This batch of qualifying action at the Chase Leisure Centre has now concluded.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh compiled an event-high break of 144 as he edged Chen Zifan 5-3 to qualify for the European Masters in Furth next February.
The Thai has been struggling for form of late and hasn’t gone beyond the last-64 stage of a ranking event so far this season.
Despite boasting an official ranking of 19 from the two-year rolling system, a significant portion of his points tally are to come off later in the term, and his provisional end-of-season standing actually has the 36 year-old outside the top 64.
Former Shoot Out champion Un-Nooh will be looking to tournaments like the European Masters in Furth to bolster his prospects of surviving on the Main Tour for another campaign.
Iran’s Hossein Vafaei, meanwhile, enjoyed an easy time of it in his preliminary-round encounter in Cannock, thrashing Peter Devlin 5-0.
Elsewhere, Ryan Day and Liang Wenbo reached the first round proper thanks to respective 5-2 successes over Dominic Dale and Joe O’Connor.
Ricky Walden was made to work hard but ultimately continued his strong start to the 2021/22 season with a 5-4 beating of Elliot Slessor, while Alfie Burden and Andrew Higginson won in opposite fashion thanks to whitewash victories.
Among the others to qualify were Chinese duo Wu Yize and Xu Si, in addition to English trio Stuart Carrington, Ian Burns, and Ashley Hugill.
The venue stages of the European Masters won’t take place for another few months, with snooker returning to the Stadthalle towards the end of February.
Click here to view the draw (Times: CET)
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