Local hero Jordan Brown channeled the energy of his home crowd in a sensational 4-0 victory over World Champion Zhao Xintong on the opening day of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open in Belfast.
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Brown won the Welsh Open in 2021 and climbed as high as 22nd in the world, but a poor run of results in recent seasons has left him in danger of relegation from the pro tour as he lies 64th in the projected end-of-season list. In that context, today’s result is one of the best of his career and he’s into the last 32 of a ranking event for the first time in 20 months. The popular 38-year-old from Antrim will meet Ashley Hugill next at the Waterfront Hall.
Crucible king Zhao has been suffering from illness and looked out of sorts today. Brown took a scrappy opening frame then won the second on the colours, then took the next two with the highest breaks of the match, 48 and 51.
“It was fantastic out there, I absolutely loved it out and I want to thank everyone for their support. This is a special place to play,” said Brown. “I haven’t given them much to shout about recently. I beat Neil Robertson here two years ago and I had to try to bring back those memories today and produce something similar. When you play Zhao you have to go for your shots. I kept him cold, especially in the first couple of frames.
“It has been very difficult over the last couple of seasons. It’s just confidence, I am a confidence player and when that goes, everything goes. I have been working with Fergal O’Brien on the mental side and trying to get things right again. If I play like that again there’s no reason why I can’t go further. I’ll have a pint of Guinness tonight, or maybe two! You have to celebrate moments like this with family and friends.”
Mark Selby is yet to reach the final of a ranking event this season but started strongly here with a 4-1 win over Ian Burns, highlighted by a break of 129 in the second frame.
“I actually love coming here, even though my record over the years has not been good,” said Selby. “I’ve only experienced the one-table set-up once here (in 2018 when he lost 6-5 to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-finals) and the atmosphere was great. But just the layout of the arena, how it’s tiered, it’s definitely up there as one of the best on tour for sure.”
Amateur Hugill scored a 4-2 success against Noppon Saengkham. Chris Wakelin, runner-up here two years ago, saw off Lan Yuhao 4-1 with a top break of 85, while China’s Wu Yize edged out Scott Donaldson 4-3. Ben Woollaston enjoyed a 4-2 victory over Hossein Vafaei while Pang Junxu beat Robbie Williams 4-1.
Judd Trump remains optimistic that he will end his ten-month title drought as a 4-2 victory over Anthony McGill put him into the last 32 of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open, a tournament he has won four times since 2018.
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Usually a prolific winner of titles, Trump hasn’t lifted a trophy since the UK Championship last December. Though he retains his position at the top of the official Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings, on this season’s list he is down in 34th spot and must get into the top 32 before Christmas to earn a place in the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong in February.
Handed a tricky opening tie against British Open runner-up McGill, Trump came through the test to book a meeting with Jackson Page. After losing the opening frame, Trump hit back to take three in a row with breaks of 62, 68 and 67. He had a clear chance to win 4-1 but missed the final green to a baulk corner and his opponent capitalised to take frame five on the black. McGill also led 36-1 in the sixth, but Trump saved his best until last with an excellent 82 clearance.
“As soon as I saw it was Anthony I knew I would have to be on top of my game and sometimes that helps,” said Trump. “I wasn’t at my best tonight but it was a pretty solid performance. He had chances to go 3-3 and in the end I made a good break to finish it.
“It’s just a matter of time before I have a deep run. You have to patient, there are so many great players out there. If I was getting smashed 5-0 or 5-1 in every tournament I’d be worried, but it’s just the odd decider in most of the events and hopefully that will turn around.“
Asked about his position on the one-year rankings he said: “Hong Kong is the one I definitely want to be in. If I don’t make the other two (in the Players Series) I’d only have myself to blame. If that happens then maybe it’s the break I need and it would be a different avenue into the World Championship. I’m just concentrating on trying to have some good events, keeping positive no matter what happens.”
Trump won this event thee times in a row from 2018 to 2020 and lifted the Alex Higgins Trophy again in 2023, naming Belfast’s Waterfront Hall as one of his top three venues on the circuit. He added: “The people are so friendly here and everyone is excited to play in this event. I had some unbelievable finals against Ronnie.”
John Higgins looked sharp in a 4-0 win over Louis Heathcote, firing runs of 84, 95 and 61. Page beat Steven Hallworth 4-0 with a top break of 73, while China’s He Guoqiang top scored with 99 in a 4-2 win over David Gilbert. Jack Lisowski earned a huge last-32 clash with Mark Selby by beating Haris Tahir 4-0 in just 47 minutes with a top break of 112.
WST mentions that Zhao Xintong has been suffering from illness, without being more specific. I’m not the kind of fan who believes that we “have a right to know”. We don’t, it’s a private matter, but I wonder if that illness is just some kind of viral/microbial infection that will almost certainly go away after a few days, or if is something more “long lasting” like glandular fever for instance. If it were to be the latter, it would explain a lot about Zhao’s miserable season so far.
I don’t have much to add.
Just one thing that isn’t snooker related. I wish that Scott Donaldson would get a short(er) haircut. I do understand that hair loss isn’t an easy thing to accept and to deal with, and I’m sorry for Scott who is only 31, a young age to go through that kind of thing, but IMO the longer haircut he is sporting right now doesn’t make things look better, on the contrary, it makes him look unkempt.
3 thoughts on “The 2025 Northern Ireland Open – Day 1”
I’ve read elsewhere online that Xintong’s illness is urticaria. Lewis might have more information.
Thank you for that information.
I found this in the news feed. It’s clearly a difficult situation and a real shame. Being the first World Champion from China means that he has a lot of expectations on his shoulders. He certainly doesn’t need the additional burden of health issues.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
I’ve read elsewhere online that Xintong’s illness is urticaria. Lewis might have more information.
Thank you for that information.
I found this in the news feed. It’s clearly a difficult situation and a real shame. Being the first World Champion from China means that he has a lot of expectations on his shoulders. He certainly doesn’t need the additional burden of health issues.