Luca Brecel and Mark Williams among withdrawals from Wuhan Open

Graeme Dott and Dave Gilbert have also opted out of the new Chinese event, which begins the day after the ongoing English Open comes to an end in Brentwood.

Williams and Brecel were both beaten on Thursday evening in the Essex event, while Dott lost on Wednesday night in a remarkable game in which he led 3-0 and by 70 points in the fourth frame, only to lose 4-3 to Ricky Walden.

Brecel was edged 4-3 by Ding Junhui, while Williams was beaten by the same scoreline by Liu Hongyu in a match which started after 11pm and finished close to 1.30am on Friday.

The three-time world champion posted on social media on Friday: ‘Crazy, how can you start a game at 11.10pm finish at 1.30am and expect to perform any good.’

Gilbert withdrew earlier in the week than the others and has been replaced by Daniel Womersley in the opening round against wildcard Gong Chen Zhi.

Due to time and visa constraints, the other three opponents will all receive walk-overs, meaning Zihao Xing progresses from his held-over qualifying match to round two where he faces Michael White, while Zhang Anda and Noppon Saengkham will now meet each other in round three.

The back-to-back scheduling of the events has come in for criticism from players, with Williams saying earlier in the week in Brentwood that he would have to look at managing his calendar.

‘It’s much better than not being busy, but the scheduling, I think they’ll probably have to try and do something about it because if you have a good run here there’s no way you can make China in time,’ Williams told Metro.co.uk.

‘Even if they push your game back a day it’s not really going to make any difference. All the travelling, you’ve got no chance of doing well.

‘Of course you would have to pick and choose events. If they’re back-to-back you’re going to get a bit jaded, you need a few days off to recharge and it’s something you’ll have to look into. There’s a lot of tournaments between now and Christmas.

‘I’ve never done it before, I’ve never missed tournaments to try and get ready for another one, but maybe it’s something at my stage I’ve got to have a look at.’

Players withdrawing from the event after the draw has been made, and with qualifying matches already played, face a fine for doing so, although they can be appealed if medical reasons are relevant.

With the English Open continuing to the final on Sunday, it is yet to be seen if any of the remaining players withdraw from the Wuhan Open shortly before it starts.

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