John Higgins was an early casualty because the 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix qualifiers from the final three days threw up some fascinating outcomes.
Higgins, who admitted in the course of the latest Wuhan Open that he has been struggling for motivation to this point this time period, received’t be returning to China on this event after struggling a 5-3 defeat to Liam Pullen.
The Scot was the highest-profile participant to exit the competitors at this early stage, with many of the different high 16 gamers in motion safely making it by way of.
There was one other sudden loss, nonetheless, for Zhang Anda who didn’t construct on what may have been a confidence-boosting run to the final eight in Wuhan every week in the past.
Together with his high 16 issues mounting amid a big chunk of rating factors which can be quickly to be deducted from his rolling two-year tally, Zhang was downed 5-4 by Farakh Ajaib on the ultimate black.
Among the many heavy hitters to soundly make it by way of to the venue phases subsequent month had been Mark Allen and Shaun Murphy, albeit beneath very totally different circumstances.
Allen wanted all 9 frames to finally outlast Mitchell Mann whereas Murphy, who misplaced his high 16 rating for the primary time in 19 years final week, whitewashed Liam Highfield.
Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins, Si Jiahui, and this season’s Championship League Snooker winner Stephen Maguire had been among the many others to qualify for the final 64.
The likes of world primary Judd Trump, world champion Zhao Xintong, and 2024 winner Kyren Wilson all had their preliminary fixtures held over to the occasion correct.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Mark Williams, and Ding Junhui additionally had their round-of-128 matches deferred.
There have been a couple of different fascinating outcomes on the Xi’an Grand Prix qualifiers, in the meantime, with Jack Lisowski dropping 5-4 to rookie Xu Yichen and Luca Brecel crashing out to Sunny Akani.
Brecel’s latest woes continued as he was pressured to play with anyone else’s cue, however his concession in the course of the third body whereas 2-0 behind was nonetheless considerably weird.
Zhou Yuelong, in the meantime, additionally made headlines after recording his third profession most break throughout a 5-2 victory over Julien Leclercq.
It marked the eighth 147 break of the fledgling 2025/26 snooker season already, with the one marketing campaign document of 15 very a lot beneath risk.
The principle phases of this yr’s Xi’an Grand Prix will run from October seventh to thirteenth, with £177,000 up for grabs for the champion.
Subsequent up this week are the Northern Eire Open qualifiers, with extra particulars on that obtainable by clicking right here.
2025 Xi’an Grand Prix Draw
Spherical of 128 (bo9)
Kyren Wilson vs Haris Tahir (held over)
Marco Fu 5-1 Sanderson Lam
Yuan Sijun 5-1 Mahmoud El Hareedy
Jamie Jones 5-1 Connor Benzey
Shaun Murphy 5-0 Liam Highfield
Lengthy Zehuang 5-1 Artemijs Zizins
Wu Yize 5-4 Florian Nuessle
Xu Si 5-1 Bulcsu Revesz
Ricky Walden 5-1 Liam Davies
Elliot Slessor 5-1 Liam Graham
Oliver Traces 5-1 Gao Yang
Mark Allen 5-4 Mitchell Mann
Jackson Web page 5-3 Sahil Nayyar
Louis Heathcote 5-3 Lei Peifan
Jordan Brown 5-1 Oliver Brown
Ding Junhui vs Sam Craigie (held over)
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Iulian Boiko (held over)
Yao Pengcheng 5-1 Zak Surety
Stephen Maguire 5-2 Bai Yulu
Robbie Williams 5-1 Fergal Quinn
Farakh Ajaib 5-4 Zhang Anda
David Lilley 5-3 Kreishh Gurbaxani
Jak Jones 5-0 Haydon Pinhey
Dylan Emery 5-3 Ben Woollaston
Sunny Akani 5-0 Luca Brecel
Gary Wilson vs Wildcard (held over)
Mateusz Baranowski 5-4 Liu Hongyu
Chris Wakelin vs Wildcard (held over)
He Guoqiang 5-1 Zhao Hanyang
Xu Yichen 5-4 Jack Lisowski
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 5-0 Jonas Luz
Neil Robertson vs Leone Crowley (held over)
Judd Trump vs Ng On Yee (held over)
Matthew Stevens 5-0 Ian Burns
Wang Yuchen 5-3 Pang Junxu
Lyu Haotian 5-2 Steven Hallworth
Ali Carter 5-1 Allan Taylor
Stan Moody 5-4 Amir Sarkhosh
Stuart Bingham 5-2 Duane Jones
Matthew Selt 5-4 Antoni Kowalski
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-1 Patrick Whelan
Jiang Jun 5-0 Hossein Vafaei
David Grace 5-4 Anthony McGill
Barry Hawkins 5-0 Hatem Yassen
Ryan Day 5-4 Ross Muir
Zhou Yuelong 5-2 Julien Leclercq
Scott Donaldson 5-1 Robbie McGuigan
Mark Williams vs Chatchapong Nasa/Wildcard (held over)
Liam Pullen 5-3 John Higgins
Michael Holt 5-1 Umut Dikme
Noppon Saengkham 5-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
Michal Szubarczyk 5-4 Martin O’Donnell
Mark Selby 5-0 Gong Chenzhi
Mark Davis 5-1 Reanne Evans
Huang Jiahao 5-3 Tom Ford
Aaron Hill 5-2 Liu Wenwei
Daniel Wells 5-1 Ken Doherty
David Gilbert 5-1 Chris Totten
Fan Zhengyi 5-1 Ben Mertens
Si Jiahui 5-3 Chang Bingyu
Jimmy Robertson 5-2 Cheung Ka Wai
Joe O’Connor 5-2 Lan Yuhao
Robert Milkins 5-1 Mink Nutcharut
Zhao Xintong vs Wildcard (held over)
Featured picture credit score: WST
