Walsall's Joyce on cue in China to reach the fourth round

Walsall snooker ace Mark Joyce’s hot run of form has continued this week with a series of wins in the Wuhan Open in China.

Joyce, 41, will lock horns with China’s top-16 ranked star Zhang Anda in today’s round four, which is set to get under way at 12.30pm (GMT).

The Black Country potter is on the amateur tour for the 2024/25 campaign having fallen off the professional ranks at the end of last season, which ended a run of almost two decades on the main tour.

But he has made a fine start to life as an amateur, where similarly ranked players can still qualify for main tour events through qualification or as top-ups for withdrawn pros.

Joyce has enjoyed a scorching run of form on the baize this week having only entered the competition to replace seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, who withdrew for medical reasons.

And he downed Mitchell Mann 5-2 in qualifying before impressive wins over Sanderson Lam (5-2) and Robbie Williams (5-0) yesterday. He will pocket at least £12,000 in winnings. It adds to his run to the British Open second round last month, where Joyce was edged out 4-3 and won £3,000.