European Masters 2023: Luca Brecel edges past Jackson Page, Judd Trump thrashes Mohammed Ibrahim

Luca Brecel booked his place in the European Masters second round after an edgy 5-3 qualifying victory over Welshman Jackson Page.

The world No. 2 made a sluggish start after failing to pot a black to the bottom left, but would draw first blood in the contest after moving past 50 as Page failed in an effort to land a red.

Following a re-rack, it was the Belgian that doubled his advantage after starting the frame brightly with a break of 59, only to be thwarted by five awkwardly placed reds in the centre.

Despite a glimmer of hope being handed the Welshman’s way, Brecel returned to clear up those remaining reds and up to the pink to create daylight between himself and the world No. 49.

However, those hoping for a Brecel procession to victory were left disappointed. The Welshman rallied brilliantly to take the next two frames, as momentum shifted his way after luring Brecel into a foul after tucking the cue ball behind the yellow.

After recovering from a kick, he got back on track with a superb long red to the bottom left and got the points needed to halve the deficit.

That deficit was wiped out at the end of a pulsating next frame when Brecel failed to pot a blue and Page cleared up the table nicely.

The reigning world champion showed glimpses of his best snooker to regain the advantage, after Jackson made a costly error of leaving a red on the rim of the pocket.

He proceeded to clear up the rest of the table and utilised the black with ruthless efficiency to move 3-2 ahead.

But it was a case of anything you can do, I can do better in what was a fantastic response from Page. His break of 89 in the sixth frame surpassed Brecel’s 80, with the crowning glory his sublime black to the bottom right.

This was all the more impressive with a pesky red hindering his shot, but sadly for the Welshman, it was all downhill from that point onwards.

He would reclaim his advantage again with two separate breaks of 44 and 26, and the three snookers which Page needed to keep the frame alive was too much of an ask.

This was far from a vintage performance from the Belgian, as he failed to pot a simple yellow, but Page failed to accept the gift and would pot the yellow and green to seal a nervy victory.

For all of the nerves, for Brecel, it was a much more straightforward afternoon for Judd Trump. He cruised past World no. 91 Mohammed Ibrahim with a 5-0 victory to set up a round-two meeting with Jordan Brown.

Trump set the tone for this one-sided contest with a dominant start, after scoring a break of 71.

Ibrahim rallied well in the second frame in a more respectable effort, but a break of 74 was enough for Trump to double his lead.

But any hopes of an unlikely comeback were quickly extinguished when a break of 117 in a score of 131 did not allow Ibrahim a chance to get to the table.

Trump increased his lead further with another sizeable break of 60 almost enough to reach another century, but not quite in a 91-point haul.

The fifth and final frame did not see Trump at his fluent best, not that it mattered much, as he still got the job done after coming out on top 62-28.