WSF Junior Open 2020

WSF Junior Open 2020
Attendees:	55
Venue:	Snooker Academy, Ħamrun , Malta
Opening:	4th January 2020
Endgame:	January 9, 2020
Winner:	Gao Yang
Finalist:	Sean Maddocks
Highest Break:	121 ( Julien Leclercq)

The WSF Junior Open 2020 was a junior snooker tournament organized by the World Snooker Federation . It took place from January 4th to 9th 2020 at the Malta Snooker Academy in Ħamrun on Malta . After a WSF Championship was held for the first time in 2018 , there were two open championships of the WSF this year, a youth and a senior tournament . They served as qualifying tournaments for the World Snooker Tour , the professional snooker tour.

Gao Yang secured the junior title and thus the right to start for the two professional seasons following the tournament. The Chinese defeated Sean Maddocks of England in the final 5-2. After the tournament calendar got mixed up in the months after the Open due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the qualification criteria were re-regulated and Maddocks also received a tour ticket for the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons .

Group stage

55 players from 21 countries registered for the tournament. They were divided into 11 groups of 5 players each. In the groups everyone played against everyone for the placements. The top three in each group qualified for the final round.

Final round

The final round was played in knockout mode . 33 players had qualified through the group stage. The two third-placed players with the worst group result first had to play a qualifying game, and the winner then entered the first round of the elimination tournament with the other players.

Qualification game

game	Player 1	Result	Player 2
Q	(33)  Bradley Tyson	23 : 23	Dylan Smith  (32)

Round of 32 to final

	Round 1 best of 5 frames					Round of 16 best of 5 frames					Quarterfinals Best of 7 Frames					Semi-final best of 7 frames					Final Best of 11 frames
	1	Sean Maddocks	3
	33	Bradley Tyson	0
						1	Sean Maddocks	3
						20th	Antoni Kowalski	1
	16	Robbie McGuigan	0
	20th	Antoni Kowalski	3
											1	Sean Maddocks	4th
											8th	Jovan Todorovic	2
	8th	Jovan Todorovic	3
	30th	Bulcsú Révész	1
						8th	Jovan Todorovic	3
						9	Aidan Murphy	2
	9	Aidan Murphy	3
	28	Mina Awad	2
																1	Sean Maddocks	4th
																4th	Aaron Hill	0
	15th	Halim Hussain	3
	22nd	Isa Ishtiaq	2
						15th	Halim Hussain	1
						26th	Oliver Sykes	3
	6th	Kayden Brierley	1
	26th	Oliver Sykes	3
											26th	Oliver Sykes	0
											4th	Aaron Hill	4th
	13	Julian Boyko	1
	21st	Attila Horváth	3
						21st	Attila Horváth	0
						4th	Aaron Hill	3
	4th	Aaron Hill	3
	24	Lewis Ullah	1
																					1	Sean Maddocks	2
																					17th	Gao Yang	5
	3	Wu Yize	3
	25th	Ben Mertens	1
						3	Wu Yize	3
						18th	Julien Leclerq	2
	12	Digvijay Kadian	2
	18th	Julien Leclerq	3
											3	Wu Yize	4th
											5	Ryan Davies	2
	5	Ryan Davies	3
	23	Liam Davies	0
						5	Ryan Davies	3
						11	Liam Graham	2
	11	Liam Graham	3
	19th	Connor Benzey	1
																3	Wu Yize	3
																17th	Gao Yang	4th
	10	Anton Kazakov	3
	27	Luis cousin	1
						10	Anton Kazakov	0
						29	Kreishh Gurbaxani	3
	7th	Jamie Wilson	2
	29	Kreishh Gurbaxani	3
											29	Kreishh Gurbaxani	0
											17th	Gao Yang	4th
	14th	Mickey Joyce	0
	17th	Gao Yang	3
						17th	Gao Yang	3
						2	Dean Young	2
	2	Dean Young	3
	31	Sam McKay	1

final

Gao Yang had already played in the WSF Championship two years earlier and in the U18 World Championship he had been in the final last year. Sean Maddocks had only played at European level until then and it was the first time he had come this far in an international tournament. In his first final, however, it was he who took the initiative and took the lead twice. But Gao immediately equalized both times. The tightly contested fourth frame spurred the Chinese on and with a 72-point break, the only high break in the final, he took the lead for the first time. In the next frame, Maddocks had several chances to counter, but he never got a real break. Gao scored several times and moved away to 4-2. In the seventh frame, the Englishman had his first chance again, but he didn't take it again. Gao also struggled, but kept making points from his numerous chances. When Maddocks only made 14 points from his second big chance, the Chinese pulled away at the next opportunity and made the 5-2 win a little later.

Final: Best of 7 Frames Referee: Ivan Brincat Malta Snooker Academy,  Ħamrun , Malta , January 9, 2020
Sean Maddocks	2: 5	Gao Yang
67 : 30, 37: 78 , 62 : 22, 54: 58 , 0: 82 (72), 16: 101 , 22: 56
30th	Highest break	72
-	Century breaks	-
-	50+ breaks	1

Century breaks

There were 109 breaks of at least 50 points in the tournament, 6 of which were century breaks . Four players achieved 6 breaks of 100 or more points, the Belgian Julien Leclerq achieved the highest tournament break with 121 points in the group stage.

Julien Leclerq	121 , 111
Wu Yize	106, 100
Kreishh Gurbaxani	105
Dean Young	100

swell

1. ↑ Malta 2020: Event Information. WSF , January 1, 2020, accessed June 17, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Snooker Continues To Lead Sport's Return With Tour Structure Plans. WPBSA , June 8, 2020, accessed June 17, 2020 . 
3. ↑ 2020 WSF Junior Open - Knockout. WSF , January 9, 2020, accessed June 17, 2020 . 
4. ↑ 2020 WSF Junior Open. CueTracker, January 9, 2020, accessed June 17, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Match Sheet: Final - Sean Maddocks vs. Yang Gao. WSF , January 9, 2020, accessed June 17, 2020 . 
6. ↑ 2020 WSF Junior Open - 50+ Breaks. WSF , January 9, 2020, accessed June 17, 2020 . 

Web links

• 2020 WSF Junior Open (World Snooker Federation)