Luca Brecel’s struggles on the main tour continued as he failed to qualify for the 2026 English Open at the weekend in Leicester.
The preliminary stage for the 2026/27 season’s opening Home Nations Series tournament took place at the Mattioli Arena on Saturday and Sunday.
Brecel had been one of the highest-profile names in the qualifying draw, but the Belgian Bullet missed out after losing 4-3 to Antoni Kowalski.
Since winning the 2023 World Championship, Brecel has been on a downward trajectory in the rankings and his provisional end-of-season standing is around the crucial top-64 cut-off point for tour survival.
A player who is on a completely opposite trajectory is Chang Bingyu, whose stock has been rapidly rising since rejoining the professional circuit at the beginning of last season.
Chang, a Scottish Open finalist on the Home Nations Series last term, qualified for this year’s English Open courtesy of a 4-3 defeat of Cheung Ka Wai.
Among the others to make it through to the venue stages in Brentwood were Tom Ford, Anthony McGill, Ricky Walden, and Aaron Hill.
Stan Moody also qualified after beating David Grace in a deciding frame, while teenage sensation Wang Xinbo edged Long Zehuang by the same narrow margin.
There were a few notable names who exited the running early on, with Noppon Saengkham and Matthew Stevens suffering respective 4-0 losses to Florian Nuessle and Ashley Hugill.
Ryan Day, Ben Woollaston, and He Guoqiang were other higher-ranked contenders who were dumped from the competition.
The 32 qualifiers join the top 32 seeds from the world rankings who are automatically in the draw at the last-64 point.
The 2026 English Open, which will feature the like of world champion Wu Yize, world number one Judd Trump, and defending champion Mark Allen, is scheduled for September 7 to 13 at the Brentwood Leisure Centre.
That brings an end to the latest batch of qualifiers in Leicester, meanwhile.
Next up on the calendar is the 2026 Shanghai Masters, where many of the game’s top players will be making their maiden appearances for the fledgling campaign.
2026 English Open qualifiers: results
Round of 128
Sam Craigie 4-3 Sean O’Sullivan
Florian Nuessle 4-2 Liu Yang
Dylan Emery 4-0 Paul Norris
Ashley Hugill 4-3 Chatchapong Nasa
Leone Crowley 4-3 Andrew Higginson
Marco Fu 4-0 Hammad Miah
Cheung Ka Wai 4-0 Jimmy White
Mateusz Baranowski 4-0 Bai Yulu
Connor Benzey 4-2 Mitchell Mann
Xu Yichen 4-1 Vladislav Gradinari
Louis Heathcote 4-1 Huang Jiahao
David Grace 4-1 Deng Haohui
Phil O’Kane 4-3 Fergal Quinn
Liam Highfield 4-3 Michael Larkov
Gong Chenzhi 4-0 Iulian Boiko
Luo Zetao 4-2 Mahmoud El Hareedy
Craig Steadman 4-0 Reanne Evans
Ashley Carty 4-0 Liu Wenwei
Oliver Sykes 4-0 Sahil Nayyar
Julien Leclercq 4-2 Michal Szubarczyk
Antoni Kowalski 4-3 Lan Yuhao
Ross Muir 4-1 Panchaya Channoi
Jamie Clarke 4-2 Ng On Yee
Artemijs Zizins 4-1 Alfie Burden
T Tirapongpaiboon 4-0 Zhao Hanyang
Duane Jones w/o Ian Burns
Stuart Carrington 4-1 Yao Pengcheng
Liam Graham 4-0 Kaylan Patel
Wang Xinbo 4-1 Oliver Brown
Liam Davies 4-0 Steven Hallworth
Anton Kazakov 4-1 Alexander Ursenbacher
Gao Yang 4-1 Joshua Thomond
Round of 96
Sam Craigie 4-0 David Lilley
Florian Nuessle 4-0 Noppon Saengkham
Michael Holt 4-2 Dylan Emery
Ashley Hugill 4-0 Matthew Stevens
Zak Surety 4-0 Leone Crowley
Ricky Walden 4-3 Marco Fu
Chang Bingyu 4-3 Cheung Ka Wai
Mateusz Baranowski 4-2 Jamie Jones
Oliver Lines 4-1 Connor Benzey
Tom Ford 4-2 Xu Yichen
Louis Heathcote 4-3 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Stan Moody 4-3 David Grace
Jackson Page 4-1 Phil O’Kane
Robbie Williams 4-3 Liam Highfield
Gong Chenzhi 4-2 He Guoqiang
Luo Zetao 4-1 Scott Donaldson
Jordan Brown 4-2 Craig Steadman
Ashley Carty 4-1 Ben Woollaston
Fan Zhengyi 4-0 Oliver Sykes
Anthony McGill 4-1 Julien Leclercq
Antoni Kowalski 4-3 Luca Brecel
Ross Muir 4-0 Liam Pullen
Jamie Clarke 4-3 Ryan Day
Artemijs Zizins 4-2 Martin O’Donnell
T Tirapongpaiboon 4-0 Ben Mertens
Matthew Selt 4-3 Duane Jones
Lyu Haotian 4-0 Stuart Carrington
Daniel Wells 4-1 Liam Graham
Wang Xinbo 4-3 Long Zehuang
Liam Davies 4-3 Liu Hongyu
Aaron Hill 4-1 Anton Kazakov
Gao Yang 4-3 Jiang Jun
Featured photo credit: WST
