 The venue stage of the European Masters doesn't get underway until 22 August, but to reach Nuremberg most players must first come through qualifying this week in Leicester. Just the top eight players in the world rankings have seen their games heldover to Germany, with everyone else having to win a match back in England this week to make it there. That means that big names in the top 16 have to go to Leicester this week, including the likes of Mark Williams, John Higgins and Jack Lisowski. Higgins has a tough opener against Martin Gould, Williams faces Zhang Anda and Lisowski takes on Sam Craigie, who performed well at the recent Championship League. Recent World Championship semi-finalist Si Jiahui is in action against another talented youngster in Belgium's Julien Leclercq, while a Crucible quarter-finalist this year, Anthony McGill, takes on Dominic Dale. Women's world champion Baipat Siripaporn will look to get her first win on the professioanl tour when she takes on James Cahill, while 12-times women's champ Reanne Evans looks to continue the solid start to the campaign at the Championship League when she faces Jenson Kendrick. The action gets underway on Tuesday morning with a battle of the generations between 61-year-old Jimmy White and 21-year-old Irishman Aaron Hill. European Masters Qualifiers Draw and Schedule Tuesday 25 July 10am Aaron Hill vs Jimmy White Yuan Sijun vs Jamie Jones Asjad Iqbal vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Sydney Wilson vs Xiao Guodong 2.30pm Liam Graham vs Duane Jones Jak Jones vs Michael White Noppon Saengkham vs Ian Burns Ryan Day vs Zak Surety 7pm John Higgins vs Martin Gould Joe Perry vs Muhammad Asif Oliver Brown vs Liam Pullen Stan Moody vs Elliot Slessor Wednesday 26 July 10am Andrew Higginson vs Cao Yupeng Zhou Yuelong vs Stuart Carrington Andres Petrov vs Daniel Wells Pang Junxu vs Mink Nutcharut 2.30pm Si Jiahui vs Julien Leclercq Robert Milkins vs Ben Woollaston){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
The venue stage of the European Masters doesn’t get underway until 22 August, but to reach Nuremberg most players must first come through qualifying this week in Leicester.
Just the top eight players in the world rankings have seen their games heldover to Germany, with everyone else having to win a match back in England this week to make it there.
That means that big names in the top 16 have to go to Leicester this week, including the likes of Mark Williams, John Higgins and Jack Lisowski.
Higgins has a tough opener against Martin Gould, Williams faces Zhang Anda and Lisowski takes on Sam Craigie, who performed well at the recent Championship League.