Jack Lisowski put on a stunning display to beat World Champion Luca Brecel 6-2 in the first round of the MrQ Masters, despite branding the event as the scariest to play in.
Lisowski came into the 2023 running of the Masters having never won a match at the iconic Alexandra Palace. He suffered defeats in his first three appearances, at the hands of Ding Junhui, Kyren Wilson and Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Last year the Gloucester scored momentous wins over John Higgins and Hossein Vafaei to make the semi-finals and rectify that, but suffered a crushing 6-0 defeat at the hands of Mark Williams.
Seeded in 16th position, Lisowski had a nervous wait to secure his place at the Masters. He had to rely on results at the MrQ UK Championship to go his way to secure his berth, having been dumped out in the first round 6-4 at the hands of Jamie Jones.
This afternoon’s victory sets up a quarter-final clash with either 2015 winner Shaun Murphy or International Champion Zhang Anda, who contest this evening’s first round tie.
Defeat sees Crucible king Brecel continue his difficult first season as World Champion. His first event of the season saw him make the final of the invitational Shanghai Masters, where he was runner-up to Ronnie O’Sullivan, but since then he has failed to go beyond the last 16.
Lisowski came flying out of the traps this afternoon and breaks of 70, 100, 96 and 69 saw him take the first four frames in just 49 minutes ahead of the mid-session interval.
When play resumed the Belgian Bullet showed signs of resistance, making breaks of 80 and 72, to cut his arrears in half and make it 4-2. That resistance was short lived and runs of 63 and 68 saw Lisowski wrap up victory.
“I got very nervous coming into it. For me it is the scariest tournament to play in. I started well and it turns into a great place to play. Then you can start enjoying it."
Jack Lisowski
16th Seed
“I felt really good after the first frame. I settled and felt like I was concentrating really well. He is the World Champion, so I couldn’t relax at any point. I tried to keep my concentration and intensity to get over the line," added 32-year-old Lisowski.
“That’s what you play for. When you are getting beat, like I had a stinker at the UK Championship and lost qualifiers. It gets you down. Today was such a big occasion. I don’t know what I’d have done if I lost that game. I was really thinking that I wanted to win it.”
“It was terrible. If I keep playing like this then you will see me in 2025 Q School,” said a frustrated Brecel.
“I can recapture the form and I know I will, but at the moment it is just not good enough. Jack is a good player and I am happy for him.”