Race to the Barbican 2024
There is now just one tournament to be concluded ahead of the crucial seeding cut-off for this season’s first Triple Crown Series event of the season – the UK Championship.
Following the change to the format in 2022 which has since seen the UK Championship adopt a tiered format in line with the World Championship, the event will once again see the top 16 players seeded through to the last 32 stage at the York Barbican from 23 November – 1 December.
The remaining professionals, in addition to 16 WPBSA qualifiers, will compete in the qualifying rounds in Leicester from 16-21 November.
Seeding Cut-Off
The all-important seeding cut-off for the UK Championship is set to fall following this year’s International Championship, with ranking points earned from the 2022 Championship, up to and including the upcoming tournament in Nanjing, set to decide the seedings.
The key points across the ranking list are:
- Top 16 – seeded through to the last 32
- Top 48 – seeded through to Round 3
- Top 80 – seeded through to Round 2
- All other players to begin in Round 1
For the avoidance of doubt, prize money earned at this week’s BetVictor Scottish Open qualifiers will not count towards this seeding cut-off.
Below we preview what can still change, with all forecasts made on the basis that all professionals enter the UK Championship.
The Top 16
Following the conclusion of the Northern Ireland Open the top 14 players on the latest provisional seedings list – down to and including John Higgins – are already mathematically guaranteed to be seeded for the final stages of the UK Championship in York.
The first player who could still miss out is 15th placed Jak Jones, who crucially has already lost in qualifying for the International Championship and so cannot add to his tally in Nanjing.
He would also miss out on the final seeded spot if two of the following senarios were to happen:
- Neil Robertson reaches the last 16
- Xiao Guodong or Barry Hawkins reaches the semi-finals
- One of Jack Lisowski, Chris Wakelin, David Gilbert or Hossein Vafaei reaches the final
- One of a further seven players win the title
Also in danger is 16th placed Neil Robertson, who could be overtaken if he were to lose his first match in Nanjing and one of the following were to happen:
- Xiao Guodong reaches the quarter-finals
- Barry Hawkins reaches the semi-finals
- One of Jack Lisowski, Chris Wakelin, David Gilbert or Hossein Vafaei reaches the final
- One of a further eight players win the title
The Top 48
The second cut-off of significance is the top 48, with the players ranked 17-48 set to be seeded through to the penultimate qualifying round for the UK Championship.
China’s Xu Si holds 48th place heading to Nanjing with a slender lead of just £150 to closest chaser Fan Zhengyi. In fact from 46th placed Ben Woollaston to Mark Davis in 53rd place, just £9,650 separates eight players, with all except Jordan Brown qualified for the International Championship.
Both Fan and Joe Perry could overtake Xu Si with a single match win, while Matthew Stevens, Mark Davis and Jamie Jones would require two.
The Top 80
The final section of the rankings to consider is the top 80, with seeds 49-80 positioned in the second round of the draw to await the Round 1 winners.
Currently in possession of the final second round seeding is Hammad Miah with £42,400, although he is already out of the International Championship having fallen in the qualifying rounds.
His closest chasers are Gong Chenzhi and Andrew Higginson, who would need to win two matches at the venue stage and reach the last 16, while Zak Surety and Andrew Pagett would need to go a round further to overhaul Miah.
A further four players would need to reach at least the semi-finals, with the remaining four needing the final to claim a top 80 berth.
For the latest updates during the International Championship visit wpbsa.com and wst.tv.
