UK Championships

A safety conscious Ronnie went 2-0 down against McGill, but once he got into his flow he rattled off 6 frames in a row to win 6-2.

John Higgins is also through after defeating Joe O'Connor 6-3.

Tomorrow 1pm Tom Ford Plays Ding Jinhui. The UK Championship is the cutoff for the Masters. Tom Ford is currently ranked 16th, Ding Jinhui is currently ranked 17th. If Ding wins he leapfrogs Ford into 16th place. The loser tomorrow misses out on the Masters. The winner is almost guaranteed to be in the Masters unless something unlikely happens like Matthew Selt winning the UK Championship.

Zhou Yuelong duly rattled in breaks of 136, 134, 99, 80, 74 and 50 in trouncing Neil Robertson 6-2.

Robert Milkins produced a stirring fightback from 3-5 down to beat Thepchaiya un Nooh 6-5 in a compelling encounter and reach the last 16.

The Juddernaut is at it again, sweeping aside Jamie Jones 6-0.

Ding is currently 4-3 up against Tom Ford.

Jones may be out, but with the likes of Zhou Yuelong, Hossain Vafaei and Matthew Selt still in, Robert Milkins (15th) and Zhang Anda (14th) know they have to keep going to secure a place in the Masters.

A very nervy Ronnie almost let a 5-3 lead slip as Milkins battled back to 5-5, but Ronnie held himself together in the decider to win 6-5. Ronnie can still prevent Judd from taking his world no.1 position, Milkins has to look over his shoulder lest an unfancied player nicks his Masters place.

One of the unfancied players, Zhou Yuelong, leads John Higgins 5-3. What price he being the surprise winner of the tournament?

Zhou won 6-3 and now faces O'Sullivan in the last eight. Based on current form Zhou goes in as favourite to win the match imo.
Ronnie was missing easy pots all over the place. He can't afford to do that against Zhou or he will be punished.
If Ronnie finds his A game then he should get through but it won't be easy.

I'm glad Big Bob made it to a decider, even if Ronnie charitably suggested afterwards that he did badly. Zhou doing well here.

Zhang Anda produced an absolutely stellar performance to beat World Champion Luca Brecel in a compelling encounter 6-4.

Prince of Persia Hossein Vafaei meanwhile thrashed Matthew Selt 6-1.

An update on the situation regarding the Masters.

It appears that when the winnings for (Edit) 'the 2021' UK Championship are deducted, Lisowski and Hawkins fall below Milkins in the rankings, so Milkins has already secured his place in the Masters.

Ding Jinhui can leapfrog Lisowski, Hawkins and Milkins if he beats Mark Williams today. That would leave Jack Lisowski vulnerable in the event of Vafaei or Yuelong winning the tournament.

Vafaei and Yuelong can't play each other in the final, if they both win today they meet each other in the semi final. Yuelong has to win the UK Championship to get into the Masters. Vafaei, now 18th, can finish runner up and still get in at the expense of Ding or Lisowski.