Wonderkid Gradinari Wins Again – World Snooker – Snooker Freaks

Teenage starlet Vladislav Gradinari scored another impressive victory at the BetVictor Shoot Out, beating Victor Sarkis to reach the last 32.

Match schedule

On Wednesday, Moldova’s 14-year-old Gradinari became the youngest player to win a televised ranking event match when he knocked out Ng On Yee. And the Leeds-based cueman showed his potential again by beating Sarkis in a close match, making a crucial break of 28 to set up a third round tie with Tom Ford.

“I tried to be as calm as possible and pot some balls,” Gradinari told Eurosport. “I am trying to go as far as possible, this is the dream. I can’t wait for tomorrow, I’m very excited. I look forward to a bigger and more noisy crowd.”

The other 14-year-old in the second round, Riley Powell, was beaten in a Welsh derby by Daniel Wells.

Charismatic crowd favourite Dechawat Poomjaeng reached the last 32 of a ranking event for the first time since 2016 by beating Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in an all-Thai battle. Un-Nooh trailed 57-1 but fought his way back into the frame and had a chance to snatch it in the dying seconds, but ran out of position from brown to blue, then missed a difficult blue to a baulk corner.

Poomjaeng will now face three-time World Champion Mark Williams, who survived a late scare to beat Dean Young. Williams led 45-19 when he missed a red to centre, and Young had a chance for glory but failed to pot the last red along a side cushion, when he trailed by four points with a few seconds remaining.

On Thursday, Reanne Evans became the first woman to win a match in this event, but tonight she was no match for Gary Wilson, who compiled breaks of 44 and 39.

“It’s a great atmosphere and a great tournament, you’ve got to have some fun,” said Wilson, who won his first ranking title at the BetVictor Scottish Open in December. “Winning a tournament was something I wanted to do for a long time but I was soon back down to Earth and I’ve had a few bad results since. No one can take that victory away from me but I’m still the same player, you need to play well otherwise you have no chance. Getting into the top 16 in time for the Crucible is a big goal as I have not done that before, but I need to win matches first.”