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UK Championship 2024: Jak Jones wins final-frame decider to heap more misery on Luca Brecel with pro status at risk

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Jak Jones dealt another blow to Luca Brecel's faltering career in claiming a 6-5 win in the first round of the UK Championship. Brecel won the World Championship last year but is in danger of losing his professional status after a poor run of form. Watch and stream top snooker action, including the UK Championship, live and on demand on Eurosport and discovery+

‘What a pickout’ - Jones sinks superb red and drops nicely on the black against Brecel

Video credit: TNT Sports

Luca Brecel suffered another blow in his bid to retain his professional status after crashing out of the UK Championship at the hands of Jak Jones.

Brecel arrived in York at a provisional 61 in the world rankings, but well aware that the points he picked up for winning the World Championship in 2023 would disappear at the end of the season.

A deep run at the Barbican would have gone some way to easing any concerns, but he produced an inconsistent display and was beaten 6-5 by this year’s World finalist, Jones.

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Jones was not at his best, but his refusal to wilt paid off as he won the final three frames to advance to the last 16.

The opener was a cagey affair, with both players having chances. A break of 43 from Brecel proved enough to draw first blood.

Brecel’s past 18 months at the table were summed up in the second frame. He knocked in a superb long red to get going but later in the frame missed a simple pot.

‘Terrific pot’ - Brecel sinks long red against Jones

Video credit: TNT Sports

The Belgian was still in control, but played a poor positional shot from a pink to a red and it invited a counter.

Jones was up to the task as he knocked in a superb red before winning a safety exchange on the final brown and mopping up the colours to draw level.

It was more of the same for Brecel in the third. He showed supreme cueing to pot a long red, but broke down and Jones took advantage with a break of 96 to edge ahead.

Brecel’s struggles since his Crucible success have been well documented, and he could have wilted after seeing Jones make an impressive 96 in the third after pinching the second, but he dug in and claimed the fourth to draw level at the interval.

Brecel swiped the air in exasperation after failing to execute what, for an elite player, was a routine positional shot from red to black at the start of the fifth, as the match continued to lack fluency.

But for all his troubles, Brecel still had the single-ball potting ability in his locker to call on.

He knocked in a superb mid-range red with the cue ball tight under the side rail, and it set up a break of 39 as he took the fifth to edge back in front.

There were bright signs in the break of 39 in the fifth and that was carried forward into the sixth. Brecel got underway with a cheeky double and demonstrated exemplary cue-ball control in a run of 94.

‘Great improvisation’ - Brecel shows creative side with clever double against Jones

Video credit: TNT Sports

Jones has developed a reputation for being tough to beat on the big stage, and he kept himself in the hunt with a break of 61 - but Brecel restored his two-frame advantage when taking the eighth with a run of 74.

Any thoughts of a clear run to the line for Brecel were snuffed out as Jones fought back to take the ninth and two good contributions under pressure in the 10th forced a decider.

Brecel was in first and played the positive shot when splitting the cluster off the brown, but just as he looked primed to secure the win, a slack positional shot, so often his Achilles heel this season, saw him drop a foot short of where he wanted to be, and his break ended at 42.

It was such a sloppy positional shot, and it proved his undoing as Jones stepped to the table and produced one of the breaks of the tournament so far to get over the line.

Jones’ cue ball ran a little loose towards the end of his break of 66, but he knocked in stunning pots on the yellow, green and brown to book his place in the last 16 for the first time in his career.

Jones will face Michael Holt in the last 16, following his 6-1 win over Gary Wilson.

Holt, the 2020 Shoot Out winner, fell off the tour after a lean couple of seasons but got his card back for 2024/25 and has gone a long way to securing his playing rights with a big win at the Barbican.

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