China’s Si Jiahui is through to the last eight of the Halo World Championship for a second time after battling past world number 45 Ben Woollaston 13-10 at the Crucible Theatre.
Since first qualifying for the final stages in 2023, Si has enjoyed a dazzling record on snooker’s biggest stage.
The 22-year-old reached the semi-finals on debut as a qualifier two years ago. He led Luca Brecel 14-5 and looked set to reach the title match before an epic comeback saw him lose 17-15. Last year, Si defeated three-time Crucible king Mark Williams in the opening round, before bowing out in the last 16.
Next up, Si could face Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals, with the Rocket needing just one more frame to progress this evening. O’Sullivan leads Pang Junxu 12-4.
Woollaston’s campaign comes to an end, but he can reflect proudly on an excellent return to the Theatre of Dreams. The 37-year-old from Leicester was appearing in the final stages for the first time since 2013. His stunning 10-8 victory over Mark Selby in the opening round marked his first Crucible match win.
Heading into this afternoon’s concluding session, Si led 9-7 after clinching a crucial final frame last night.
That advantage was quickly wiped out, as former Welsh Open finalist Woollaston took the opening frame and then fired in a 110 break in the 19th to level at 9-9.
The next two frames were shared to leave the match finely poised at 10-10. Si then surged ahead with contributions of 63 and 126 to move to within a frame of victory at 12-10.
The 23rd frame came down to the brown. Woollaston missed a tricky chance to the green pocket, and Si responded by potting a superb brown to the same corner. Landing perfectly on the blue, he cleared the table to secure the win.
“It was tough, because neither of us played very well. It was exhausting — mainly mentally exhausting. In the end, I relied entirely on my willpower to win,” said world number 13 Si.
“I think I wanted to win too badly. I put too much pressure on myself, which made my performance worse. To be fair, my opponent was also playing in the last 16 at the Crucible for the first time, and he wasn’t playing very well either. Overall, both of us didn’t play to a high standard.
“No matter who my next opponent is, I hope I can show my best level. That would make me very happy. If it’s Ronnie, I think I will feel much more relaxed mentally. Losing to him would be very normal — it wouldn’t be upsetting. If my mindset is right, I’ll be able to play more freely and aggressively. I hope I can perform better in the next round.”
Judd Trump reached the quarter-finals of the Halo World Championship for the 11th time with an exciting 13-10 victory over Shaun Murphy, who described him as the overwhelming favourite for the title.
Murphy had the Crucible crowd on the edge of their seats with a thrilling recovery from 12-6 down to 12-10, but a missed red early in frame 23 ended his hopes of a career-best fight-back. World number one Trump goes into the last eight and will meet Luca Brecel next if the Belgian takes the one frame he needs against Ding Junhui tonight.
Champion in 2019, Trump hopes to join the small group of just six players to lift the trophy in Sheffield more than once. With 30 ranking titles to his name, two UK Championship and two Masters crowns and over 1,000 centuries, he is one of the sport’s most decorated players, but another Crucible success would put beyond doubt Trump’s position in the pantheon of all-time greats.
This fantastic contest included four centuries and 16 more breaks over 50, as well as the moment when Trump recorded his 100th ton of the season, earning a £100,000 bonus. Murphy said afterwards: “If Judd sustains that level of performance, he will win the tournament, without question.”
Trump, age 35, has lost five of his previous ten quarter-finals, including a shock reverse against Jak Jones last year, and will hope to improve that record when he battles Brecel or Ding over 25 frames on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Leading 10-6 coming into the concluding session, Trump got the better of the opening frame today by winning a safety battle on the final yellow, trapping Murphy in a snooker and taking the chance that followed to go five frames clear. A break of 86 made it 12-6, before Murphy stormed back with 88, 72, 112 and 99 to reduce the gap to 12-10.
World number 15 Murphy, champion in 2005, had first chance in frame 21 but made only 6 before missing a mid-range red to a top corner. Trump converted a long red to set up a run of 58, and Murphy’s last opportunity to counter ended with an under-cut red to centre.
“It was an extremely difficult draw, before the tournament it was the stand out tie that everyone was looking at, if we both got through the first round,” said Trump. “You don’t really want to be putting in so much effort to get to a quarter-final. But I take a lot of confidence from beating Shaun in that way.
“I expected him to throw a barrage of breaks at me at the end. When he gets going, there is probably no player like him, the confidence he exudes, it can be very intimidating. I had to compose myself, I didn’t want to go 12-11 or 12-12 against someone with that much confidence, with the crowd behind him. So in the end it was tremendous to get over the line.
“Luca is playing really well, I know what he is capable of. If I play him my safety will need to be good enough to keep him out. I’ll need all of my experience. There are some incredible match-ups in the quarter-finals. John Higgins and Mark Williams is an absolute classic. It is turning into a great tournament and hopefully it will keep getting better.“
Looking back on the moment he achieved the century of centuries on Sunday night, Trump added: “The crowd put on an amazing reception, I was a bit embarrassed to take the applause! To achieve it here at the Crucible was so special. But at that moment I knew I was in such a tough game, it was difficult to celebrate. I knew I had to win that last frame of the session to go 10-6 up. Now that’s done, I can just concentrate on the tournament because it’s going to be a real battle over the next week.”
Murphy said: “It’s frustrating because that’s the best I have ever played here and lost. I don’t think anyone has played as well as Judd and I over a long distance this year. There have been a lot of times this season when my opponent has played out of his boots. If I’d had more chances I felt I would have taken them. But I watched two and half sessions of Judd Trump magic.
“Every credit to Judd for the 100 centuries and winning the bonus. When it was first announced I called it ‘the Judd Trump and Neil Robertson award’ because they make so many centuries. I wanted to have a crack at it myself and I’ve had a good season but only made 58 which shows how good Judd has been.
“I feel to some degree I am playing the best snooker of my life. Winning the Masters this season was huge. But it will take me a few weeks to get over this defeat.”
Luca Brecel, who arrived for his second round tie in a private jet, breezed past Ding Junhui 13-4 to set up a quarter-final showdown with Judd Trump at the Halo World Championship in Sheffield.
The Belgian Bullet touched down in Sheffield barely an hour before competing in the first session of this second round encounter. He revealed afterwards that Arsenal footballer, friend and compatriot Leandro Trossard arranged the jet he used to fly into Sheffield.
Brecel famously travelled home in between rounds during his run to the 2023 world title and he played snooker reminiscent of that run in this tie.
Ding will have to wait another year in his bid to claim a maiden World Championship crown. With 15 ranking titles to his name, he is his country’s greatest player and has paved the way for a record ten Chinese players to make it to the final stages this year.
The first session was dominated by Brecel and six-time World Champion Steve Davis described it as the best exhibition of snooker he has ever seen at the Crucible. It saw Brecel open up a 7-1 advantage, before he pushed forward in the second session to move one frame away from the win at 12-4.
That meant a swift evening’s work for Brecel, who needed just 15 minutes of play to claim victory. A break of 71 helped Brecel to cross the line with a clean kill which booked a quarter-final meeting with Trump.
The mercurial 30-year-old has an all-or-nothing track record in the World Championship. Having lost opening round ties in his first five trips to the Theatre of Dreams, he went all the way to the title two years ago after beating Mark Selby 18-15 in an epic final. David Gilbert inflicted the Crucible curse on Brecel in the first round last year.
Since making history as the first continental European to win a Crucible title, world number seven Brecel has struggled to maintain his form. He’s currently projected to slide to 38th in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings at the end of the season.
However, Brecel is clearly in the mood this week and if he can produce a similar standard snooker against world number one Trump, we could be set for a classic quarter-final. They get underway in their best of 25 clash tomorrow from 2:30pm. After today’s win Brecel admitted that his jet setting approach helps create conditions which allow him to thrive on the table.
Brecel revealed: “I don’t like to hang around too long. I like to get here as late as possible. Even today, I only arrived 15 minutes before the game. That has always been my way and as long as it works, that is good. I booked the plane the day before. I know Trossard the Arsenal footballer and he arranged it for me.
“I think all of the sessions were good. Even when I got the chance today, my cue ball was tight. I was happy with that because I wanted to finish it off quickly. There was a little bit of pressure to get it done and give myself time to prepare for tomorrow.
“When you come off you think you didn’t play that well, but you hear everyone saying you played an amazing session. Watching some of the frames back you can see you are playing really well. I’ve said it for a long time. I got to the quarters in Scotland and at the Masters, semis in Wales and the final in Saudi. I’ve won a lot of games. For me it isn’t a surprise. Everyone says I’ve not been playing well but I don’t get that.
“I will have to keep up my level of play. Judd is used to playing like that, but for me it is really difficult. My focus needs to be strong and my cue ball control needs to be good.”
O’Sullivan Into Quarters But Keeps Expectations Low
Ronnie O’Sullivan remains cautious about his chances of progressing further at the Halo World Championship, but an emphatic 13-4 defeat of Pang Junxu put him into a 23rd Crucible quarter-final.
With a longer term plan to rebuild his game over the next two years, O’Sullivan is keeping his expectations low in Sheffield, and insists his game is yet to click on the table. But his fans can take heart from the facts: in his first two matches he has made six centuries and 14 more breaks over 50, winning 23 frames and conceding just eight. He may face a tougher test next against Si Jiahui, who won 6-4 when they met at the same stage of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in September.
“When I am playing well, as soon as I get a chance, before I even pot the first red I think it’s probably ‘game over’,” said O’Sullivan tonight. “And then I’m in such a rhythm, give me half a chance in the next and I can reel four or five frames off. The mindset between that and where I am now – it feels hard for me to approach the game just trying to pot one ball at a time. On the practice table you can try to fix things but out there you can’t really do that. So you have to just refocus, forget the bad shots, move forward and try to pot the next ball.”
O’Sullivan extends his own record for the most quarter-final appearances – ahead of John Higgins and Stephen Hendry who have 19 apiece – and has won 13 of the previous 22. He is now just seven days and three wins away from a possible eighth world crown which would put him one ahead of Hendry. The 49-year-old has not won a tournament for 13 months and had not even played competitively since January before arriving in Sheffield, but with two wins now under his belt his presence will be felt by the other seven remaining players.
Tonight’s result means that O’Sullivan and fellow ‘Class of 92’ members Higgins and Mark Williams are all in the quarter-finals at the Crucible for the fifth time – this previously occurred in 1998, 1999, 2011 and 2022.
World number five O’Sullivan led 12-4 after the first two sessions, having compiled breaks of 58, 91, 50, 63, 68, 52, 79, 80, 105, 135 and 62, and needed just one frame tonight to wrap up the result with a run of 95.
He added: “The more table time I get, the more of a chance I have to try to get my game to where I need it to be. Whatever happens here doesn’t make a difference to how I approach the next two years. If I play my game then it is irrelevant who is sitting in the other chair. I always back myself that if I am somewhere near my best then I’m confident of beating anyone. But when I am not playing well, then I have to rely on my opponent making mistakes. It can click into gear at any time, but I am a realist and I know my own patterns of where I am and where I need to be.”
The Essex cueman’s best-of-25 contest with China’s Si gets underway at 2.30pm on Tuesday, with further sessions on Wednesday at 10am and 7pm.
There isn’t much to add …
Ronnie may not be at his best but he’s certainly trying very hard and giving it all. We can’t ask more than that. Ten days ago we weren’t even sure he would turn up and play. He’s in the QFs.
Ronnie O’Sullivan says ‘horrible’ Crucible demolition of Pang Junxu was ‘hell’
Ronnie O’Sullivan is not comfortable with his game but keeps on winning (Picture: Getty Images)
Ronnie O’Sullivan is into the World Snooker Championship quarter-finals with two comfortable wins, but says his 13-4 win over Pang Junxu was ‘hell’ and says his game feels as bad as it ever has.
The Rocket made two centuries and 10 half-centuries as he brushed aside Pang, needing just one frame of the final third session as he made 95 to end things very early on Monday night.
This came after a 10-4 win over Ali Carter in the opening round as O’Sullivan breezes into the last eight despite not playing since January before he turned up in Sheffield.
The results may have come, but he does not feel like his form, rhythm and enjoyment have come with them, insisting that he does not feel good about his game at all.
O’Sullivan told the BBC: ‘I feel so unconfident. It’s horrible, it’s horrible even when you’re playing alright, but let alone when you’re struggling.’
Asked what he is working on to rebuild his game to where he will be happy with it, he said: ‘I don’t even know to be honest. It’s just a feeling.
‘A safety shot I played there, I hit is so thick I can’t even see where I’m hitting it. It’s just guess work. Then you try something else and the shot looks different again.
O’Sullivan remains on course for an eighth world title (Picture: Getty Images)
‘In the balls I was alright tonight because what I’ve changed felt alright, but there’s so many different parts of the game that you’ve got to get right. It’s hell, to be honest with you.’
He added: ‘It’s not even about winning, it’s about going out there and enjoying it, feeling confident enough to do yourself justice. I’m not even bothered about winning. It’s nice to win. You just want to be part of good games, I’ve always felt better if I’ve played well in the game and lost than when I’ve played terrible and won. I know I’m probably not normal, so I’ve accepted that as well.’
Both Carter and Pang struggled to find anything like their best form and O’Sullivan thinks that if they did he may well already have been beaten.
However, he does see some light at the end of the tunnel, admitting that he can be his own worst critic and some of his seven world titles have come when he felt he was playing poorly.
‘If either of my opponents that I played had played well I would have got beat, but they played poorly, they let me off the hook and I’ve managed to score a few. That’s basically how I’ve got through,’ he said.
I’ve won this tournament many times before playing what I consider bad, so it can be done. But in your early 40s it’s probably much more achievable than when you’re 50 and struggling to bend down and do your shoe laces up. It gets a bit hard.
It’s hard to judge because people say you’re not as bad as you think but feeling-wise I think it’s the worst I’ve ever felt. I don’t even know where my back arm is, where my left leg is, sometimes I can’t even see where I’m hitting. It’s difficult.’
Next up for him is Si Jiahui in the quarter-finals, someone he does expect to perform against him after losing to the 22-year-old at the Saudi Arabia Masters earlier this season.
‘This is a big acid test because he does score,’ said the Rocket. ‘The players I played in the first two rounds had enough chances to put me away but they haven’t, but I think this guy will.
‘He buried me in Saudi Arabia this year. I was scrapping but his scoring power was too much for me.’
Pang Junxu did not play well against O’Sullivan (Picture: Getty Images)
In other topics… Murphy has been at it again… telling the media that Judd wasn’t appreciated enough in particular by the older commentators. That’s not the feeling I have, but then, I’m not watching on the BBC, which almost certainly what Murphy refers to . He also suggested that Ronnie’s “past antics” were about seeking attention and courting the media. That’s definitely not something I agree with. What I have seen when I was in the media room is that some media – not all, far from it – were actually looking for anything “sensational” about Ronnie simply because his name “sells” and if that meant taking quotes out of context, or citing only part of what he had said and “distorting” what he had actually meant saying as a result, they did.
2 thoughts on “At the 2025 Crucible … Day 10 and Ronnie through to the QFs”
I really admire Ronnie’s will to compete. He is obviously so low on confidence and therefore struggling, but relentlessly tries to find something. Win or lose doesn’t really matter, I just hope he can find some enjoyment in the semi-final.
Murphy is a terrible hypocrite on various subjects, including any remark he makes about other people seeking attention.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
I really admire Ronnie’s will to compete. He is obviously so low on confidence and therefore struggling, but relentlessly tries to find something. Win or lose doesn’t really matter, I just hope he can find some enjoyment in the semi-final.
Murphy is a terrible hypocrite on various subjects, including any remark he makes about other people seeking attention.