champion Mark Selby.
Trump will continue his bid for a third title on the trot when he takes on Gao Yang while Selby’s opening challenge in the German capital city will be veteran Barry Pinches.
Former German Masters champions Mark Williams and Kyren Wilson are also in the draw for the last 32, with the former set to face Zhao Xintong in one of the most intriguing first-round draws.
Wilson, who beat Gilbert 9-7 to win the crown in 2019, takes on Jimmy Robertson while recent Northern Ireland Open champion Mark Allen meets Lyu Haotian.
The ranking event, which takes place in one of snooker’s most popular destinations, runs from January 26th to 30th early next year.
German Masters Last 32
Judd Trump vs Gao Yang Anthony McGill vs Zhou Yuelong Tom Ford vs Stephen Maguire Zhao Xintong vs Mark Williams Kyren Wilson vs Jimmy Robertson Michael Georgiou (a) vs Craig Steadman Zhang Anda vs Luca Brecel Ricky Walden vs Neil Robertson Andrew Higginson vs Liang Wenbo Liam Highfield vs Fan Zhengyi Lyu Haotian vs Mark Allen Kurt Maflin vs Shaun Murphy Noppon Saengkham vs Ryan Day Sam Craigie vs Ken Doherty David Gilbert vs Yan Bingtao Barry Pinches vs Mark Selby
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Walden v Robertson and Zhao v Williams look the most appealing ties.
Yeah, but who knows what kind of form they’ll all have in three months!
Yes, that’s a fair point. I also based it a little on the aesthetic appeal of both games. Only one previous edition has produced more centuries at the qualifying stage than this season’s total of 74. The early years of the German Masters delivered century tallies more often in the 20s and 30s during the qualifiers.