The qualifying rounds for the 2025 Wuhan open concluded yesterday and here is the short report by WST:

Veteran White Knocks Out McGill

Jimmy White, ever present on the World Snooker Tour since 1980, enjoyed a superb start to the 2025/26 season as he made four breaks over 70 in a 5-2 win over Anthony McGill in the qualifying round of the Wuhan Open.

White, age 63, fired runs of 92, 80, 90 and 71 as he booked a place in the final stages of the ranking event in China in August.

World number two Kyren Wilson comfortably saw off Connor Benzey 5-0 with top breaks of 74, 52 and 63. Marco Fu fired three centuries in an excellent 5-3 win over world number 16 Chris Wakelin. Breaks of 120, 136 and 113 helped Hong Kong’s 47-year-old Fu into the last 64.

Scottish Open champion Lei Peifan pulled away from 3-3 to beat Ng On Yee 5-3 with a top break of 90. David Gilbert scored heavily in his 5-1 win over Ka Wai Cheung, knocking in runs of  64, 105, 120, 91 and 70. 

All the detailed results are, of course, available on snooker.org

One can’t help but love Jimmy. He’s 63 years old and his passion for the game is as strong as it was 50 years ago, when he was a mere cockney kid. He still plays a crowd-pleasing attacking snooker as well. Anthony Mc Gill notoriously dislikes playing in qualifiers but even if this was a factor yesterday, Jimmy still had to pot the balls and knock in those big breaks.

I’m also very pleased for Marco Fu. He’s a beautiful player and has been battling through eye issues. I’m not sure what the situation is with Marco’s eyes but he won yesterday and it’s what matters right now.

Lei Peifan beat On Yee by 5-3, winning the last two frames. Up to that point the match had been extremely close. On Yee, in my opinion, is not far to the “main tour” level and, maybe, the only thing she needs is a couple on wins to gain some confidence and she would get there. I believe that she may also benefit from playing a bit faster, if she can. Only my opinion.

Liam Highfield beat Stuart Bingham by 5-2. It was 2-2 at the MSI and Stuart had just scored a 93, the highest break in the match. But after the MSI Stuart only scored 13 points … not sure what happened there.

And, just because I really like the young man, who I met in Yixing when he was just a kid, I’m pleased for Wang Yuchen who outplayed Robert Milkins. He beat him by 5-1.

Today, the snooker action continues with the 2025 British Open qualifiers