Coalisland’s Fergal Quinn edged out Antrim’s Robbie McGuigan 4-3 in the first qualifying round of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open, needing one more win to earn a place in the final stages in Belfast.
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Quinn, playing his debut season on the pro tour, will meet Zak Surety on Sunday with the winner to go through to the Waterfront Hall next month. McGuigan came from 2-0 down to lead 3-2, but Quinn took frame six with runs of 47 and 53 then got the better of a low-scoring decider.
Jimmy White reached the last 32 of this event last year but he misses out this time, losing 4-2 to China’s Huang Jiahao whose top break was 97.
Fight-back of the day came from Poland’s Mateusz Baranowski who recovered a 3-0 deficit to beat Wang Yuchen 4-3, making a 62 in the decider. Liam Pullen, who beat John Higgins in the Xi’an Grand Prix qualifiers earlier in the week, built on his momentum with a 4-0 defeat of Ben Mertens, firing breaks of 89, 96 and 100.
As usual as well – alas – the report is far from exhaustive and focuses mainly on the UK and Irish players results. Also, not a single match of the evening session is reported on. And, alas again, I can’t add too much to it.
I watched two matches, the Baranowski v Wang one and the Pullen v Mertens one. Both ended with defeat for player I supported1. Liam Pullen played extremely well, no complaints. The Baranowski v Wang match was a typical “qualifiers match”. It was hard fought, not very fluent at all, with only one breaks over 50, one each, a 63 by Wang.
Although I have absolutely nothing against their opponents ↩︎
China’s Yao Pengcheng continue to show promise in his debut pro season as he beat Ken Doherty 4-1 in the first qualifying round of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open.
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Earlier this week, 28-year-old Yao beat Zak Surety 5-1 to qualify for the Xi’an Grand Prix, and he notched another notable scalp with a comfortable win over former Crucible king Doherty. He will meet Oliver Lines on Saturday with the winner to go through to the final stages in Belfast next month.
Marco Fu opened with breaks of 104 and 114 and went on to beat Amir Sarkhosh 4-2. Liam Graham top scored with 96 in a 4-0 defeat of Chris Totten while Farakh Ajaib potted brown, blue and pink in the deciding frame to edge out Oliver Brown 4-3.
Julien Leclercq top scored with 99 in a 4-2 defeat of Florian Nuessle, while Ian Burns made a 130 during a 4-0 win over Haydon Pinhey.
I’m very pleased for Julien who really needed a good result as he appeared to struggle recently, but I would have preferred if it came against someone other than Florian. Another young player from mainland Europe also registered a win: Antoni Kowalski beat Zak Sheldon, an amateur from Northern Ireland. I had never heard of Zak before, I know next to nothing about him1 and, to be honest, he didn’t impress me at all. That said, he’s probably not used to professional conditions and the environment was hardly inspiring.
Intrigued by Lewis’ comment, I watched the match between Sunny Akani and Xu Yi Chen. It was good fun and I’m happy for Sunny who won it. Xu can pot for sure but, yeah, he’s peculiar.
Robertson To Defend English Title In Strong Brentwood Field
Neil Robertson will defend his BetVictor English Open title in the world ranking event which runs from September 11-21 at the Brentwood Centre in Essex, with the draw and format now available.
The field is packed with snooker’s star names including world number one Judd Trump, World Champion Zhao Xintong, Kyren Wilson, Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy, Mark Selby, Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong, Mark Allen, local Essex players Ali Carter and Stuart Bingham, and many more.
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The first two rounds run from Thursday September 11th to Sunday September 14th, then the top 32 seeds enter the action from Monday September 15th. The showpiece final will be on Sunday September 21st.
Australia’s Robertson lifted the Steve Davis Trophy last year after beating Wu Yize 9-7 in a dramatic final and he’ll start the defence of his title against either Sunny Akani, Oliver Brown on David Lilley. Matches involving the all-time greats in round three include:
Monday September 15
1pm Kyren Wilson v opponent
Not before 2pm Mark Selby v opponent
7pm Mark Williams v opponent
Not before 8pm Shaun Murphy v opponent
Tuesday September 16
1pm Judd Trump v opponent
Not before 2pm Mark Allen v opponent
7pm Neil Robertson v opponent
Not before 8pm Zhao Xintong v opponent
This is the first of the 2025/26 BetVictor Home Nations Series, with a bonus of £150,000 up for grabs for the players who performs best across the four events in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Robertson banked that bonus last season, with Trump, John Higgins and Robert Milkins winning it in previous years.
No Ronnie in the draw, which didn’t surprise me. He never liked these “packed” events played in Leisure centres and the Final in Saudi Arabia somehow has already “secured” his season even if he has a lot of points to defend.
World number 124 Jiang Jun scored a surprise 5-0 victory over Hossein Vafaei in the qualifying round for the Xi’an Grand Prix.
China’s 20-year-old Jiang took five frames in a row with a top break of 72 and he goes through to the final stages in Xi’an next month. Former Shoot Out champion Vafaei has struggled with a neck injury this year and has dropped from a career-high of 15th down to 25th in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings.
Marco Fu, the fastest player on the tour so far this season with an average shot time of just 13.7 seconds, raced to a 5-1 win over Sanderson Lam with top runs of 106, 99 and 71.
Stephen Maguire top scored with 85 in a 5-2 defeat of Bai Yulu, while Barry Hawkins made 121 and 134 in a 5-0 victory over Hatem Yassen. Hong Kong’s Wang Yuchen came from 3-0 down to beat Pang Junxu 5-3.
Well … if Hossein suffers from a lasting neck injury, he deserves credit for showing up, for trying his best and playing the match to a finish. That he lost is no surprise because all players who qualify for the main tour can play at a very high standard.
The most remarkable result registered yesterday, in my opinion, was Wang Yuchen’s win over Pang Junxu and it’s one that really pleases me. As you already know, I met him at an APTC in Yixing in 2012 when he was only 15. At the time he was trying to “juggle” between his dream to become a snooker player and his father’s wish to see him get a university degree. Eventually he managed both which is quite an achievement. He’s a very clever young man. There seems to be some confusion regarding Wang’s “snooker nationality”: it’s been swapping between “China” and “Hong Kong”. He probably has both. His father is from Hong Kong, that’s what he told me back then. But to play in that elite group of youngsters at the time, in mainland China, I suppose he had to be Chinese as well.
Snooker continues in Leicester today with the 2025 NI Open Qualifiers.
The report shared by WST on what happened on day one at the 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix qualifiers is rather short and far from exhaustive. Indeed, 21 matches were played on the day, but only five get as much as a mention …
Selby Secures Xi’an Spot
Mark Selby booked a place in the final stages of the Xi’an Grand Prix with an emphatic 5-0 win over Gong Chenzhi in the qualifying round on Monday.
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The qualifiers for this £850,000 ranking event run until Wednesday in Leicester, with winners going through to the televised phase in China next month.
Four-time Crucible king Selby rattled in breaks of 103, 63, 111 and 52 in a comfortable victory.
Louis Heathcote scored an impressive 5-3 win over BetVictor Scottish Open champion Lei Peifan, closing out the match with a 135. Wu Yize also made a 135 but was pushed all the way by Florian Nuessle, eventually winning 5-4.
Tour rookie Yao Pengcheng top scored with 137 in a 5-1 defeat of Zak Surety, while Jak Jones enjoyed a 5-0 win over Haydon Pinhey with runs of 91, 74, 98, 68 and 53.
Why those matches in particular? Don’t ask me. It seems that no match finishing past 6pm local time was reported on… maybe the man in charge of reporting had called it a day.
The top 16 players involved all won their match although not always with ease. Mark Allen was pushed all the way by Mitchell Mann, who, to be fair, is never an easy opponent.
Young Michal Szubarczyk, still only 14, won the last match of the day, past midnight, beating Martin O’Donnell in a deciding frame. Michal lead 4-1, only to be pegged back to 4-4. He didn’t crumbled. He won the decider with a break of 52. This kid is special.
Stan Moody recovered 4-2 deficit to beat Amir Sarkhosh 5-4 in the qualifying round for the Xi’an Grand Prix in Leicester.
Moody enjoyed his best ranking event run at last week’s Wuhan Open, reaching the quarter-finals, then almost lost momentum today but narrowly avoided a surprise defeat against world number 76 Sarkhosh. Teenager Moody took the last three frames with a top break of 70 and he will be on the plane to Xi’an for the final stages of this £850,000 ranking event next month.
Luca Brecel’s return to competitive action didn’t go to plan as he conceded his match against Sunny Akani midway through the third frame. Brecel had not previously played since the Halo World Championship in April, and released a statement last month to explain that he had been suffering from health problems .
The 2023 World Champion was playing with a new cue tonight and appeared to struggle to get used to it, and having lost the first two frames he offered the handshake to Akani when 40-1 down in the third.
Farakh Ajaib continued his fine start to the season as he beat Zhang Anda 5-4, coming from 54-0 down in the decider to take it on the final black. China’s tour rookie Xu Yichen came from 4-1 down to beat Jack Lisowski 5-4, winning the last four frames with runs of 78, 66, 53 and 66.
Shaun Murphy strolled to a 5-0 success against Liam Highfield with a top break of 117 while Zhou Yuelong made the third 147 of his career during a 5-2 defeat of Julien Leclercq.
Matthew Selt came from 4-2 down to beat Antoni Kowalski 5-4 while Saudi Masters semi-finalist Elliot Slessor enjoyed a 5-1 success against Liam Graham.
I watched the Brecel match … supporting Sunny Akani. What happened in that match didn’t surprise me and is an example of why, despite being Belgian, I’m not a fan of Luca. Yes, Luca is autistic … to an extend. He has autistic traits, certainly but he is still functional enough to live in society, to be in a relationship, to travel on his own, etc…
I honestly believe that the problem is elsewhere, that the problem is that he was raised as an only child, that he was overprotected and outrageously spoiled. That’s what I have seen anyway when I was at events, and Luca, still a young teenager, was there too with his family. I’m sure that his parents meant well, that they wanted, surely still want, the best for him. They want him to be happy. But even if your child has autistic traits, as Luca has, if they are functional enough to live in society, you have to educate them to behave correctly towards others and respect social rules, because, ultimately, that child will become an adult, will grow older and outlive you and they will have to live in that society when yourself will no more be around to guide and protect them. It’s not easy but it’s necessary.
Jack Lisowski managed to lose by 5-4 to Xu Yichen a 38 years old rookie whose only victory before this one came against Oliver Brown1 last June. I didn’t see the match but that result is baffling although … we all know how inconsistent Jack can be, and reckless at times as well.
Oliver has only won two matches so far this season, both times against an amateur. ↩︎
The Englishman, who was relegated from the World Snooker Tour at the end of last season, came through a field of 94 cueists in the Swedish capital to make the perfect start to his bid to return to the professional ranks.
Miah faced a tough route to the final as he took on fellow former professionals in each of the five rounds leading up to the title match.
A trio of half-century breaks helped Miah to a whitewash victory over Sean Maddocks and he battled through against Ashley Carty in the next round by compiling a break of 50 in the deciding frame.
The 32-year-old, who first turned professional in 2013, then confirmed his place in the concluding day at the Snookerhallen by defeating Ryan Thomerson 4-1 with a top break of 92.
Reigning World Seniors Snooker champion Alfie Burden provided tough opposition in the quarter-final, but Miah was able to secure a 4-1 victory before downing Peter Lines 4-2 with breaks of 71, 61 and 109 to reach the title match.
There he faced fellow countryman Whelan, who had reached the first Q Tour final of his career by defeating 16-year-old Ukrainian sensation Michael Larkov, who had compiled the tournament high break of 140 earlier in the week, in the semi-final.
The 27-year-old made the perfect start to the best-of-seven frame final by firing in a break of 105 in the opener.
Miah quickly hit back, however, moving ahead for the first time at 2-1 with a break of 75 before stealing frame four from 50 points behind with a 76 clearance.
Whelan rallied to take frame five and looked set to force a decider in the next, but a risky blue was missed leaving Miah able to clear the last three colours and secure the title.
Post-match, Miah said: “I am happy with the way I finished off the final. I’m not 100% satisfied, but I did enough to win so there are a lot of positives to take from the weekend.”
“It’s been a huge adjustment but I think I needed this to gain some confidence again. I just need to win a couple more events and secure my tour card for next season. That is my only goal for this campaign.” said Miah.
Bai Yulu has defeated Ng On Yee 4-2 to win the Taom UK Women’s Snooker Championship for a second time following a high-quality final at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, England.
The 22-year-old from China becomes the first player since Ng in 2017-18 to successfully defend both the UK and World Championship titles during consecutive years and maintains her 100% record of having reached at least the final of both events since her Tour debut.
Glory represents her fifth ranking victory overall since 2023, seeing her equal Kim Shaw and Sue Foster in the all-time list of ranking title winners on the WWS Tour.
Having won the title for the first time a year ago, the top seed made smooth progress through the round robin group stage on Saturday, before she saw off Deborah Fladgate – who secured her place in the knockout rounds following a dramatic black ball playoff – to reach the final day.
Victories against English duo Tessa Davidson and Rebecca Kenna – who both came close to forcing a deciding frame – would see her through to the title match for a third successive year.
Awaiting her was four-time UK champion Ng On Yee, who herself had navigated a draw which featured former world champions Reanne Evans, Baipat Siripaporn and Mink Nutcharut to earn a ranking final with Bai for the first time on the WWS Tour.
The decisive match would prove to be a thrilling contest as the first four frames were split with Ng hitting breaks of 53 and 50, either side of a stunning 102 clearance by Bai to equal the tournament high break set by Mink Nutcharut earlier in the competition and earn a share of the high break prize.
As the match became increasingly tactical as it entered the final frames, it was Bai who would emerge victorious with breaks of 46 and 30 enough to see her over the line and continue her reign as UK champion for a second year.
Phoemphul, Davidson claim titles
The Under-21 competition saw an all-Thai final as Narucha Phoemphul defeated Phakwalan Kongkaew 2-0 to lift her third junior crown since November 2024.
The 19-year-old Thai talent – who was only denied a place in the main tournament semi-finals by a gutsy comeback from Rebecca Kenna – defeated Daisy May Oliver and compatriot Kongkaew to earn her first UK Junior title and her defeat to the same opponent at the World Under-21 Championship earlier this year.
In the Seniors competition meanwhile it was runaway number one Tessa Davidson who extended her unbeaten run to an incredible two years with a 2-0 final victory against Charlene Chai of Singapore.
The 56-year-old did not drop a frame as she defeated Rose Nicholson, Selina Dean and Chai – who was competing on UK soil for the first time since 2017 – to lift the title for the third time in Leeds.
Finally, the 6-Red Challenge Cup competition was won by India’s Anupama Ramachandran following a 2-1 final victory against Charlene Chai.
The 2023 World Cup winner – who had narrowly lost out to Narucha Phoemphul at the last 16 stage of the main competition – defeated Audrey Chua, Ellise Scott, So Man Yan, Zeinab Shahi and finally Chai to earn her first individual trophy on the WWS Tour.
China’s Xiao Guodong held his nerve in a deciding frame beating Englishman Gary Wilson 10-9 and defending his Wuhan Open crown to the delight of his home fans.
Xiao ended a 17 year wait for his first ranking crown 12 months ago here in Wuhan, when he lifted silverware for the first time. He becomes the fourth player to successfully defend his maiden ranking title, following John Parrott, Mark Allen and Wilson.
Today’s triumph for now two-time ranking event winner Xiao draws parallels with Wilson himself. The Tyneside cueman ended his 18-year quest for a title at the 2023 Scottish Open and defended the title a year later. He then went on to win the 2024 Welsh Open soon after.
Xiao pockets £140,000 for his victory, while Wilson is left to settle for the £63,000 runner-up prize. That means World number 14 Xiao will catapult himself to eighth in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings, while Wilson moves up to 16th from 18th. That ousts Shaun Murphy from the elite top 16 echelon.
Xiao’s week started off with a magic moment, as he crafted a 147 in his opening round win over Mink Nutcharut. He then went on to beat Ishpreet Singh Chadha, David Grace, Matthew Selt, Stan Moody and Mark Williams to make the title match.
The victory thrilled fans in a packed arena this evening. Xiao received strong support throughout the week, due to coming from the city of Chongqing, which neighbours Wuhan’s Hubei Province.
They came into the evening session with Xiao holding a slender 5-4 cushion. When play recommenced, parity was immediately restored, with three-time ranking event-winner Wilson making a sublime contribution of 118 to take the opener.
Xiao regained the lead, before further breaks of 73 and 102 from Wilson saw him go 7-6 up at the last mid-session interval.
Wilson forged further ahead at 8-6 upon the resumption, but the momentum continued to go back and forth. Xiao claimed three on the bounce, including runs of 103 and 90, to move a frame from the win at 9-8.
A steely contribution of 52 from Wilson in the 18th saw him take the tie all the way to a final frame.
Xiao had the first opportunity to get over the line, but could only amass 48 points. Wilson then had his chance, but an unexpected missed red to the top right proved to be fatal. Xiao got himself over the line and secured the glory.
“Winning a first ranking title is hard, winning a second is even harder. To be able to come back to this city and successfully defend the title really means a lot. I’ve been a professional for 17, now 18 years, so I’m not a young player anymore. As an experienced player, winning two ranking titles at this stage feels a bit late, but in another way the timing is just right. Over the years I’ve built up experience, and I think this breakthrough is the result of all the work and the lessons I’ve learned,” said 36-year-old Xiao
“I can remember all those years ago when I first moved to the UK to play, there was a lot of pressure for me. I moved away from my family and had no friends. I couldn’t speak English. Now I can just enjoy snooker. I can travel, eat different food and see different cities. I have to be happy to play snooker and I am glad to be doing my best.
“My biggest gain over the past year has been growth in my mentality. I’m calmer and more composed now. I feel much more settled and determined about the path I’m on. I just want to focus on every shot and enjoy what I do out there.
“I think it’s very important for Chinese players to achieve good results in home tournaments, because that helps the development of snooker in China and inspires more young people to take up the sport. Whenever I play in China, I’m extra motivated to do well because of the home crowd, the fans, and my family being there to support me. That really drives me forward. I also hope that more young Chinese players can go on to win ranking titles and show what they can do in front of the fans.”
Wilson said: “It’s not a great feeling. It is obviously a positive to get to a final again. It was a good week. But obviously when you get to a final you want to win and I’m very disappointed not to do it. I’ve got more ranking points and gone towards the top 16 again. It is about winning tournaments as well.
“Him having the majority of the support doesn’t bring pressure. If anything it should, if you have a competitive nature like I have, spur you on to try and upset that. It didn’t happen today. Now that it is finished and there is nothing more I can do about it, I just want to say well done to Xiao. I know how it feels to defend a title and he has done that in his home tournament.”
Both players deserve huge praise. They served us a thrilling final, they gave it everything. Thank you Xiao and Gary, you were fantastic.
I’m absolutely delighted for Xiao, who I first met 17 years ago. He didn’t speak a word of English, everything around him was new and alien, except the snooker table. As I wrote previously, he was the first in his group of young Chinese players arriving at the South West Snooker Academy to try to engage with people outside the Chinese “circle”, he was the first to try and learn the “local” language. He deserves everything that comes his way now.
Today’s final in Wuhan will be competed between Xia Guodong, the defending champion and Gary Wilson. Whatever happens today, both players will be in the top 16 at the end of the event, with Shaun Murphy dropping out to rank 17th. Here are the reports shared by WST about what happened on semi-finals day.
Not many will have predicted this Final line-up at the start of the event.
It’s quite a remarkable achievement from Xiao Guodong to reach this final. It’s never easy to defend a ranking title, never mind a first ranking title but he has the opportunity to do just that today, and to do it in front of his “home” fans. The pressure on him will be immense but he’s a quite down-to-earth character and I certainly don’t put him past him.
Home hero and defending champion Xiao Guodong defeated three-time World Champion Mark Williams 6-3 to make his second consecutive Wuhan Open final.
Xiao has enjoyed a strong home support this week, as well as in his title triumph last year, coming from the city of Chongqing, which neighbours Wuhan’s Hubei Province.
Rewind 12 months and Xiao was battling in the 2024 title match with Chinese compatriot Si Jiahui. He scored a 10-7 victory to capture his maiden ranking title in front of his friends and family, 17 years on from turning professional.
Since then, he’s broken into the world’s top 16 and made further ranking semi-finals at the 2024 International Championship, 2024 Scottish Open and the 2025 German Masters. Xiao was also runner-up to Williams at last season’s Champion of Champions.
Welsh 50-year-old Williams bows out having reached an incredible 68th ranking semi-final this week. The 26-time ranking event winner will have to wait in his quest to become the first player to win tour events in his teens, 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.
The first four frames were shared this afternoon, before a break of 75 in the fifth moved Xiao 3-2 ahead.
Williams claimed a 27-minute sixth to restore parity, but 36-year-old Xiao responded immediately with 80 in the seventh to make it 4-3. He then moved 5-3 ahead, before coming from 58-0 down with a brilliant break of 68 to push himself over the line.
He now faces either Mark Allen or Gary Wilson in tomorrow’s final, over the best of 19 frames with a top prize of £140,000 on the line.
“Maybe there’s some kind of magic power in Wuhan that keeps pushing me forward. I also think it’s thanks to the good luck and support I get from everyone here,” said world number 13 Xiao.
“For me, it is an honour to play legends like Mark Williams, John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan. Of course, after losing to Mark in the Champion of Champions final last year, beating him this time is a big boost to my confidence. I want to learn from these great players every time I face them.
“My focus really improved after 3-3. I told myself that even though my scoring wasn’t great today, I needed to concentrate fully on the cue ball control on every single shot. Even in the final clearance I wasn’t nervous, I just tried to treat it as a normal situation and stay relaxed.”
Gary Wilson claimed five frames on the spin to beat former Masters and UK Champion Mark Allen 6-2 and reach the final of the Wuhan Open, ensuring a return to the world’s top 16 in the process.
World number 18 Wilson will now move up to at least 16th with the guaranteed £63,000 for making the final, pushing Masters champion Shaun Murphy into 17th spot.
Wilson’s run to the title match has seen him dispatch an all-star cast of opponents. The Tyneside Terror had already defeated Murphy, world number one Judd Trump and four-time World Champion John Higgins to make the semis.
Tomorrow will see Wilson take on China’s defending champion Xiao Guodong for the title and the £140,000 top prize.
The two finalists share parallels to their career stories. Wilson ended an 18 year professional quest for his first ranking title at the 2023 Scottish Open and went on to defend his title the following year. Xiao waited 17 years after first coming on tour before winning maiden silverware at last year’s Wuhan Open, he can emulate Wilson’s feat by winning tomorrow’s final.
The opening frame this evening went the way of three-time ranking event winner Wilson, who made a break of 77 to move 1-0 ahead. However, Allen emphatically restored parity with 135 in the second, before making 66 in the third to move 2-1 up. Wilson then took the fourth to head into the mid-session level at 2-2.
When play resumed it was Wilson who made his move. Runs of 113, 78 and 70 moved him one from victory at 5-2.
With Allen leading the eighth Wilson made an intricate break of 25, which involved a sensational shot to develop the green, to leave his opponent needing snookers on the pink. Allen couldn’t amass the required penalty points and Wilson claimed victory.
40-year-old Wilson said: “All the events I’ve won have been similar and in the UK. I want to win different sorts of tournaments and it is a good chance to try and do that now.
“Our stories are very similar. I remember what it is to try and defend and go on and do it and I will be trying to stop him doing the same as me. It is going to be a fantastic final against a Chinese player and one from the region. I know it will be a good atmosphere. I’m looking forward to it.
“I’ve beat some fantastic players this week, but you aren’t looking at who it is really. You are just trying to play your own game. If you can do that as a professional, then you have a chance of beating anyone. It is then about holding yourself together.
“We all have at some point played the opponent rather than the table. You know you won’t get away with things against top players. In my early days I knew it would be a big scalp if I won against certain players. You kind of just have to get bored of that and just play the game.”
