Here is WST report on day at the 2025 English Open
BetVictor English Open Day Six
Stuart Bingham emphatically ended a four-year BetVictor English Open losing streak, thrashing Dylan Emery 4-0 in Brentwood.
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Bingham lives just 25 minutes along the road in Basildon, but since the English Open moved to the Brentwood Centre in 2022, he hasn’t won a game in the event.
The 2015 World Champion recently opted to shelve plans for lens replacement surgery, for fears it could be detrimental to his game. However, Bingham appeared to have his eye in from the get go this afternoon.
Breaks of 116, 86, 103 and 61 saw the Ball run blitz to four straight frames and set up an intriguing clash with Mark Allen, who beat Scott Donaldson 4-1. Bingham will be hoping to rectify a poor record against the Northern Irishman, who he hasn’t beaten since 2015.
“I’ve broken the duck here in Brentwood. The first win in four years on my doorstep. I’m over the moon. I kept my concentration and made four good breaks,” said 49-year-old Bingham.
“Playing any top 16 player will be a battle and you find out where your game is as well. A top opponent like Mark is a real test and I’m looking forward to it.”
Defending champion Neil Robertson got his campaign underway with a 4-1 defeat of Thailand’s Sunny Akani.
The Melbourne cueman is riding the crest of a wave currently, having scooped the £500,000 top prize jackpot at the recent Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters. He also travelled home last week to be honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia.
Robertson crafted contributions of 105 and 136 en route to this evening’s win. He now faces Welshman Jackson Page, who beat Zhao Hanyang 4-1.
Robertson said: “It was the first time I’d practised since being in Australia. With the jet lag and everything, I’ve been asleep by this time the last couple of days. I played really well and I couldn’t have expected to play any better than that. I’m delighted.
“The fact that the match was open and with good scoring meant I was able to sustain my concentration. I was worried that if the match went on I would lose focus, but there was a really good crowd and that helped.”
World Champion Zhao Xintong set up a blockbuster showdown with Jack Lisowski by whitewashing India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha 4-0.
Zhao was in sparkling form this evening, cruising to victory in just 46 minutes with century runs of 105, 134 and 110. Lisowski top scored with 128 in a 4-2 defeat of Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, where both players averaged under 15 seconds a shot.
World number one Judd Trump crafted his 1,100th and 1,101st career centuries during a 4-0 whitewash win over Michael Holt.
The 2019 Crucible king’s season is yet to catch fire, with one solitary quarter-final at the Shanghai Masters his best showing so far. He will be hoping to capture his 31st ranking title this week though and faces Yuan Sijun up next.
Trump said: “It was a decent performance. If he won the first frame it could have been different, but I got a bit of confidence and played well after that.
“It is so nice when you are able to win tournaments early in the season. It takes the pressure off immediately and you are able to relax. When you don’t do that you feel you are chasing. Until you get that big prize, you are always a little bit on edge as the tournaments seem to fly by. You don’t want to leave it too long.”
Gary Wilson progressed courtesy of a 4-2 win over Sanderson Lam. That sets up a North East of England derby with Elliot Slessor, who beat Jimmy Robertson 4-2.
I don’t have much to add … for once WST report was pretty comprehensive.
That said, the match I watched in the afternoon isn’t reported on: Ricky Walden beat Joe O’Connor by 4-1 with breaks of 50, 63, 52 and 99. When on form Ricky is a very fluent player and very good to watch as well. He’s very tall and, because of that, his stance and cue action look peculiar but they are effective. He could, and probably would have a brighter prize list if it wasn’t for back pain, something he suffered from for most of his career and that is certainly caused by his very tall stature forcing him to adopt a rather awkward and uncomfortable stance at the table.
As usual, you will find all the detailed results on snooker.org.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 