World Champion Luca
Breacher (name)
(Luca Brecel) faced a race against time as flight delays almost caused him to miss his first-round match against Iulian Boiko at the BetVictor Scottish Open, but the Belgian arrived in time to win 4-0 and progress to the second round in Edinburgh.
Breacher will be the second match this afternoon after Mark Williams clashed with Sam Craigie. Williams led 3-0 with Breacher still at Edinburgh Airport. However, Craigie mounted an incredible comeback to win 4-3 and buy Breacher the time he needed to reach the venue before the start of the match.
Brecher's timely arrival at the Meadowbank Sports Center is just as important, as his position in this week's World Grand Prix is in jeopardy. So far, only the top 32 players in the season's rankings have qualified for the race, and Brecher is 38th. He must at least win the next race against James
-Cahill's game to have a shot at a spot.
When he finally arrived and play began, the bullets flew to victory in just over an hour, scoring 56 and 75 points along the way.
"It's a miracle I got here. I was still on the plane when Mark Williams was up 3-0. I was checking the scores and knew Sam needed to win at least one set to give me a chance. He did just that. I'm grateful to Sam and happy to be here. I want to play well and enjoy it," said Brecher, the 2021 Scottish Open champion. "I told my cab driver I was in a hurry and he did a good job. He ignored the red lights and stuff like that, so it came in handy!
"I feel good. I'm enjoying it. I just want to play at the table a little bit more. I'm really happy to be here because of this trip. I'm really enjoying this. I try to enjoy it. I haven't done enough this season, I've thought about it too much. Maybe it's because I'm the world champion and it's getting more attention. It's a big deal in the
snooker (loanword)
It's never a good thing, so I'm just trying to get back into my world championship mindset.
Scotland's four-time World Champion John Higgins began his quest for a home title with a convincing 4-0 win over Oliver Brown.
Higgins has reached the final of the event twice, but was beaten by Fu in 2016 and Breacher in 2021. The 31-time ranking champion is chasing his first ranking trophy in any event since the 2021 Players Championship after losing four previous finals.
In the first round, Higgins snatched from Snooker and he continued home from there. Higgins scored 69, 74 and 82 to meet China's He Guoqiang in the second round.
I'm delighted to win," said Higgins. It's great to play in front of the home fans and the Scottish boys only get to play here once a year. I'm really pleased to get through my first game. I hope I can have a good performance. The crowd was huge tonight.
Judd Trump beat Sydney Wilson 4-0 to set up a mouth-watering second round clash with international champion Anda Zhang.
Trump, the best player of the season so far, is looking for his fourth ranked title of the season. It only took him 47 minutes to close out the night with a win.
Jamie Jones beat Mark Allen 4-2, while Shaun Murphy beat Liu Hongyu 4-1 and defending champion Gary Wilson beat Elliot Slessor).
