The players who had dream and nightmare first weeks of the snooker season

The snooker season got underway in low-key fashion over the last few days, but it has already seen some players make an ideal start to their campaign and others face early worries.

The Wuhan Open qualifiers begun on June 22, with the British Open qualifying starting straight after on June 25.

Both qualifying events were held at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester behind closed doors, so they won’t necessarily live long in the memory, but could prove vital in the world rankings over the season.

Winning the opening match in the Wuhan Open is worth £4,500 and the winner of the event will pick up a very healthy £140,000.

The British Open is a small step down, with £3,000 won in the first round and the champion claiming £100,000.

A number of players have started in perfect fashion, winning both their qualifiers and will be booking their trips to Wuhan and Cheltenham.

Others will already be reckoning with gaps in their calendar when those events come round after suffering back-to-back defeats over the last week.

Dream starts

There was a dramatic and brilliant start to the campaign for Marco Fu, the 47-year-old who has really struggled for results in recent years but still has some of the old magic in there.

He had a really tough draw against Chris Wakelin to get to Wuhan but knocked in three centuries to win 5-3, then bounced back from 3-0 down to beat Stephen Maguire 4-3 and make the British.

Louis Heathcote also picked up two wins from tricky draws, impressively downing Wu Yize 5-2, then edging out Jordan Brown 4-3.

There was also a brace of victories for Stan Moody, the 18-year-old who continues to make great strides in the game, beating Antoni Kowalski to reach Wuhan and then Zhou Yuelong to make it to Cheltenham.

12-times women’s world champion Reanne Evans has started the campaign ideally, with wins over David Lilley and new professional Lan Yuhao.

There was also a pair of victories for the likes of Liam Davies and Jackson Page, two young British stars who will hope to move up a level this season.

Zak Surety also kept up the good form he finished last season in, with wins over Gong Chenzhi and Zhao Hanyang, while Ben Woollaston, Lei Peifan, Matt Selt, Joe O’Connor, Noppon Saengkham, Matthew Stevens, Jak Jones, Ben Mertens, Xu Si, Chang Bingyu and Jack Lisowski all landed two victories.

A nightmare week

A number of players came away with a win and a defeat from the two sets of qualifiers, which they will be able to live with, but two losses will sting for those who came away without a victory.

Ricky Walden was a notable name to lose on both outings, beaten 5-4 by David Grace to miss out on Wuhan, then downed 4-2 by Joe O’Connor in the British.

The 42-year-old is down at number 49 on the end of season rankings and these early setbacks will be a concern.

Fan Zhengyi is another to have gone winless in two games, losing 5-3 to Ben Mertens and then 4-2 to Robert Milkins.

The former European Masters champ remains an unpredictable force, capable of brilliance but really lacking consistency.

A number of the players who won their way onto the professional circuit through Q School, Q Tour or other routes had difficult starts and are still looking for their first victories of the campaign.

Liam Pullen may well be the most frustrated of them after both his matches went to deciding frames and he lost both, beaten 5-4 by Jimmy Robertson and then 4-3 by Mertens.

While it can’t be considered a nightmare as he chose to do so, Luca Brecel is also winless so far after failing to turn up for his Wuhan Open qualifier and then pulling out of the British Open.

The early-season action continues on Monday with the start of the Championship League, a sprawling event which runs all the way until July 23.

Many of the big names are not playing in the tournament so there is a good chance for some of the lower-ranked players to either continue a strong start to the campaign or turn around a difficult one.