Action about to get underway
Ken Doherty is taking on announcer duties as he welcomes all our players out to the tables.
It is a full-house in Cheltenham for this afternoon session.
Mark Selby gets a warm welcome as he attempts to defend his British Open title this week.
British Open Snooker fixtures
Here’s a quick reminder of the matches kicking us off at 1pm:
Pang Junxu (CHI) v Wu Yize (CHI)
John Higgins (SCO) v Mark Davis (ENG)
David Grace (ENG) v Mark Selby (ENG)
Barry Hawkins (ENG) v Daniel Wells (WAL)
Unique tournament on snooker calendar
The British Open is only one of two competitions in snooker that have an FA-Cup style draw.
That means that we often see some big-name matches in the early rounds.
It really offers lesser known players to make it further in the competition if the random draw is kind to them.
High-profile names bite the dust
English Open finalist Zhou Yuelong will not be appearing this week after he lost in the qualifiers to Stan Moody.
Another surprise was when former British Open champion Ryan Day bowed out before the last-64.
He was beaten by Stuart Bingham and will have to wait if he hopes to win the trophy for second time.
Eyes on the prize
A six figure payday is in store for the champion and there is also a cool bonus for the highest break this week.
Aaron Hill and Ali Carter split the jackpot at the English Open after both made 147s.
- Winner: £100,000
- Runner-up: £45,000
- Semi-finals: £20,000
- Quarter-finals: £12,000
- Last 16: £9,000
- Last 32: £6,000
- Last 64: £3,000
- High break: £5,000
- Total: £502,000
‘Absolutely shattered’
There is no rest for Mark Allen as he faces Jiang Jun this evening just hours after picking up the English Open title.
He came from behind in last-16, quarter-final and semi-final as last week’s comeback king took home the £100,000 cheque.
Allen admitted to feeling drained yesterday, saying: “I was absolutely shattered. I think adrenaline got me through that first session and tonight I was really tired.
“It is no excuse for some of the balls I missed, but I was feeling it. I’m going to sleep well tonight.”
