After yesterday’s matches we know eight of the qualifiers who will feature in the draw of the 2025 UK Championship, but we don’t know yet who they will face at the Barbican. The draw will be made today, early in the afternoon.
One thing that’s already a certainty is that the seeds will not have it easy. There is a lot of quality down the tour and they will come cold against players who have already secured some good money and ranking points. All the pressure will be on the seeds.
Maguire Through To York – And Has Sights On Top 16
Stephen Maguire, who lifted the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship trophy back in 2004, secured his return to the Barbican with a 6-1 win over Ian Burns on Judgement Day, and still targets a return to the world’s top 16 having dropped out in 2022.
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Glasgow’s 44-year-old Maguire has a tremendous record in this event, having reached the final three times as well as the semi-finals on four other locations. And he’s into the last 32 again and in the hat for the random draw to be made on Thursday at 3pm. None of the top 16 seeds will want to face an in-form Maguire given his record in York.
Breaks of 55, 51, 72 and 75 helped Maguire to a comfortable victory against Burns. “I will have to play better than I did today, that was a dog fight,” he said. “But I do play better in York, it’s a good place.”
Currently ranked 25th, Maguire has been as high as second in the world, though he has not featured among the top 16 in the past three years. “I need to get back in the top 16,” said the Scot, who won the Championship League at the start of the current season. “I am not happy floating about where I am, coming to these qualifiers. You still have to tell yourself this is the UK Championship, and that’s the hardest bit. I can see the rewards the top 16 or top eight have now, and I want a piece of that. I missed most of that when I was in the top 16. I am not there, so something’s missing.”
Michael Holt, a quarter-finalist at the Barbican last year, will be back again as he came from 3-1 down to beat Yuan Sijun 6-3 with a top break of 104. “I was good today, towards the end I didn’t miss anything,” said Holt. “This season has gone the same as the last one. I was all chipper at the start, then I was useless, then it came to the UK Championship and I had a good run. I said to myself that I need to do something to break this cycle. I just get nervy, and if I bottle it I am useless. If I don’t bottle it, I’m a decent player. My attitude has been good this week, it has been nice to play ok and not be embarrassed out there.”
China’s Lyu Haotian got the better of a tense decider to beat Mitchell Mann 6-5. “I felt fine before the decider, I was calm and I was able to take my chance,” said Lyu. “I made a few mistakes in my last two matches and didn’t play that well. But I just told myself not to go for risky shots and to wait for my chances, I am happy I could pull it off.”
David Gilbert got the better of a high quality match against Daniel Wells by a 6-4 scoreline. Wells compiled breaks of 75, 62, 52, 102 and 106, but still Gilbert finished on top with a high break of 90. He said: “I have hardly played in the last few weeks, I am a bit of a numpty now but we’ll see what happens in York.”
Inspired by his late father who sadly passed away last month, Scott Donaldson pulled off an astonishing comeback as he recovered a 5-0 deficit to beat Stuart Bingham 6-5 in the final qualifying round of the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship.
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Donaldson was contemplating the long trip back to Scotland when he lost the first five frames against former World Champion Bingham, but then won the last six to earn a place in the televised stages in York which start on Saturday.
The 31-year-old’s triumph is all the more remarkable given that he is mourning the death of his father Hector. “It was my dad. There is no way I could win that match normally,” said an emotional Donaldson. “I can’t believe it, I’m struggling for words. There’s no way I have done that, I couldn’t play. The run of the ball I had in the last three fames, it was incredible. Stuart must be sick, he had chances.
“At the very end when I potted match ball, I thought ‘what is going on here?’ This game is stupid, you can go from feeling nothing, then at the end felt I could pot anything on the table.
“I always used to travel together with my dad to the UK Championship, so that will be tough. He was meant to come to Belfast (for the Northern Ireland Open) with me but passed away a couple of weeks before. I was playing and looking up to see where he was, but he was nowhere. It’s hard for me to think about anything to do with snooker, but when out there I’m alright because I am used to being like a robot out there. That’s the value of this game. My wife will still be with me, she’s everything to me.“
Bingham reeled off the first five frames with a top break of 117 but the tide turned in the sixth and world number 52 Donaldson fired runs of 56, 64, 110, 51, 91 and 64. Equivalent comebacks have only been made a handful of times in the history of the UK Championship, notably in 2014 when Nigel Bond fought back from 5-0 down to beat Barry Hawkins 6-5.
Zhou Yuelong, a semi-finalist in this event in 2020, enjoyed a 6-2 success against amateur Jamie Clarke with top breaks of 103 and 109. “I really enjoy playing in York, the crowd is always great there,” said China’s Zhou. “I’d rather not play Xiao Guodong because we live together, or Zhao Xintong because he is my best friend. It’s an exciting time for the game because lots of young players are improving, like Wu Yize who has won a big tournament and Liam Pullen who made a 147 here.”
Elliot Slessor is enjoying his best season as a pro as he lies ninth on the Sportsbet.io One Year Rankings, and he earned his Barbican spot with a 6-4 win over Zak Surety. At 3-1 down, Slessor punched the table so hard he was fortunate not to break a bone. But his fortunes improved after that as he won five of the last six frames with a top break of 105.
“The big difference this season is that I am sticking in there and trying my best, even when I am playing garbage,” said Slessor. “I was frustrated during that game but I didn’t chuck the towel in. It’s like a pressure cooker, and when I did that (hit the table) I felt a lot better afterwards. Before that I was holding it in, and playing rubbish so I needed a release. I know you wouldn’t tell a junior player to do that, but I have been like that all my life. I have never won a match at the Barbican but I’ll try to put that right.”
On a night of fight backs, Ben Woollaston came from 4-1 behind to beat Joe O’Connor 6-5, winning a tense 67-minute deciding frame. “That was probably craziest match I have ever been involved in,” said Woollaston. “I played really well from 4-1 down but it felt everything was going against me. Then Joe had me in a lot of trouble when he needed snookers at the end. I have lost a lot of deciders this season so it’s nice to win one like that.“
Personally, I miss the time when the UK Championship was best of 17 from start to finish. It added more prestige to the event and, importantly, gave the lower ranked player some invaluable experience with multi session matches, and the challenges they bring, notably the “how to handle the in between session time”.
I was still active on tour when the decision to shorten the matches was made. From what I heard, the change of format was driven by the BBC. Sessions that didn’t yield a result had poor viewing figures and there were lots of empty seats in the venue as well. In that respect, the decision is understandable but, to me at least, it diminished the prestige of the event.
York is a beautiful city, and “Christmas time ” in York is especially enjoyable. The weather can be very cold, but the Northerners are warm and welcoming. The historical city is full of lights and festive decorations and the Minster is more beautiful than ever in its Christmas lights…
8 thoughts on “2025 UK Championship Qualifiers – Judgement Day 1”
notably the “how to handle the in between” session time”.
Just read that after commenting. I personally think since this time is not part of the actual match that it is not that “interesting” how they handle it, and personally think that coming back from 5-0 is somehow more “interesting” ans maybe remarkable. But of course, multi -session matches are indispensable for the WC of course.
I think that you misunderstood what I meant about the between session time. While players are involved in the match, they don’t have much time to ponder on what mistakes they did, what is at stake etc… They have to play and stay in the moment. But between sessions, things are different. They have a lot of time to reflect on the situation, on “what if?” scenarios. Some handle it well, but not all of them, especially those who never had to deal with such situation. Some, being ahead, become complacent, others in the same situation start to think about all the possible disaster scenarii and become anxious. The player behind may regroup and find something on the practice table, or they might get dispirited and give up in their mind. Experience matters, even with these psychological aspects.
I understood it exactly like that. What you describe is the psychological side of the game, which is important of course. But what I was saying is that best of 11s are actually not too short and not too long and are proper tests, because I find it more of a achievement and when a player comes back from a huge deficit when they actually couldn’t, let’s say, has so much time that he or she actually could have a sleep and really resume the match as if it was a new one, and therefore cannot gain an advantage just through doing things more cleverly away from the table instead of on the table.
As I said I couldn’t imagine the WC without multi-sessions, but again I understand the BBC’s point of view, there are not many sports that don’t produce a result in a timeframe of a few hours and/or are played over several days, and again best of 11s just feel “fair”.
It would make much sense to me to go back to best of 17 as it is still advertised as a Triple Crown event (even they say there is a fourth major now), and because it distincts now nothing whatsoever from other tournaments regarding difficulty to win in terms of how many frames you have to win to win the title.
Just to confirm Monique, David Hendon also said that the initiative came from the BBC.
It would make sense to me to go back, but actually I think best of 11s are the best format, especially for television evening programs where you can run over time with no problems.
Also I think best of 11s are “proper” matches. With best of 7s, everything can happen, with two sessions, the trailing player always can regroup and you can get away with being tested by your opponent. Just when you consider the human biorhythm, everything can happen in between sessions and you can somehow run into a disadvantage which was not your fault. So with best of 11s, I think, usually the better player should win.
There is now 4th major, just because the Saudis throw a lot of money into their Masters, its format is not better than many smaller tournaments starting with plenty of best of 7s. Yes, I prefer long multisession matches, but you are right, best of 12 is still a proper match, less than that is lottery.
On a different note, Slessor really needs anger management treatment. Very dislikeable player, hope he will lose soon.
I mean there is NO 4th major, autocorrect will be my undoing
Autocorrect drives me mad at times as well … 😡. And I feel the same as you about Slessor, always did, right from the start when he was an amateur.
Yes, you are right, if the Saudis would really be interested in the game, they should or would have insisted on rebranding the “Triple Crown series” to the “Quadruple Crown series”, wouldn’t they? “Triple Crown” sounds better.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Just read that after commenting. I personally think since this time is not part of the actual match that it is not that “interesting” how they handle it, and personally think that coming back from 5-0 is somehow more “interesting” ans maybe remarkable. But of course, multi -session matches are indispensable for the WC of course.
I think that you misunderstood what I meant about the between session time. While players are involved in the match, they don’t have much time to ponder on what mistakes they did, what is at stake etc… They have to play and stay in the moment. But between sessions, things are different. They have a lot of time to reflect on the situation, on “what if?” scenarios. Some handle it well, but not all of them, especially those who never had to deal with such situation. Some, being ahead, become complacent, others in the same situation start to think about all the possible disaster scenarii and become anxious. The player behind may regroup and find something on the practice table, or they might get dispirited and give up in their mind. Experience matters, even with these psychological aspects.
I understood it exactly like that. What you describe is the psychological side of the game, which is important of course. But what I was saying is that best of 11s are actually not too short and not too long and are proper tests, because I find it more of a achievement and when a player comes back from a huge deficit when they actually couldn’t, let’s say, has so much time that he or she actually could have a sleep and really resume the match as if it was a new one, and therefore cannot gain an advantage just through doing things more cleverly away from the table instead of on the table.
As I said I couldn’t imagine the WC without multi-sessions, but again I understand the BBC’s point of view, there are not many sports that don’t produce a result in a timeframe of a few hours and/or are played over several days, and again best of 11s just feel “fair”.
It would make much sense to me to go back to best of 17 as it is still advertised as a Triple Crown event (even they say there is a fourth major now), and because it distincts now nothing whatsoever from other tournaments regarding difficulty to win in terms of how many frames you have to win to win the title.
Just to confirm Monique, David Hendon also said that the initiative came from the BBC.
It would make sense to me to go back, but actually I think best of 11s are the best format, especially for television evening programs where you can run over time with no problems.
Also I think best of 11s are “proper” matches. With best of 7s, everything can happen, with two sessions, the trailing player always can regroup and you can get away with being tested by your opponent. Just when you consider the human biorhythm, everything can happen in between sessions and you can somehow run into a disadvantage which was not your fault. So with best of 11s, I think, usually the better player should win.
There is now 4th major, just because the Saudis throw a lot of money into their Masters, its format is not better than many smaller tournaments starting with plenty of best of 7s. Yes, I prefer long multisession matches, but you are right, best of 12 is still a proper match, less than that is lottery.
On a different note, Slessor really needs anger management treatment. Very dislikeable player, hope he will lose soon.
I mean there is NO 4th major, autocorrect will be my undoing
Autocorrect drives me mad at times as well … 😡. And I feel the same as you about Slessor, always did, right from the start when he was an amateur.
Yes, you are right, if the Saudis would really be interested in the game, they should or would have insisted on rebranding the “Triple Crown series” to the “Quadruple Crown series”, wouldn’t they? “Triple Crown” sounds better.