The 2025 English Open – Day 4

Monique Snooker

Yesterday was the last day of the “qualifiers” at the 2025 English Open, although actually, those didn’t exactly feel like qualifiers because of this tournament structure and schedule.

Here is the report shared by WST:

BetVictor English Open Day Four

Michael Holt scored a 4-0 whitewash win over women’s world number one Mink Nutcharut to book a meeting with Judd Trump at the BetVictor English Open. 

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The Hitman hasn’t beaten world number one Trump since 2015, having lost their previous seven meetings. However, a fine performance today earned him another crack at the sport’s premier player. Holt fired in runs of 116 and 106 during his whitewash win. 

Ireland’s Aaron Hill conjured a magical 147 break during his 4-2 win over China’s Yao Pengchang. He now faces an intriguing clash with 2004 UK Champion Stephen Maguire. 

Ricky Walden top scored with 84 in a 4-1 win over Women’s World Champion Bai Yulu. He now faces Joe O’Connor. 

Liam Pullen avenged his 2023 WSF Junior final loss to Stan Moody by prevailing 4-1. Next up he faces a clash with Chinese legend Ding Junhui.

All the results are available on snooker.org

Here is Aaron Hill’s 147 shared by WST on YouTube:

Once again this report’s focus is on the British/Irish players. Not a single match won by a non British/Irish player features in it and yet there were wins for Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Gong Chenzi, He Guoqiang and Ishpreet Singh Chadha. The latter beat Ben Mertens by 4-1 and looked very solid. I was disappointed by Ben’s performance but credits to Ishpreet, he played really well and totally deserved the win.

Liam Pullen also played really well in beating Stan Moody; he scored breaks of 96 and 82 in the process.

Strangely the match between Matthew Stevens and Dylan Emery is missing from the report. That match went to a deciding frame that ended on a 56-57 score and was won by Dylan on the final black. Dylan had breaks of 57, 72, 109 and 130 in that match, Matthew had “only” a 51 and a 71. Some standard… and drama, but not worth reporting on ???

The 2025 English Open – Day 3

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Here is the report shared by WST about day 3 at the 2025 English Open

BetVictor English Open Day Three

Luca Brecel’s comeback gathered momentum as he beat Jimmy White 4-1 to reach the last 64 of the BetVictor English Open in Brentwood. 

Brecel didn’t compete in the first three ranking events of the season then scored his first win of the campaign with a 4-0 success against Liam Davies in the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open qualifiers. And the 2023 World Champion built on that today with a comfortable win over White, making top breaks of 51, 50 and 95. He will meet Hossein Vafaei in round three on Monday evening. 

Marco Fu’s superb form continued as he beat Mark Davis 4-0 with a top break of 110, his eighth win in ten matches so far this season. Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh top scored with 76 in a 4-2 defeat of Long Zehuang, earning a tie with Mark Williams. 

Jimmy Robertson beat Wang Yuchen 4-3 on the final black, clearing the colours in the decider. Essex’s Zak Surety also took the decider on the colours to win 4-3, beating Haris Tahir. Liam Highfield came from 3-1 down to beat Oliver Lines 4-3, making 89 and 79 for 3-3 then winning the decider by clearing from yellow to pink. Louis Heathcote top scored with 127 in a 4-3 win over Jordan Brown.

All the results are available on snooker.org, even those from the late evening session that are missing from the above report.

I first watched the Fan Zengyi v Julien Leclercq match … 😞 Julien started well enough, winning the first two frames, but as soon as Fan won the third, I sensed that the “feel” of the match had changed and that Fan would win. Unfortunately1, I was right. This is nothing against Fan, who is a very determined character and never gives up, but it is a concern about Julien who is hugely talented but appears to have lost his confidence, and, maybe, his motivation as well.

Next, I watched the Jimmy Robertson v Wang Yuchen match. This was a very hard fought and good quality match but not a “high scoring” type of match. Wang lost despite making the two highest breaks in the match: 92 and 53. The 53 came in the decider… Jimmy is a very skilled “hard match player” and he proved it again yesterday. All credits to him.

I’m also pleased that Sunny Akani progressed. I certainly have nothing against David Lilley as a person and I know that life hasn’t always been kind to him but I don’t enjoy watching him play. This match was extremely hard fought as you would expect with these two, and featured just one break over 50, a 55 by David in frame 4. Only two frames were “one-sided” scoring-wise, the first and the last, both won by Sunny.

  1. From my “Belgian” point of view … ↩︎

The 2025 English Open – Day 2

Monique Snooker

Here is the report by WST on day 2 in Brentwood

BetVictor English Open Day Two

Mink Nutcharut and Bai Yulu both progressed to the second round of the BetVictor English Open with victories in Brentwood on Friday.

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Thailand’s Nutcharut earned her first win of the season as she came from 2-1 down to beat Robbie McGuigan 4-2, earning a meeting with Michael Holt on Sunday.

Reigning World Women’s Champion Bai edged out fellow Chinese cueist Liu Wenwei 4-3 with top breaks of 74, 76 and 56. She now faces Ricky Walden on Sunday.

Performance of the day came from Chang Bingyu as he rattled in runs of 133, 60, 133 and 134 to beat Leone Crowley 4-0 in just 43 minutes. Liam Pullen continued his fine recent form with a 4-1 win over Lan Yuhao, setting up a tie with his friend Stan Moody. 

Poland’s Mateusz Baranowski top scored with 131 in a 4-3 win over Steven Hallworth, while Mitchell Mann came from 3-0 down to beat Ian Burns 4-3 with a top break of 82.

All the detailed results are available on snooker.org.

I can’t really comment on other matches as yesterday I watched Mink and Bai and I had other commitments in the evening1. I was very happy to discover that Ben Mertens also progressed with a 4-0 win over Ashleigh Hugill. Ben made three breaks over 50 in that match but none by themselves decisive. Indeed, the frames scores suggest that the match was much closer than the match score suggests.

The second round of qualifying matches starts today and and will be played to its conclusiontomorrow.

  1. Yes… a photoshoot of course, at a musical event ↩︎

The 2025 English Open – Day 1

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Here is the report by WST on day 1 at the 2025 English Open Qualifiers

BetVictor English Open Day One

Jimmy White scored his second win of the season as he came from 2-0 down to beat Cheung Ka Wai 4-3 in the first round of the BetVictor English Open, setting up an intriguing clash with Luca Brecel. 

The first event in the 2025/26 BetVictor Home Nations Series got underway on Thursday in Brentwood. The non-televised phase runs until Sunday and then the top 32 seeds join the fray from Monday. 

After losing the first two frames, veteran White recovered to 2-2 with breaks of 50 and 57. He lost the fifth, but then nicked the sixth on the colours before dominating the decider with a top run of 41. The crowd favourite now meets Brecel in round two on Saturday morning.

Liam Highfield enjoyed a 4-2 victory over On Yee Ng, despite a record break of 137 from Ng in the second frame. Marco Fu, the fastest player on the tour this season with an average shot time of 15 seconds, needed just 59 minutes to beat Gao Yang 4-0 with breaks of 62, 79, 110 and 104. There was more success for Hong Kong as Wang Yuchen came from 3-2 down to edge out Florian Nuessle 4-2.

Pakistan’s Haris Tahir top scored with 127 in a 4-0 win over Michal Szubarczyk while Julien Leclercq beat Aidan Murphy 4-0 with runs of 115, 68, 58 and 104.  

As always, you will find all the detailed results on snooker.org

Amongst the results not reported on by WST …

  • The first two matches to finish yesterday were won by two Chinese players, Huang Jiahao and Zhao Hanyang who beat Oliver Sykes and Connor Benzey respectively.
  • Sunny Akani came back from 0-2 down to beat Oliver Brown, with a top break of 107.
  • Liam Graham beat Antoni Kowalski by 4-1 in a match that was much closer than the score suggests. The last two frames in particular were hard fought and very close. Liam won them both.
  • The match between On Yee and Liam Highfield could easily have gone the distance. On Yee lost the last frame on a score of 70-69 to Liam … having made a 69 break in that frame. She also scored the only century of in that match, her 137 in frame 2.
  • Julien Leclercq missed the 14th red in a maximum attempt in frame 4 of his match against Aidan Murphy. Julien won that match by 4-0 with breaks of 115, 68, 58 and 104.

WPBSA Qualifying Criteria For The 2025 UK Championship

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The UK Championship format is now similar to the World Championship format in its structure and that means that a number of amateurs are invited to compete n the first round.

WPBSA has published the selection criteria for this season UK Championship:

WPBSA Qualifying Criteria Set for UK Championship

The WPBSA and World Snooker Tour (WST) have today announced the official qualifying criteria for the 2025 UK Championship which will once again see 16 elite amateur players earn their places through recognised WPBSA pathways.

One of snooker’s longest running events, the UK Championship is part of the Triple Crown Series alongside the World Championship and Masters tournaments. The event will see the world’s top 16 seeded through to the final stages, to be held at the York Barbican from 29 November – 7 December 2025.

The remaining players will compete in the qualifying rounds in Wigan from 22-27 November, with 16 players to emerge and complete the last 32 line-up.

WPBSA Qualifiers

The field for this year’s event will again include up to 16 players to have earned their places through new pathway opportunities for elite performers through activities staged and coordinated by the WPBSA Group.

The qualifying criteria is set out below:

WPBSA Q Tour Europe

The winner from each of this season’s first four WPBSA Q Tour Europe events will automatically qualify, with Hammad Miah having already secured the first place following his recent victory at the season-opening event in Sweden:

  • Hammad Miah – WPBSA Q Tour Europe 2025/26 – Event 1 winner
  • TBC – WPBSA Q Tour Europe 2025/26 – Event 2 winner
  • TBC – WPBSA Q Tour Europe 2025/26 – Event 3 winner
  • TBC – WPBSA Q Tour Europe 2025/26 – Event 4 winner

WSF Championships

Eligible players from the world’s largest international amateur tournaments:

  • Brian Cini – 2025 WSF Championship finalist
  • Amaan Iqbal – 2025 WSF Junior Championship semi-finalist
  • Zhou Jiahao – 2025 WSF Junior Championship semi-finalist

WPBSA Q Tour Global

  • Vinnie Calabrese – WPBSA Q Tour Asia-Pacific 2025/26 – Event winner
  • Steve Mifsud – WPBSA Q Tour Asia-Pacific 2025/26 – Event winner
  • Cody Turner – WPBSA Q Tour Asia-Pacific 2025/26 – Event winner
  • Igor Figueiredo – WPBSA Q Tour Americas 2025/26 – Event winner
  • TBC – WPBSA Q Tour Middle East 2025/26 – Event winner
  • TBC – WPBSA Q Tour Middle East 2025/26 – Event winner

EBSA European Championships

  • Ethan Llwellyn – EBSA Under-18 Championship 2025 – Finalist
  • Krzysztof Czapnik – EBSA Under-16 Championship 2025 – Finalist
  • Oliver Sykes – EBSA Under-21 Championship 2025 – Finalist

Any players who do not accept their place will be replaced by reserve players from the WPBSA Q Tour Europe Ranking List after Event 4.

I know that this “new” format is not to everyone’s liking, but I do like it. Also the BBC “support” is very important for snooker as a sport, and “elevating” the status of the UK championship is certainly a good strategic move for the sport and for the players if they want the BBC to continue supporting it, which I’m sure they do. The BBC coverage is excellent … but unfortunately not available to me here in Greece, other than by using a vpn. That said, in recent years, some of the older commentators showed a coupable ignorance about the younger players, especially those from outside the UK. That has to be addressed.

Chris Wakelin is the 2025 Pink Ribbon Champion

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As you probably know the Pink Ribbon is a pro–am snooker tournament that was initially held at the South West Snooker Academy, later renamed the Capital Venue in Gloucester, England.

The first edition was held in 2010. The tournament raises funds for breast cancer charities and has the players all wear pink shirts to show their support. It was created by Paul Mount who had lost his beloved sister, Kay Suzanne to the disease. It was played at the SWSA for ten years. I went to it every year from 2011 to 2019, taking pictures, a lot of them must still be around somewhere on Facebook, and of course on this blog from 2015 until 2018. Ronnie won it in 2015, the only year he participated. It was revived last season and is now played at the Landywood Snooker Club.

It all started last Friday with the “Flyer Event“, won by Riley Powell who beat Peter Devlin in the final.

The “Top Half” amateur event was played on Saturday. Actually this was the “top half” of the main event, up to and included the “last 64” round as the professionals were seeded in the last 32 of the “main event”.

Similarly, the “Bottom Half” amateur event was played on Monday.

Amateurs entering the Pink Ribbon are granted two bites of the cherry if they so wish. Indeed they have the possibility to play in both halves. 117 amateurs entered the amateur events!

The “main event”, the professional round, was played yesterday. Not all pros won their opening match … some amateurs showed how strong they are! Indeed one of them, Craig Steadman reached the final!

But, eventually, it was a professional, Chris Wakelin who won the event, beating Craig Steadman by 5-3.

Congratulations Chris Wakelin!

Quite a number of matches, including the final, are available on YouTube

Ronnie is “2025 August Player of the Month”

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This was shared by WPBSA

Ronnie O’Sullivan Named Player of the Month for August

Ronnie O’Sullivan has been voted as the WPBSA Players’ Player of the Month for August after his performance in the 2025 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.

Considered the ‘greatest of all time’ by most of his peers, O’Sullivan created history in Jeddah by making two maximum breaks in his semi-final match before losing out in a decider against Neil Robertson in the final.

The historic double-maximum came in his 6-3 victory over Chris Wakelin in the last four, where he also made total clearances of 142 and 134.

It was a close call with O’Sullivan securing 40% of the vote compared to 36% for Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters champion Robertson.

‘The Rocket’ succeeds the previous award winners Marco Fu and Stephen Maguire, who claimed the award in June and July respectively.

O’Sullivan said, “Thank you to all who voted for me because, as players, we all know how much we give to the game.”

Ken Doherty, WPBSA Players Chairman said: “Congratulations to Ronnie, who never ceases to amaze with his performances. What he did in Jeddah was simply incredible and he continues to raise the bar for the rest of us. It was a particularly difficult month to win the award with Neil, Kyren and Guodong all winning ranking events, so it shows how highly the players think of Ronnie’s performance in the semi-final against Chris.”

About the Award

Launched by WPBSA Players, the Players’ Player of the Month award recognises outstanding performance, as voted by fellow players. Its key aim is to honour excellence, consistency, and impact on the table, as recognised by those who understand the demands of the game best.

Each month throughout the 2025/26 season a shortlist will be compiled by an independent panel. The panel includes renowned snooker broadcasters David Hendon and Abigail Davies, sports journalist Phil Haigh and WPBSA Players Director Tian Pengfei. The shortlist will consider performances in all completed events for the corresponding month…

WPBSA Players’ Player of the Month Winners 2025/26

  • June – Marco Fu
  • July – Stephen Maguire
  • August – Ronnie O’Sullivan

It’s a good thing that WPBSA, through this award, recognises that it’s not “all about winning” in sport. Of course, as a sports person your goal is to win, that’s what you are out there to strive for. But the fans, the people who bought a ticket, who made the effort to actually come to the venue, to support their sport and its exponents in person rather than from the comfort of their living room, those people deserve to be entertained, they deserve to be offered something exciting, something exceptional that will stay in their memories forever. That’s why “entertainers” are important in sports and I’m glad that WPBSA recognises that importance.