Luca Brecel's mid-season recovery continued with a 5-3 defeat of Iulian Boiko to qualify for the final stages of the World Open, which will take place in Yushan next year.
The Belgian's points for winning the 2023 World Championship will drop off at the end of the season, at which point he is currently projected to plummet to 57th position in the Johnstone's Paint World Rankings. However, a recent recovery of his form started at the BetVictor Scottish Open, where he made the quarter-finals. On Friday, he was also runner-up to Mark Allen at the invitational Riyadh Season Snooker Championship.
After a quick turnaround, he travelled to Sheffield for today's qualifier with Boiko. With the scores locked at 2-2, Brecel racked up three frames on the bounce to secure another important win.
Thailand's Sunny Akani scored a shock 5-2 win over Mark Williams to earn his place in Yushan. Breaks of 60, 109 and 87 helped him to progress this afternoon.
Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong eased to a 5-0 win over Dylan Emery. There were contributions of 116 and 86 for Xiao on his way to victory.
Iran's Amir Sarkhosh scored only his eighth win of the season after beating David Gilbert 5-3, taking the concluding frame on the final black.
Mark Selby made a stunning 142 in the deciding frame to beat Artemijs Zizins 5-4 and Mark Allen won the last two frames to overcome Rory Thor 5-4.
England's 2005 World Champion Shaun Murphy beat Mostafa Dorgham 5-3, while Pang Junxu beat 1997 Crucible king Ken Doherty 5-2.