The UK Championship 2012 qualifiers were held in the Academy in Sheffield from November 20th to November 23th, 2012 and Chen Zhe, Li Yan, Liang Wenbo, Jack Lisowski, Yu Delu and Zhang all tried to book their place into the final stages that will be played in York early December. Jack was the first man to join defending champion Judd, and Wenbo soon followed.

Round 1 – November 20, 2012

Chen Zhe 6-1 Sean O’Sullivan
Sleepy woke up after frame 1 and after that made it all his. 48, 67, 77, 92 helped him to victory, but he got the scrappy ones also.

Li Yan 4-6 Fraser Patrick
Fraser Patrick is a very hard match player and the match was a hard fought one, with most frames going scrappy and close. Li fought back from 0-3 down to 3-3, then from 3-4 to 4-4, but in the end, Fraser was the strongest player and took the match.

Zhang Anda w/o Duane Jones

Round 2 – November 21, 2012

Chen Zhe 6-4 Aditya Mehta
Sleepy won a good match that mixed high scoring and hard fought frames against Aditya Mehta. He had the upper hand on his opponent in most matchplay type frames and that can only be a good sign for the next rounds…

Zhang Anda 2-6 Anthony McGill
To be fair this was a very poor match, with both players struggling badly and Anda struggling even more than Anthony. From the moment he lost frame 2, Anda never looked like having any belief that he could win this match. He was first in in many frames, was able to build a lead in most, but then somehow faltered before crossing the winning post and, each time, Anthony was able to grind his way back and take it, despite needing countless visits.

Yu Delu 6-4 Paul S. Davison
Yu raced to a 3-0 lead, but then, as could be expected from an experienced and very hard match player, Paul Davison fought back. Yu managed to hold it together though and is now in round 3

Round 3 – November 22, 2012

Jack Lisowsli 6-2 Chen Zhe
Jack started very stronly. Having won the scrappy first frame, he raced to a 4-0 lead with 104, 147 and 87. After the MSI Sleepy woke up and the frames were hard fought. He had left himself too much to do though and Jack clinched the match at 6-2.

Liang Wenbo 6-5 Anthony McGill
A well constructed 79 in the decider saw Wenbo through to the final round of the qualifiers. This was the conclusion of a very hard fought match that saw both players in turn miss a few unexpected ones under pressure but also score heavily when in. The highest break of the match was Wenbo’s 113.

Yu Delu 6-5 Nigel Bond
This was hard match play, as one would expect with someone like Nigel Bond’s experience and will to win. But Yu Delu managed to stay with him in that department and took his chances well in the decider. A 63 – the highest break of the match – and a 25 sealed the match for him.

Round 4 – November 23, 2012

Joe Perry 4-6 Jack Lisowski
Jack played well to beat Joe Perry 6-4 despite losing the opener. The match featured a mix of hard fought close frames and one-visit-high-scoring ones. Jack had 86, 100, 78 and 131 to finish the job. Joe a 101 of his own. Jack will face Stuart Bingham in York.