Anguish for Aly after final frame defeat
filed Monday, September 30, 2024. 6:24pm PT/USA
The United States' Ahmed Aly Elsayed snatched defeat from the jaws of victory after letting slip a 5-1 advantage over China's Xu Si in qualifying for the 2024 International Championship in Sheffield, England.
Ahmed Aly Elsayed pictured at the table during his 2024 International Championship round one qualifying match against China's Xu Si
Photo courtesy of Eurosport
In forging a 5-1 lead, it was arguably the very best performance of his professional career so far, as he played some beautiful snooker in taking advantage of Xu's errors – particularly frame four when he got the snooker he required, and then proceeded to clear the table with a well-crafted break of 51 to pinch the frame on the final black ball.
26-year-old Xu is currently ranked 48 on the World Snooker Tour (WST), and reached the semifinals of the 2017 Indian Open a few momths after he first turned professional. He compiled a maximum 147 break in qualifying for last year's UK Championship, and his break-buidling prowess came into force in frame 7 as he produced a run of 93.
However from this moment on Aly struggled to get over the line to win the sixth frame he required, as he displayed some major twitches and nerves with his cue action, and started to fail to capitalize on the many opportunities he had to close out the match.
Aly's best chances came in the ninth frame of which he should have wrapped up victory but Xu fought back to trail 5-4, and the pair had to stop play to allow the next session's match on this table to commence.
On the resumption of the match Xu quickly secured the tenth frame to level at 5-5, which set up a tense deciding frame. Aly got his chances in that final frame, but he was to be left disappointed as Xu completed a remarkable victory and a place in round two of qualifying and a chance to advance to the main event to be played in Nanjing, China, from November 3-10 (Match scoresheet).
On September 28 Aly was also in qualifying action in Sheffield for the 2024 Northern Ireland Open, where he took on Gong Chenzhi. The 18-year-old from China is in his first season as a professional, and he booked his place in the main event in Belfast from October 20-27 by defeating Aly 4-0 with a top run of 71 (Match scoresheet).
Aly's next scheduled match on the World Snooker Tour is in qualifying for the 2024 Scottish Open, which will take place in Sheffield from October 28-30.
