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.
Here is the (short) report by WST on what happened on the fourth and last day of the 2025 Scottish Open Qualifiers:
BetVictor Scottish Open Qualifiers Day Four
Liam Pullen scored a 4-0 whitewash win over Daniel Wells to earn his place in the final stages of the BetVictor Scottish Open.
The 20-year-old Yorkshireman is in a rich vein of form, having made a maiden quarter-final at the recent Xi’an Grand Prix, where today’s opponent Wells was a beaten semi-finalist.
Breaks of 72, 50 and 72 helped Pullen to a comfortable win today. He now progresses to the final stages, which take place in Edinburgh from Monday December 15th.
Quickfire Thai Thepchaiya Un-Nooh scored a 4-1 win over compatriot Chatchapong Nasa. He averaged just 17.1 seconds a shot in a win where he top scored with a stunning run of 144.
Robbie Williams beat Women’s World Champion Bai Yulu 4-0, while Poland’s Antoni Kowalski qualified with a 4-2 win over David Lilley.
And, as always, a lot of interesting results have been “overlooked” by the guy or gall in charge of reporting for WST.
Luca Brecel didn’t show up, giving Steven Hallworth the first win of the day. No explanation has been given so far. Steven won’t care and his fans didn’t complain too much … 😉.
Chang Bingyu whitewashed Xu Si in style: he produced a break over 50 in every frame.
As mentioned by WST Robbie Williams whitewashed Bai Yulu. What they didn’t mention is that Bai actually scored the only break over 50 in that match…
Ishpreet Sing Chada beat Dylan Emery by 4-3 in a quite extraordinary match. Dylan lead by 3-0. He had scored breaks of 73, 67 and 70 by that point, and had another 58 break in frame 4, a frame he lost by 60-58. Ishpreet also got a 58 break in that pivotal frame, and then went on to win the three remaining frames without any big break. Dylan may have felt that he was the better player out there, he was certainly the heaviest scorer but a big break wins you only one frame…
Antoni Kowalski beat David Lilley by 4-2, with break of 64, 66 and 52, as mentioned by WST. This is a very good result for Antoni because David is the kind of hard match player who usually causes problems to the young ones who are not used to that type of match.
Wang Yuchen also got a good result: he beat the experienced Ricky Walden by 4-3. Ricky made two centuries in that match, 112 and 113, in frames 3 and 6. All the other frames were closely contested. Wang’s only break of note was a 67 in frame 5.
Stan Mood and He Guoqiang won the two last matches on the day, both by 4-1. He’s opponent was Alex Ursenbacher who had a 81 break in the only frame he won but other than scored only 25 points in the four frames he lost.
Shaun Murphy remained on target to win back-to-back ranking titles as he made three centuries in a 6-4 defeat of Gary Wilson to set up a final clash with Mark Williams at the Xi’an Grand Prix in China.
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A match of outstanding quality included four breaks over 130 plus a further four over 70 within the ten frames, but Murphy proved unstoppable as he came from 3-1 down to take five of the last six.
Having won the Unibet British Open in Cheltenham 14 days ago, Murphy could become the first winner of consecutive ranking titles since Judd Trump took three in a row in October 2023. The Magician will meet Williams over 19 frames on Monday, with the trophy and £177,000 top prize on the line.
World number 12 Murphy briefly dropped out of the top 16 earlier this season but has responded to the setback with a dramatic return to form. The 43-year-old is set for his 28th ranking final and will be looking for a 14th title which would leave him just one behind Ding Junhui on the all time list. It would also continue his record of winning each of his ranking titles on one occasion only.
Today’s result has already come with a huge bonus for Murphy as his run to the final this week has earned him a place in next month’s Riyadh Season Snooker Championship at the expense of Mark Selby.
A run of 91 gave Murphy the opening frame before Wilson responded to take three in a row with top breaks of 81 and 139. After the interval, Murphy stormed back with 81, 131 and 140 to go 4-3 ahead, then crucially he took a tight eighth frame on the colours. World number 17 Wilson, whose run this week will take him back into the elite top 16, pulled one back with a 74, but Murphy finished in style with a 141 total clearance.
“I felt I hadn’t done that much wrong at 3-1 down,” said Murphy, who has won his last 13 consecutive matches. “Gary played very well all the way through. In frame five he broke off and forced me to go for a long red, I potted it and won the next three frames. I had a bit of luck at the right times, on another day I could have easily lost that match. The eighth frame I knew was really important. As I have got older and got more maturity in my game you sense those moments. I haven’t always had that awareness to stick a ‘Mark Selby’ or ‘John Higgins’ frame in there. I have been a bit slow to the party but I am learning.
“This vein of form won’t last forever but I am enjoying it. I played well in Brentwood, played well in Cheltenham and I was delighted to lift the trophy. Here this week I’ve got another chance. But I have got one of the best of all time in my way and he will give me nothing. We have had some great matches over the years and I am sure tomorrow will be no different.“
Asked about earning a place at the event in Riyadh, where a $1 million bonus will be on offer for making a ‘super maximum’ of 167 by potting the unique gold ball, Murphy added: “I am really pleased to get myself back into the top ten and to qualify for that event. What an achievement it will be for whoever makes the first 167.”
Mark Williams is just one win away from becoming the oldest ever ranking event winner as he came from 3-2 down to beat Daniel Wells 6-3 and reach the final of the Xi’an Grand Prix in China.
Williams will meet Shaun Murphy or Gary Wilson in the final on Monday with a top prize of £177,000 up for grabs. As it stands the oldest ranking event winner is Ray Reardon who was 50 years and 14 days when he landed the 1982 Professional Players Tournament, but Williams could extend that record to 50 years and 206 days. He could also become the first player to win a title in every decade from his teens through to his 50s.
The three-time World Champion will be playing in the 44th ranking final of his 33-year career and aiming for a 27th title, which would leave him just one behind Steve Davis on the all-time list. Runner-up to Zhao Xintong at the Crucible last season, Williams remains a strong contender for titles and is into his first final of the new campaign.
An all-Welsh battle saw world number 47 Wells contesting his fourth ranking event semi-final, and he is still yet to reach a final. After sharing the first four frames, Wells edged ahead by potting the final blue and pink to take the fifth. Williams won a scrappy sixth for 3-3, at which point the highest break of the match was just 42.
World number five Williams finally found some rhythm as a superb run of 129 gave him the lead, and a 53 in the next helped make it 5-3. In frame nine, Williams led by 33 points with just the colours left, then Wells got the snookers he needed on the yellow. But Williams later laid two tough snookers on the brown and when Wells missed the second, he offered the handshake.
“Most of my games this week have been the same, pretty poor,” admitted Williams. “I scraped over the line again, I’m glad to win. Apart from the one century break, it was tough out there. I might have looked calm but you wouldn’t want to know the names I was calling myself in my head. I struggled all match, I just stuck in there. Honestly, I don’t know how I am in the final. Can I do it once more? Probably not, I would have to play a lot better otherwise I’ll get trampled on. I will try my best.
“I have played some unbelievable matches this season and lost 5-4 or 5-3. In this tournament I haven’t looked like making breaks but I’m in the final. I’ll take winning like this over playing out of my skin and losing.
“I suppose if I take that record as the oldest winner, Ronnie or John Higgins will beat it in a few months time. It’s just nice to be in a final, and to win a tournament would be great. At the start of this week if you had offered me the quarter-finals I would have bitten your hand off, so for the final I would have bitten your whole body off“.
I don’t really have anything to add about the matches.
The Final today will be contested between two players with a combined age of 93. Snooker at the top nowadays is definitely not exactly a “young man’s game”, despite the fact that we do have some very good youngsters on the tour. But those “darn oldies” refuse to go away!
The conditions in Xi’An have been problematic all week. WST will probably say that the number of centuries and high breaks say otherwise, but what we have seen and the reactions of the commentators witnessing the outcome of some shots do tell a different story. It’s a shame for the players, but it probably can’t be helped.
Normally, the monsoon season should be over by now and the conditions should be dryer but it seems that the snooker gods have decided otherwise. Indeed, this is the weather forecast for this week in Xi’An …
It was an eventful day in Xi’An , with some really unexpected results coming our way. Indeed, as we enter the round of 32, only 8 of the top 16 players are still in the draw.
Robert Milkins boosted his tour survival hopes with a stunning 5-2 win over World Champion Zhao Xintong at the Xi’an Grand Prix.
Milkins first turned professional in 1995, but he now finds himself ranked 56th in the world. He’s currently projected to end the season in 74th position on the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings and faces potential relegation.
A miserable current campaign had seen Milkins only manage to register three match wins heading into today. However, four frames on the bounce, from 2-1 down, saw him overcome China’s first ever Crucible king. He now faces close friend Jimmy Robertson.
2023 Welsh Open winner Milkins said: “It does feel good. I was expecting Zhao to play better, but he struggled. You just have to take it. I’ve lost a lot of deciders this season and it has put me in a bad position. I’ve really been struggling and everything is like a pint of blood at the moment.
“I’ve been playing well when practising. I’ve been waiting for something to happen, but I haven’t taken it into any matches at all this year. It has been a bit of a shambles. A couple of deciders the other way and it could be different.
“Tournaments are very tough to win nowadays. I was lucky to win a couple and I’ll never forget that. I could do with winning one now. I don’t want to be going into the World Championship knowing I have to win matches to stay on tour.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan admitted he is hitting the ball the best he has in 13 years, after a 5-1 demolition of Yao Pengchang.
The Rocket hammered home two 147 breaks during a remarkable semi-final win over Chris Wakelin at the recent Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, exhibiting his brilliant best on one of the sport’s biggest stages.
Breaks of 63, 128, 53 and 54 helped him to victory today and earned a last 32 clash with Stephen Maguire.
O’Sullivan said: “I feel like I’m cueing as well as I have done since 2012. I played well between 2016 and 2019, but the last few years were pretty awful. I know I had some good wins but I was struggling with ball striking. At the moment I’m hitting the ball so pure and so clean. Sometimes when I’m practising I hit the ball so well I feel bored.”
Teenager Stan Moody continued his tremendous start to the season with a 5-3 win over two-time world finalist Ali Carter at the Xi’an Grand Prix, but played down headlines dubbing him the “Luke Littler of snooker”.
World number 49 Moody went on a stunning run to the quarters of the Wuhan Open earlier in the campaign and followed that up by making the same stage at the British Open. That has sparked a frenzy of media interest in the talented Englishman.
Next up this week for Moody is 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham. After today’s game he was keen to talk down the Littler links and admitted the recent surge in 147s has left him craving one of his own.
“I’ve seen a few of the headlines. I’ve got a long way to go to be a Luke Littler of snooker yet, but I’m on my way,” said 19-year-old Moody. “I want to be top 32 by the end of the season and go deeper in tournaments. I’m doing alright.
“I want one. I’ve only ever had one 147 which is a bit mad, but if I get a chance I’ll go for it. I only made my first one about five months ago, in a practice match, which is a bit mad.”
.World number one Judd Trump did make a maximum yesterday, but he tumbled out 5-4 at the hands of Matthew Stevens today, while Mark Selby suffered a shock 5-4 exit against Mark Davis
Strangely not mentioned in the above report is the 5-4 victory by Oliver Lines over Mark Allen.
Here, two more videos shared on Youtube and some pictures shared on social media. The first of the two videos presents the same frame as the one in the above WST report, but in full.
Gary Wilson made the sixth maximum break of his career during a 6-3 victory over Artemijs Zizins in the qualifying round of the International Championship.
World number 17 Wilson made his perfect break in the final frame, having earlier scored runs of 133, 61 and 79. He becomes the tenth player to reach six official 147s and is now in line for the £5,000 high break prize.
It’s the 228th maximum in snooker history and 11th of the season, just four short of the record of 15 set last season.
Ali Carter top scored with 105 in a 6-0 defeat of Liam Graham, booking a place in the final stages in Nanjing in November. Michael Holt saw off Reanne Evans 6-2 with a top break of 110, while Aaron Hill won an all-Cork derby with Leone Crowley by a 6-1 scoreline.
The completed draw and match schedule for the final stages will be announced soon.
I really don’t have much to add. There were only two sessions yesterday and most matches went the way I expected them to go. Actually, all the matches except the last two on the day went to the highest seeded player. Indeed Louis Heathcote beat Jamie Jones by 6-2 and Oliver Lines beat Jordan Brown by the same score.
Louis has been in excellent form this season so far. According to Cuetracker he has won 15 of the 21 matches he has played so far, and if we look at “straight knock-out” events only, he has won 14 matches out of 18. That’s a 78% win rate in straight knock-out and, believe me, that’s a very, very high success rate. Therefore, even if Jamie Jones is currently ranked higher than Louis, the outcome of their match did not surprise me at all.
Oli Lines and Jordan Brown can both play at a very high standard, but both tend to be a bit inconsistent/unpredictable. No “shock” there either.
Scott Donaldson has withdrawn from the event, so the winner of the match between Mark Williams and Chatchapong Nasa or Zhou Jinhao will rceeive a bye to the last 32.
Details of how to watch the event will be announced soon.
Mitchell Mann kept his recent momentum going as he scored an impressive 6-4 victory over Mark Allen to reach the final stages of the International Championship.
Allen won the BetVictor English Open last month but he misses out on a trip to Nanjing, China for this ranking event which boasts a top prize of £175,000. World number 84 Mann was a quarter-finalist at last week’s Unibet British Open and enjoyed another fine performance today in Sheffield. From 4-2 down, Allen made breaks of 85 and 82 to level at 4-4, but Mann got the better of two tight frames to clinch the result.
Stuart Bingham top scored with 90 in a 6-3 success against Ian Burns, while Sam Craigie enjoyed a superb 6-1 win over Joe O’Connor with a top run of 128. Wu Yize won a Chinese derby against Lan Yuhao 6-3 with a top break of 100 while Elliot Slessor made a 122 in a 6-2 defeat of Alexander Ursenbacher. Liam Highfield came from 3-1 down to edge out Jackson Page 6-5.
Again the “late session” is not covered by WST report. Most matches in that late session went the way you would expect although Bothh David Gilbert and Stephen Maguire were taken the full distance by their much younger and less experienced opponents, Liam Davies and Kreishh Gurbaxani. But the very last match of the day saw 14 years old Michal Szubarczyk beat Ishpreet Singh Chadha by 6-4 in a hard fought affair where both players scored four breaks over 50. The match score however doesn’t tell the whole story: Michal lead by 5-1 before Ishpreet came back at him to make it 5-4 with breaks of 55, 68 and 68. For a 14 years old child, to find it himself to take the next after that onslaught, at about 10 minutes short of midnight, when he probbly should be fast asleep in bed, is truly remarquable.
Marco Fu has pulled out of the upcoming International Championship qualifiers and Xi’an Grand Prix having fractured his elbow.
The three-time ranking event winner from Hong Kong posted on social media to say: “Ouch I’ve just fractured my elbow haha…..don’t ask me how. Nothing too serious, but will be out of action for roughly 2 months. Sadly l need to withdraw from a number of tournaments, hopefully l can get back on the table ASAP. Thank you for your support, take care and see you soon.”
In the International Championship qualifiers, Fu was due to face Neil Robertson on Tuesday September 30th, and he has been replaced in the draw by Umut Dikme.
In the Xi’an Grand Prix, Fu had already won his qualifying match and was due to face Kyren Wilson or Haris Tahir in the second round, so the winner of that tie will receive a bye to the last 32.
Fu had enjoyed a strong start to the season, winning eight of his first 12 matches, and has an average sot time of 15.6 seconds, the fastest on the tour this term.
Ouch indeed! I’m wishing Marco the best possible, a full recovery, without lingering pain and a prompt but not hastily return to the baize.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 