Welsh Open: 2024 preview, draw, outcomes, how you can watch

The 2024 Welsh Open commences on Monday in Llandudno with a number of large names from snooker set to characteristic within the draw.

The final occasion on the House Nations sequence returns to the Venue Cymru for the second time.

An annual fixture since 1992, the Welsh Open has lengthy established itself as one of the crucial acquainted tournaments on the calendar.

Prize, historical past, and format

The Welsh Open is among the oldest steady skilled rating occasions on the calendar, third solely to the World Championship and the UK Championship.

The event was launched in 1992 when then world primary Stephen Hendry beat house contender Darren Morgan within the closing to assert the inaugural title.

Since then, a lot of the sport’s greatest stars have etched their names onto the trophy.

The roll of honour contains Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby, John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Steve Davis, Ken Doherty, Ding Junhui, and Shaun Murphy.

Mark Williams has been the one house winner, capturing the trophy in each 1996 and 1999, however Welsh gamers have typically struggled to characteristic prominently through the years.

A notable absentee from the roll of honour is Judd Trump, with the Welsh Open representing one of many few competitions on the schedule that he hasn’t now triumphed in.

Trump, twice a runner-up, received’t be correcting that statistic this season as he introduced his withdrawal following victory in final week’s German Masters.

Robert Milkins is the reigning Welsh Open champion, memorably securing the title a 12 months in the past whereas concurrently touchdown the profitable European Sequence bonus.

The format stays the identical as in all of the House Nations weeks, with best-of-seven ties within the early rounds adopted by nine-frame quarter-finals, eleven-frame semi-finals, and a best-of-17 body closing.

There may be £80,000 on supply for the champion, prize cash that would show pivotal in figuring out the ultimate qualifiers for the Gamers Championship later this month.

Solely the highest 16 from the one-year rankings record will characteristic in Telford, with the Welsh Open representing the final counting occasion in that race.

2024 Welsh Open draw

Whereas there have been a number of preliminary-round matches already held in January, the highest 16 seeds have all had their first ties held over to the venue.

Milkins begins his defence in opposition to Jamie Jones, who’s one in every of 15 house rivals hoping to go far within the Welsh Open draw.

World primary Ronnie O’Sullivan was scheduled to face Liam Graham, however the four-time champion withdrew from the occasion on Saturday.

With Trump additionally not in motion, that leaves Mark Allen because the highest-ranked contender within the Welsh Open draw.

Allen encounters Cao Yupeng in a repeat of the Snooker Shoot Out closing from December which the Northern Irishman received.

Allen is just the fourth favorite in most on-line bookies, although, with report five-time champion John Higgins being tipped at about 6/1.

The Scot, who hasn’t received a rating occasion in three years, is fancied within the outright betting market forward of Mark Selby and Neil Robertson.

Higgins, Selby, and Robertson have been all group winners in Championship League Snooker final week in Leicester.

2024 Welsh Open draw

Spherical of 128 (bo7)

Remaining matches to be performed on Monday, Feb twelfth and Tuesday, Feb thirteenth

Robert Milkins vs Jamie Jones (Feb 12)
Allan Taylor 4-2 Haydon Pinhey
David Gilbert 4-0 Ken Doherty
Oliver Strains 4-3 Michael White
Jack Lisowski vs Oliver Brown (Feb 12)
Liam Pullen 4-0 Rebecca Kenna
Gary Wilson 4-1 Mark Davis
Iulian Boiko 4-0 Ishpreet Singh Chadha

Lengthy Zehuang 4-1 Andy Lee
Anthony McGill 4-1 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Sanderson Lam 4-0 Baipat Siripaporn
Mark Williams vs John Astley (Feb 12)
Matthew Stevens 4-3 Louis Heathcote
Ricky Walden 4-2 Andy Hicks
Stuart Carrington 4-2 Reanne Evans
Neil Robertson vs Jackson Web page (Feb 12)

Mark Allen vs Cao Yupeng (Feb 12)
Ma Hailong 4-2 Rory Thor
Si Jiahui 4-2 Stephen Maguire
Andrew Pagett 4-2 Mink Nutcharut
Ding Junhui vs Jenson Kendrick (Feb 12)
Robbie Williams 4-0 Peng Yisong
Adam Duffy 4-0 Zhou Yuelong
Jamie Clarke 4-3 James Cahill

David Lilley 4-0 Victor Sarkis
Ryan Day 4-3 Mostafa Dorgham
Tian Pengfei 4-0 Rod Lawler
John Higgins vs Mohamed Ibrahim (Feb 12)
Ross Muir 4-2 Stephen Hendry
Matthew Selt 4-3 Sam Craigie
Alexander Ursenbacher vs Riley Powell/Liam Davies (Feb 13)
Duane Jones vs Liam Highfield (Feb 12)

Alfie Davies vs Liam Graham (Feb 12)
Dominic Dale 4-1 Jimmy White
Jordan Brown 4-3 Lyu Haotian
Stan Moody 4-2 Sean O’Sullivan
Zhang Anda vs Ahmed Aly Elsayed (Feb 12)
Jak Jones 4-3 Liu Hongyu
Hossein Vafaei 4-1 Scott Donaldson
Julien Leclercq 4-3 Alfie Burden

Dylan Emery 4-1 Fergal O’Brien
Noppon Saengkham 4-1 Himanshu Jain
Andrew Higginson 4-2 Xing Zihao
Ali Carter vs Elliot Slessor (Feb 12)
Ben Mertens 4-0 Hammad Miah
Fan Zhengyi 4-2 Joe Perry
Aaron Hill 4-0 Anton Kazakov
Mark Selby vs Yuan Sijun (Feb 12)

Shaun Murphy vs Barry Pinches (Feb 12)
Daniel Wells 4-2 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Marco Fu 4-1 Stuart Bingham
Zak Surety 4-2 Mark Joyce
Kyren Wilson vs Ashley Carty (Feb 12)
Anthony Hamilton 4-0 Andres Petrov
Chris Wakelin 4-0 Jimmy Robertson
Martin O’Donnell 4-3 Ryan Thomerson

Ian Burns 4-2 Lukas Kleckers
Tom Ford 4-3 Ben Woollaston
Xiao Guodong 4-3 Ashley Hugill
Barry Hawkins vs He Guoqiang (Feb 12)
Wu Yize 4-1 Sydney Wilson
Graeme Dott 4-3 Pang Junxu
Joe O’Connor 4-3 Xu Si
Luca Brecel vs Jiang Jun (Feb 12)

Spherical of 64 (bo7)

Matches to be performed from Feb twelfth to 14th.

Milkins/Jamie Jones vs Allan Taylor
David Gilbert vs Oliver Strains
Lisowski/O. Brown vs Liam Pullen
Gary Wilson vs Iulian Boiko
Lengthy Zehuang vs Anthony McGill
Sanderson Lam vs M. Williams/Astley
Matthew Stevens vs Ricky Walden
Stuart Carrington vs N. Robertson/Web page

Allen/Cao vs Ma Hailong
Si Jiahui vs Andrew Pagett
Ding/Kendrick vs Robbie Williams
Adam Duffy vs Jamie Clarke
David Lilley vs Ryan Day
Tian Pengfei vs Higgins/Ibrahim
Ross Muir vs Matthew Selt
Ursenbacher/Powell/Davies vs D. Jones/Highfield

Davies/Graham vs Dominic Dale
Jordan Brown vs Stan Moody
Zhang/Elsayed vs Jak Jones
Hossein Vafaei vs Julien Leclercq
Dylan Emery vs Noppon Saengkham
Andrew Higginson vs Carter/Slessor
Ben Mertens vs Fan Zhengyi
Aaron Hill vs Selby/Yuan

Murphy/Pinches vs Daniel Wells
Marco Fu vs Zak Surety
Ok. Wilson/Carty vs Anthony Hamilton
Chris Wakelin vs Martin O’Donnell
Ian Burns vs Tom Ford
Xiao Guodong vs Hawkins/He
Wu Yize vs Graeme Dott
Joe O’Connor vs Brecel/Jiang

The best way to watch the 2024 Welsh Open

The event can be out there to viewers throughout Europe on Eurosport and discovery+, with BBC Wales and the BBC Crimson Button additionally choices for supporters with entry.

Right here is the total record of world broadcasters, as revealed on the WST web site:

UK
BBC Wales, BBC On-line and Crimson Button
DMAX
Europe
Eurosport and discovery+
China
CCTV5 (together with Macau)
Migu
Huya.com
Hong Kong China
Now TV
Malaysia and Brunei
Astro SuperSport
Thailand
True Imaginative and prescient
Taiwan
Sportcast
Philippines
Premier Sports activities Community
Pakistan
Fastsports
All different territories
matchroom.stay

Featured picture credit score: WST