Luca Brecel was defeated 5-4 by Duane Jones in the Wuhan Open qualifiers on Monday in Leicester.
The Belgian Bullet would have been hoping for a quick start to the new 2024/25 snooker season having struggled for form during the last campaign.
As the world champion, the 2023/24 term didn’t go as planned with only fleeting examples of what he’s capable of.
Brecel won the World Mixed Doubles and reached the finals of two invitational events but now hasn’t won a match on the main tour since March.
It’s a miserable stretch that includes his collapse in the first round of the World Championship and two reverses already this season.
Last week, matters were confounded by his failure to show up for his scheduled match in the Xi’an Grand Prix qualifiers.
Stuck in traffic on the way to the Mattioli Arena from mainland Europe, Brecel was timed out and eliminated from the new lucrative event in China.
The 29 year-old boasts only one quarter-final appearance in a ranking tournament since landing the sport’s most coveted prize at the Crucible Theatre in 2023.
Luca Brecel remains the world number four on the official rankings, but a look at the provisional end-of-season list makes for grimmer reading.
Although there is still a lot of snooker to be played this season, Brecel finds himself down at number 55 on the provisional end-of-season standings.
That’s not far off the cut-off point of 64 for tour survival, leaving the four-time ranking event winner with work to do to guarantee his safety.
It would be an outrageous set of circumstances if Brecel were to conclude the campaign fighting for his professional status.
But another few early exits before the end of the calendar year would heap further pressure on his shoulders heading into the second half of the season.
Against Jones in the Wuhan Open qualifiers, Brecel led four times but lost the last two frames against the Welshman to bow out of the competition.
Elsewhere, there were a couple of other notable upsets with Tom Ford losing 5-2 to Sunny Akani and Stuart Bingham crashing out in a 5-1 reverse to Xing Zihao.
There were victories for Championship League Snooker winner Ali Carter, Ryan Day, Hossein Vafaei, and former world champion Graeme Dott.
Anthony Hamilton was taken the distance by Reanne Evans but saved his best for last, compiling an excellent 114 break in the decider.
Noppon Saengkham, Pang Junxu, and Wu Yize were among the others to make it through.
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On Tuesday, the preliminary phase for the Wuhan Open qualifiers will conclude with the remaining fixtures.
Mark Allen, Neil Robertson, and Jack Lisowski are in action against Bai Yulu, Ken Doherty, and Liam Graham respectively.
2024 Wuhan Open draw
Round of 128 (bo9)
Top Half
Judd Trump vs Antoni Kowalski (Oct 6)
He Guoqiang 5-0 Baipat Siripaporn
Anthony McGill 5-3 Simon Blackwell
Mostafa Dorgham 5-4 Ricky Walden
John Higgins 5-1 Ben Mertens
Fan Zhengyi 5-0 Mink Nutcharut
Robert Milkins 5-1 Farakh Ajaib
Zak Surety 5-1 Scott Donaldson
Haris Tahir 5-3 Jamie Jones
Chris Wakelin 5-1 Ma Hailong
David Lilley 5-1 Mohammed Shehab
Allan Taylor 5-0 Joshua Thomand
Yuan Sijun vs TBC Wildcard (Oct 6)
Xing Zihao 5-1 Stuart Bingham
Xu Si 5-1 Ian Burns
Ding Junhui vs Robbie McGuigan (Oct 6)
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Mitchell Mann (Oct 6)
Sanderson Lam 5-3 Huang Jiahao
Hammad Miah 5-3 Joe O’Connor
Robbie Williams 5-4 Kreishh Gurbaxani
Zhang Anda vs Dean Young (Oct 6)
Graeme Dott 5-2 Julien Leclercq
Hossein Vafaei 5-0 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Jordan Brown vs TBC Wildcard (Oct 6)
Daniel Womersley 5-4 Joe Perry
Si Jiahui 5-3 Gong Chenzhi
Martin O’Donnell vs TBC Wildcard (Oct 6)
Sunny Akani 5-2 Tom Ford
Matthew Selt 5-2 Liam Pullen
Pang Junxu 5-2 Révész Bulcsú
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 5-3 David Grace
Duane Jones 5-4 Luca Brecel
Bottom Half
Mark Allen 5-1 Bai Yulu
Jamie Clarke 5-4 Alfie Burden
Cheung Ka Wai 5-4 Stephen Maguire
Wu Yize 5-1 Rory Thor
Jak Jones 5-3 Ross Muir
Tian Pengfei 5-3 Andrew Higginson
Jack Lisowski 5-2 Liam Graham
Iulian Boiko 5-4 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Elliot Slessor 5-3 Artemijs Zizins
David Gilbert vs TBC Wildcard (Oct 6)
Ben Woollaston 5-1 Oliver Lines
Gary Wilson 5-4 Alexander Ursenbacher
Jackson Page 5-3 Lei Peifan
Neil Robertson 5-0 Ken Doherty
Dylan Emery 5-1 Lim Kok Leong
Long Zehuang 5-4 Mark Selby
Shaun Murphy 5-1 Michael Holt
Anthony Hamilton 5-4 Reanne Evans
Noppon Saengkham 5-1 Daniel Wells
Jimmy White 5-3 Dominic Dale
Ali Carter 5-3 Wang Yuchen
Mark Davis 5-3 Chris Totten
Marco Fu 5-1 Zhou Yuelong
Louis Heathcote 5-4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Stan Moody 5-2 Matthew Stevens
Ryan Day 5-3 Lui Hongyu
Jimmy Robertson 5-2 Amir Sarkhosh
Barry Hawkins 5-3 Jiang Jun
Xiao Guodong 5-1 Haydon Pinhey
Andrew Pagett 5-1 Lyu Haotian
Aaron Hill 5-2 Ashley Carty
Kyren Wilson vs Liam Davies (Oct 6)
How to watch the Wuhan Open qualifiers
While there is no access for fans at the venue for the Wuhan Open qualifiers, supporters in Europe can watch the snooker online on discovery+.
In China, coverage is available on Huya.com, while fans in all other territories can watch via a subscription on Matchroom.Live.
Featured photo credit: WST
Luca Brecel is shaping up like a snooker version of Kimi Raikkonen with a precipitous drop off after clinching a historic first world title. Hopefully he regains his best snooker sooner than later.