Mink Nutcharut secured one of the biggest wins of her career by beating Adam Duffy 6-3 in the UK Championship qualifiers on Saturday.
The former women’s world champion led 3-1 at the mid-session interval with the help of a break of 60.
Duffy, a former world number 56, reduced the gap to one frame after the resumption but could not restore parity.
Nutcharut – the US Women’s Open champion – won three out of the remaining four frames, including the last on the final black, to move into the second qualifying round.
The victory for the 24 year-old from Thailand represents her first of the 2023/24 campaign and only her second since turning professional at the start of last season.
Michael White will be her opponent in round two, with three more triumphs required if she’s to reach the venue stages next week in York.
Elsewhere on the opening morning of the UK Championship qualifiers in Leicester, there was disappointment for Jimmy White supporters.
The 1992 UK champion lost a string of close frames in a 6-2 defeat to tour rookie Xing Zihao.
White went on a memorable run last year when he won four preliminary matches to reach the last 32 at the Barbican Centre.
But there were to be no heroics for the 61 year-old this time as his struggle for form during this term continued.
Former finalist Marco Fu’s hopes are still alive, though.
The three-time ranking event winner from Hong Kong fought back from 4-2 behind to beat Michael Holt 6-5.
The UK Championship qualifiers run for six days at the Morningside Arena in Leicester.
A total of 16 players will qualify for the main event, joining the top 16 seeds who have already guaranteed their spots in York.
UK Championship qualifiers draw
Round 1 – L144 (bo11)
Saturday, Nov 18
1. Daniel Wells 6-2 Mostafa Dorgham
2. Jenson Kendrick 6-4 Oliver Briffett-Payne
3. Adam Duffy 3-6 Mink Nutcharut
4. Stuart Carrington 6-2 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
5. Mohamed Ibrahim 6-3 Victor Sarkis
6. Marco Fu 6-5 Michael Holt
7. Anton Kazakov 1-6 Ryan Davies
8. Xing Zihao 6-2 Jimmy White
9. Ross Muir 6-1 Andrew Pagett
10. Stan Moody 6-3 Filips Kalnins
11. Peng Yisong 6-0 Umut Dikme
12. Alfie Burden 1-6 Oliver Sykes
13. Ma Hailong 6-4 Sydney Wilson
14. Fergal O’Brien 2-6 Robbie McGuigan
15. Jiang Jun 6-0 Rebecca Kenna
16. Allan Taylor 6-5 Liam Davies
17. Rod Lawler 6-2 Liam Graham
18. Ryan Thomerson 6-5 Reanne Evans
19. Andy Lee 6-2 Joel Connolly
20. Liam Pullen 1-6 Iulian Boiko
21. Long Zehuang 6-5 Haydon Pinhey
22. Oliver Brown 1-6 Dean Young
23. Andrew Higginson 4-6 Alexander Ursenbacher
24. Muhammad Asif 1-6 Duane Jones
Sunday, Nov 19
25. Sean O’Sullivan 6-5 Baipat Siripaporn (Sat)
26. Louis Heathcote 6-0 Ahmed Aly Elsayed (Sat)
27. Hammad Miah 6-3 Bulcsu Revesz
28. Ian Burns 6-0 Amaan Iqbal
29. Ishpreet Singh Chadha 3-6 Gao Yang
30. Andres Petrov 3-6 Craig Steadman
31. Rory Thor 6-0 Riley Powell
32. Martin O’Donnell 6-4 Jack Borwick
Round 2 – L112 (bo11)
33. Ashley Carty 2-6 Daniel Wells
34. Robbie Williams 6-1 Jenson Kendrick
35. Michael White 6-5 Mink Nutcharut
36. Martin Gould 6-0 Stuart Carrington
37. Andy Hicks 6-4 Mohamed Ibrahim
38. Ben Mertens 4-6 Marco Fu
39. David Grace 6-5 Ryan Davies
40. James Cahill 6-2 Xing Zihao
41. He Guoqiang 6-4 Ross Muir
42. Dominic Dale 6-5 Stan Moody
43. Julien Leclercq 6-5 Peng Yisong
44. Jamie Clarke 6-4 Oliver Sykes
45. Xu Si 6-1 Ma Hailong
46. Dylan Emery 6-2 Robbie McGuigan
47. Jackson Page 4-6 Jiang Jun
48. Zak Surety 6-3 Allan Taylor
Monday, Nov 20
49. Lukas Kleckers 6-3 Rod Lawler
50. Ben Woollaston 6-1 Ryan Thomerson
51. Sanderson Lam 5-6 Andy Lee
52. Mark Joyce 6-5 Iulian Boiko
53. Oliver Lines 6-3 Long Zehuang
54. Ashley Hugill 6-3 Dean Young
55. Tian Pengfei 3-6 Alexander Ursenbacher
56. Ken Doherty 6-3 Duane Jones
57. David Lilley 6-3 Sean O’Sullivan
58. Elliot Slessor 6-1 Louis Heathcote
59. John Astley 1-6 Hammad Miah
60. Liam Highfield 0-6 Ian Burns
61. Mark Davis 6-4 Gao Yang
62. Aaron Hill 2-6 Craig Steadman
63. Scott Donaldson 6-2 Rory Thor
64. Liu Hongyu 5-6 Martin O’Donnell
Round 3 – L80 (bo11)
65. Ding Junhui 6-4 Daniel Wells
66. Matthew Stevens 5-6 Robbie Williams
67. Si Jiahui 5-6 Michael White
68. Fan Zhengyi 6-3 Martin Gould
69. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-2 Andy Hicks
70. Ricky Walden 6-5 Marco Fu
71. Wu Yize 6-2 David Grace
72. Noppon Saengkham 6-5 James Cahill
Tuesday, Nov 21
73. Anthony McGill 6-3 He Guoqiang
74. Anthony Hamilton 6-3 Dominic Dale
75. David Gilbert 6-1 Julien Leclercq
76. Jordan Brown 4-6 Jamie Clarke
77. Lyu Haotian 6-2 Xu Si
78. Matthew Selt 6-4 Dylan Emery
79. Jamie Jones 6-4 Jiang Jun
80. Gary Wilson 3-6 Zak Surety
81. Ryan Day 2-6 Lukas Kleckers
82. Cao Yupeng 4-6 Ben Woollaston
83. Joe Perry 6-2 Andy Lee
84. Xiao Guodong 2-6 Mark Joyce
85. Joe O’Connor 6-5 Oliver Lines
86. Stephen Maguire 6-4 Ashley Hugill
87. Yuan Sijun 6-5 Alexander Ursenbacher
88. Chris Wakelin 4-6 Ken Doherty
89. Stuart Bingham 2-6 David Lilley
90. Graeme Dott 3-6 Elliot Slessor
91. Zhou Yuelong 6-4 Hammad Miah
92. Jak Jones 2-6 Ian Burns
93. Pang Junxu 6-4 Mark Davis
94. Jimmy Robertson 5-6 Craig Steadman
95. Sam Craigie 1-6 Scott Donaldson
96. Hossein Vafaei 6-0 Martin O’Donnell
Round 4 – L48 (bo11)
Wednesday, Nov 22
Ding Junhui 6-3 Robbie Williams
Michael White 5-6 Fan Zhengyi
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-3 Ricky Walden
Wu Yize 4-6 Noppon Saengkham
Anthony McGill 6-2 Anthony Hamilton
David Gilbert 5-6 Jamie Clarke
Lyu Haotian 3-6 Matthew Selt
Jamie Jones 6-4 Zak Surety
Thursday, Nov 23
Lucas Kleckers 1-6 Ben Woollaston
Joe Perry 4-6 Mark Joyce
Joe O’Connor 6-3 Stephen Maguire
Yuan Sijun 6-3 Ken Doherty
7pm UTC
David Lilley 3-6 Elliot Slessor
Zhou Yuelong 6-5 Ian Burns
Pang Junxu 6-2 Craig Steadman
Scott Donaldson 4-6 Hossein Vafaei
Featured photo credit: WST
A good win for Marco Fu, he seems to be slowly gathering a bit of form and momentum. Mink needed a win from somewhere, all of the female professionals (except Rebecca Kenna whom I didn’t expect any competitive wins for.) have won less first round matches than I expected them to do all the way back two and a half years ago when the tour organisers began this current phase of ensuring that there will pretty much always be a minimum of four women players with two year main tour cards. I think that there has been as many signs of regression due to damaged confidence as there has been evidence of progression due to playing in better overall quality matches for all of the female pros so far. A good win, with a convincing margin, in qualifiers for a big tournament could galvanise some confidence and sustained form for Mink. A second round win would be an absolute boost to her career so Mink has a chance to make a big impression if she can do that.
Duffy has recently had to leave his family home after flood damage. A woman died in those floods.
Mink not able to defend her Masters title due to the qualifiers. It seems a little odd to schedule the Women’s Masters this weekend given four women involved in the qualifiers in Leicester. Reanne Evans has just lost after midnight against Ryan Thomerson and is scheduled to be in London at 10am for her Masters last 16!
It’s crazy scheduling. Probably they were expecting the women to lose quickly… Meanwhile, Ng On Yee and Bai Yulu are in the Q-finals of the IBSF Women’s World Championship in Qatar. Along with Mink, they are leading contenders for a tour card, assuming WPBSA don’t ban them for participating in rival IBSF events. All are missing from the Masters. Fortuitously, the group structure allowed WWS to patch up the hole in the draw.
Whatever about the IBSF clash (not much communication between those two camps), the clash with the UKs is just bizarre.
Three of the women did lose first up but still very little time to arrive in London.