Jimmy White rolled back the years by beating old foe Matthew Stevens 6-5 in the 2026 International Championship qualifiers on Thursday.
In a battle between two former Masters champions, UK Championship winners, and World Championship runners-up, White withstood a late rally to eventually advance in a deciding frame.
It had looked like the Londoner was going to coast through after he established a 5-2 lead with the help of an excellent break of 104 in the second frame.
But it’s rarely straightforward when the Whirlwind is involved, and back came Stevens with breaks of 121 and 72 to force an 11th frame shoot out.
The Welshman got in first in the concluding frame but broke down on nine points, with White then making the most of two scoring opportunities to progress to the venue stages in Nanjing.
White, aged 64 and the oldest player on the World Snooker Tour, will face either Mark Selby or Luo Zetao in the first round proper.
It was the ten-time ranking event winner’s third win of the campaign and his third ton, indicating that he can still perform to a high level on his day.
There were plenty of other big names in action, including several marquee players ranked near the top of the two-year list.
World number three Neil Robertson compiled a brace of century breaks in orchestrating a resounding 6-0 success over Alexander Ursenbacher.
Barry Hawkins was also a comfortable winner as he thumped Oliver Sykes with another whitewash performance, while Stuart Bingham dropped just a single frame in his victory over Alfie Burden.
It was much tougher for Kyren Wilson, whose struggles in ranking events almost continued before he managed to salvage a 6-5 defeat of Leone Crowley.
Jak Jones, who has already won two ranking events this season, extended his strong run of form with a 6-3 victory over Liam Pullen.
Among the others to make it through were Stephen Maguire, Ryan Day, Ricky Walden, Zhang Anda, and Lei Peifan.
One interesting result, meanwhile, saw Mina Awad beat Zak Surety 6-1 in what was only the second-ever match as a professional player for the All-Africa champion from Egypt.
Elsewhere, there was a tough loss for Jordan Brown, with the Northern Irishman pipped 6-5 on the final black by Gao Yang.
One of the day’s best performances saw David Grace beat Tom Ford 6-5 with the aid of a hat-trick of century breaks.
The International Championship qualifiers continue on Friday and Saturday with several more big names entering the fray.
Selby, Mark Williams, Xiao Guodong, and Luca Brecel are among those playing on Friday with the likes of John Higgins, Shaun Murphy, and Chang Bingyu entertaining their qualifying opponents on Saturday.
Snooker fans can find the latest betting odds for these players and others in the ongoing qualifiers at the 1xbet bookmaker, with plenty of matches to follow across the next couple of days at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
The venue stages of the 2026 International Championship run from October 31 to November 7 in Nanjing, China.
Defending champion Wu Yize, world number one Zhao Xintong, Chinese legend Ding Junhui, and 2019 winner Judd Trump have had their first-round matches held over.
Featured photo credit: WST
