Lucal Brecel opted to withdraw from the British Open in Leicester on Wednesday with Ashley Carty replacing the former world champion in the qualifying draw at the city’s Mattioli Arena. Brecel had pulled out of the Wuhan Open qualifiers on Sunday. Meanwhile, Marco Fu continued his rampant scoring spree as a fifth century in two matches saw him overcome Stephen Maguire 4-3 from 3-0 behind.
Luca Brecel’s early season absence from the main professional circuit continued on Wednesday when the former Crucible champion failed to turn up for the British Open at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena.
After failing to show for his Wuhan Open qualifier against Haris Tahir at the same venue on Sunday, with Tahir handed a 5-0 whitewash win, the Belgian player was replaced by Ashley Carty after going withdrawing unexpectedly before he was due to take on Alexander Ursenbacher.
Brecel, world champion in 2023, has dropped out of the elite top 16 to world No. 39 after a run of indifferent results last season.
“Luca Brecel has withdrawn from this week’s British Open qualifiers, and been replaced in the draw by Ashley Carty,” World Snooker Tour said in a statement.
“Brecel was due to face Alexander Ursenbacher on Wednesday afternoon, but has decided to pull out.
“Carty is the highest available player from the Q School top-up list.”
Carty made the most of his place in the open draw as he defeated Ursenbacher 4-2, boosted by two closing breaks of 56 and 57, to book his trip to Cheltenham for the ranking event in September.
Meanwhile, former Grand Prix winner Marco Fu continued his superb start to the new campaign by reeling off four straight frames from 3-0 behind to stun Stephen Maguire 4-3 in his opening qualifier.
The Hong Kong icon produced breaks of 140, 81, 104 and 54 to continue his winning start to the campaign after Maguire had earlier made runs of 78, 54 and 51.
Earlier this week, Fu booked his trip to the Wuhan Open and a last-64 match with Jimmy White after rolling in breaks of 120, 68, 136 and 113 in a 5-3 victory over recent Crucible quarter-finalist Chris Wakelin.
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White had himself enjoyed a 5-2 victory over Anthony McGill to reach the Wuhan Open, but suffered a 4-2 loss to Liam Davies at the British Open.
The six-time world finalist restored parity at 1-1 with a break of 75, but Davies compiled efforts of 70, 65 and 75 to end White’s hopes.
Elsewhere, world No. 82 Tahir enjoyed a 4-3 win over 1997 world champion Ken Doherty with breaks of 65 and 81 helping him win the final two frames from 3-2 down.
Qualifying for the British Open runs through until Saturday in Leicester, with the main tournament then staged in Cheltenham between September 22-28. All the matches involving the world’s top 16 have been held over to September.
