The qualifying rounds of the China Open 2013 start on January 9, 2013 and are played over 4 days. All active Grove players will take part except for Judd who is seeded. Jack and Wenbo qualified for the venue and Sleepy reached the last 48. More detailed results here

Round 1 – Last 96

Li Yan 2-5 Daniel Wells
This again was a match featuring some very scrappy frames with Li being unable to win those, despite scoring 88 the highest break of the match. When Daniel Wells was pegged back 2-3 from 0-2 up, he was able to step up a gear and find fluency, winning the last two frames with substantial breaks.

Zhang Anda 4-5 Fraser Patrick
Fraser Patrick is an amateur but he’s proven how good he is by taking some good wins already this season. The advantage switched back and forth in this match. Fraser lead 3-0, but Anda won the next 4. Fraser then took a very hard fought 8th on the final black to force the decider. He also was first in in the decider and managed to build a 48-0 points advantage. Despite Anda’s brave fight back it proved decisive.

Chen Zhe 5-4 Scott Donaldson
Sleepy started slowly and trailed 0-2. He then got going and played very solidly, winning 4 on the trot. Scott however battled back and forced a decider. It was a tense affair with the balls running very awkward, but Sleepy held his nerves and clinched it after … quite a number of visits. He won’t mind, he’s through.

Round 2 – Last 80

Chen Zhe 5-3 Tepchaiya Un-Nooh
Excellent win for Sleepy. The first six frames were shared and rather tense. In the 7th Sleepy knocked in a fantastic 140. Un-Nooh got the first good chance in the next but made only 23. Sleepy won the safety battle that ensued and made a very composed 65 to clinch the match.

Round 3 – Last 64

Yu Delu 1-5 Anthony McGill
For 2 frames and a half it was pretty much one way traffic as the on form Anthony McGill managed to keep Yu in his seat. Yu though fought back from 0-61 behind in the third and excruciatingly still lost it on the last black. It was all the more important for him to win the last before MSI, which he did, aided by a good snooker on the last blue. Things didn’t get better for Yu after the MSI though and eventually Anthony won comfortably despite Yu’s fight back in the last frame.

Liang Wenbo 5-3 Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon
This is a mad scoring match with both players going for it and making big breaks. There were 8 breaks over 50 in that match. Up to 3-3 it was blow for blow, never more than one frame difference. Then Wenbo pulled away aided by 81 and 62 in the last two.

Jack Lisowski 5-2 Ian Burns
Jack was struggling out there, missing relatively easy pots and above all, not getting the safeties right. Ian Burns might be a rookie on the tour but he’s very dangerous as his performances during the first half of the season proved and showing it again. But, importantly, Jack managed to punish a rare error of Ian at it was 2-2 at MSI. Jack improved massively in all aspects of the game after the MSI and managed one good winning break in every of the remaining frames.

Chen Zhe 5-4 Michael White
Michael had 71, 94 and 90. Sleepy didn’t make a half century. But he won the scrappy ones, and the match. He’s in the final qualifying round.

Round 4 – Last 48

Tom Ford 1-5 Liang Wenbo
Wenbo played very well scoring 63, 91, 103, 86 and 86 en route to victory. Tom, who had been unwell, wasn’t able to respond. Well done Wenbo, and get well soon Tom.

Jamie Burnett 3-5 Jack Lisowski
Both players must have been playing well as Jack had 72, 75 and 84, whilst Jamie had a 68 and a 69. Jamie is very experienced and hard as nail, so this is a very good win for Jack.

Jamie Cope 5-4 Chen Zhe
Sleepy lost in the decider having been 3-1 up at the MSI … heartbreaking.