Aaron Hill qualified for the Wuhan Open with a convincing 5-0 defeat of Joe Perry on Saturday at the Morningside Arena in Leicester.
The Irishman compiled breaks of 145 – the highest of the qualifying week so far – and 89 as he thumped the former world number eight.
Hill has generally struggled on the main tour since first turning professional in 2020 on the back of his triumph in the European Under-21 Championship.
The 21 year-old has just one appearance in the last 16 of a ranking event on his CV.
But the Cork cueist will be hoping that positive results like this one can act as a springboard to more sustained success on the circuit.
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For Perry, it continues a difficult start to the 2023/24 campaign having already suffered early losses in the European Masters and the British Open.
It was a better day for Stuart Bingham and Robert Milkins, who recorded respective victories over James Cahill and Zak Surety.
Elsewhere, Chinese quartet Cao Yupeng, Yuan Sijun, Xu Si, and Zhang Anda all guaranteed their tickets back home.
Cao dominated his fixture with countryman Jiang Jun, inflicting a 5-0 drubbing on the rookie.
Yuan had only a slightly more difficult time as he recorded a 5-1 triumph against Ross Muir, while Xu and Zhang prevailed in lengthier 5-3 battles with Anton Kazakov and Ahmed Aly Elsayed.
Among the others to qualify, meanwhile, were Englishmen Martin O’Donnell, Elliot Slessor, Hammad Miah, and Stuart Carrington.
Sanderson Lam demonstrated further signs of his improvement of late with a 5-3 glory over Tian Pengfei.
On Sunday, the Wuhan Open qualifiers continue with the likes of Mark Williams, Jack Lisowski, and European Masters champion Barry Hawkins in action.
Live coverage is available on discovery+ in Europe and Matchroom.Live in other territories (other than China).
The venue stages of the Wuhan Open, which will be the first ranking event in China since 2019, take place in October.
Wuhan Open qualifying draw and schedule
(Times in BST)
Friday, September 1
Results
Ryan Day 5-3 Long Zehuang
Wu Yize 5-3 Allan Taylor
Kyren Wilson 4-5 He Guoqiang
Mark Allen 5-3 John Astley
Neil Robertson 5-0 Ryan Thomerson
Noppon Saengkham 5-3 Andrew Higginson
Robbie Williams 0-5 Alfie Burden
Gary Wilson 3-5 Ashley Carty
Joe O’Connor 5-0 Dean Young
Jackson Page 5-3 Liu Hongyu
Ben Woollaston 5-2 Oliver Brown
Mark Selby 5-0 Andy Lee
Saturday, September 2
Results
Xu Si 5-3 Anton Kazakov
Cao Yupeng 5-0 Jiang Jun
Tian Pengfei 3-5 Sanderson Lam
Zhang Anda 5-3 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Joe Perry 0-5 Aaron Hill
Andy Hicks 3-5 Hammad Miah
Yuan Sijun 5-1 Ross Muir
Fan Zhengyi 1-5 Stuart Carrington
David Grace 2-5 Martin O’Donnell
Elliot Slessor 5-0 David Lilley
Robert Milkins 5-2 Zak Surety
Stuart Bingham 5-3 James Cahill
Sunday, September 3
Results
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-2 Thor Chuan Leong
Scott Donaldson 5-1 Ma Hailong
Anthony McGill 4-5 Ishpreet Singh
Chris Wakelin 5-2 Mink Nutcharut
Tom Ford 5-2 Adam Duffy
Jamie Jones 5-4 Liam Pullen
Jack Lisowski 5-0 Jenson Kendrick
Pang Junxu 5-1 Stan Moody
Barry Hawkins 5-1 Louis Heathcote
Matthew Selt 5-3 Sean O’Sullivan
Oliver Lines 5-0 Reanne Evans
Mark Williams 5-2 Andres Petrov
Monday, September 4
Results
Mark Joyce 5-1 Victor Sarkis
Matthew Stevens 1-5 Daniel Wells
Jamie Clarke 5-0 Mohamed Ibrahim
Lyu Haotian 5-2 Muhammad Asif
Jimmy Robertson 4-5 Rod Lawler
Judd Trump 5-1 Lukas Kleckers
Jak Jones 5-2 Mostafa Dorgham
Graeme Dott 5-3 Julien Leclercq
Stephen Maguire 5-2 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Xiao Guodong 5-0 Alexander Ursenbacher
Shaun Murphy 2-5 Ben Mertens
Dominic Dale 5-0 Rebecca Kenna
Tuesday, September 5
Results
Michael White 5-3 Andrew Pagett
Hossein Vafaei 4-5 Marco Fu
Jordan Brown 5-1 Himanshu Jain
Mark Davis 5-1 Liam Graham
John Higgins 5-1 Dylan Emery
Ricky Walden 3-5 Ian Burns
Sam Craigie 5-1 Peng Yisong
Liam Highfield 5-1 Jimmy White
Held over fixtures
(to be played in Wuhan)
Monday, October 9
Luca Brecel vs Xing Zihao
David Gilbert vs wildcard
Si Jiahui vs wildcard
Ali Carter vs wildcard
Anthony Hamilton vs wildcard
Zhou Yuelong vs Baipat Siripaporn
Ding Junhui vs Ashley Hugill
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Ken Doherty
Featured photo credit: WST
