Brecel lifted the trophy at the Crucible in 2023 but won’t be there this year as 2024 runner-up Jones sealed a 10-5 victory at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
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Jones made five century breaks of 136, 100, 114, 114 and 132 on his way to magnificent success.
“I played pretty well and this morning I felt great, but tonight I felt shocked. But I managed to recover and get over the line,” Jones said.
“I don’t think I could play much better; it was probably the best I’ve played all season. I enjoy playing at the Crucible, you love it or hate it and you can fall apart, but I enjoy the atmosphere and it’s an amazing stadium.”
Two-time finalist Ali Carter won five frames in a row as he came back from 7-5 down to defeat Scotland’s Anthony McGill 10-7.
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“I felt like Anthony was playing too loosely and I had to stick with him because he could have gotten away from me,” said Carter, 46, who will be playing in the Crucible for his 22nd year.
Englishman Liam Highfield, 35, returned to the World Snooker Tour last year after suffering a broken wrist in an electric scooter accident in 2023.
Ranked 93rd, they had to win four qualifying matches and booked their place with a convincing 10-2 win over Oliver Lines.
“Everything is getting better,” said Highfield, who lost in the first round at the Crucible in 2017, 2021 and 2022.
“I couldn’t make a bridge when I broke my wrist and it’s been a long journey back and it’s very emotional to be back.
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“I didn’t know if I would ever go back there, I hope my career is on an upward curve from now on.”
A record number of Chinese players make it through
England’s Jack Lisowski, who claimed his first ranking title with a victory at the Northern Ireland Open in October, was also eliminated, losing 10-5 to China’s He Guoqiang.
It was a big day for China as Zhang Anda, Fan Zhengyi and Lei Peifan also took wins over Zak Surety, Ben Mertens and Ryan Day respectively.
That means there will be 11 Chinese players among the 32 playing in the Crucible, a new record, surpassing the previous high of 10 who played last year.
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It was almost a dozen men from China who advanced as Xu Si led 9-8 and 44-0 against Gary Wilson, but the Englishman, who had previously led 7-2, won the final two frames, including a break of 126 in the decider to advance.
“That was absolutely crazy,” Wilson said. “From the first ball I just had no indication, but I got a good lead, so maybe I was a little nervous. But tonight it was even worse and I thought ‘this is a complete disgrace.’
“At the end I thought ‘this is the biggest tournament we have and if you can’t try everything, when will you?’ So I just tried everything. It was just a bottle, and I don’t know how I did it.”
Zhang made five centuries and four half-centuries in his 10-3 win over Surety.
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Lei defeated 2024 winner Kyren Wilson in the first round of the Crucible in 2025 and will return there after never trailing in his 10-5 win over Welshman Day.
There will be four players making their first appearance at the Crucible: England’s Stan Moody and Liam Pullen, and Poland’s Antoni Kowalski qualified on Tuesday, and He will join them on Wednesday.
The draw will feature the top 16 and 16 finishers and will be broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live at 08:45 BST on Thursday.
The first round begins on Saturday, the final will begin on Sunday 3 May and conclude the following day, with full coverage of the tournament live on the BBC.
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Results of the final qualifying round
Tuesday’s results (1st to 10th)
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Hossein Vafaei (Iran) 10-4 Gao Yang (China)
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Stuart Bingham (England) 7-10 Matthew Stevens (Wales)
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Noppon Saengkham (Thailand) 8-10 Liam Pullen (England)
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Jiang Jun (China) 9-10 Stan Moody (England)
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David Gilbert (England) 10-6 Aaron Hill (Republic of Ireland)
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Zhou Yuelong (China) 10-4 Michael Holt (England)
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Pang Junxu (China) 10-8 Jackson Page (Wales)
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Jamie Jones (Wales) 8-10 Antoni Kowalski (Poland)
Wednesday’s games
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Zhang Anda (China) 10-3 Zak Surety (England)
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Gary Wilson (England) 10-9 Xu Si (China)
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Jack Lisowski (England) 5-10 He Guoqiang (China)
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Ryan Day (Wales) 5-10 Lei Peifan (China)
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Ali Carter (England) 10-7 Anthony McGill (Scotland)
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Fan Zhengyi (China) 10-4 Ben Mertens (Belgium)
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Oliver Lines (England) 2-10 Liam Highfield (England)
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Luca Brecel (Belgium) 5-10 Jak Jones (Wales)