The inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters begins on Friday with a huge field of 144 in the 2024 draw in Riyadh.
One of the richest tournaments ever staged on the World Snooker Tour, there is a mammoth top prize worth £500,000 on offer for next week’s champion.
The top 16 seeds have been seeded through to the last 32 of the competition at the Green Halls.
That means the likes of world champion Kyren Wilson, who won last week’s Xi’an Grand Prix, and Ronnie O’Sullivan won’t enter the fray until the fifth round.
World number one Judd Trump, Mark Allen, Mark Selby, Mark Williams, Ding Junhui, and John Higgins are other marquee names who are seeded through to the latter stages.
Dubbed the fourth major, all 144 players in the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters draw will participate at the venue.
The field comprises almost every professional on the World Snooker Tour plus amateur top-ups – including 17 wildcards invited from the Middle East region.
It marks the first time a ranking event has been held in this area of the world since the Bahrain Championship in 2008.
What is the 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters draw?
Round 1 (bo7)
(Seeds 81-112 v seeds 113-144)
1. Rory Thor 4-0 Omar Alajlani
2. Baipat Siripaporn 3-4 Mohamed Elkhayat
3. Chris Totten 4-2 Haris Tahir
4. Michael Holt 4-0 Ahmad Abul
5. Mink Nutcharut 4-1 Kusai Hamed
6. Reanne Evans 0-4 Simon Blackwell
7. Artemijs Zizins w/o Lim Kok Leong
8. Robbie McGuigan 4-3 Abdulraouf Saigh
9. Liam Graham 4-0 Ali Hussain Ali
10. Oliver Lines 4-0 Faisal Bahashwan
11. Cheung Ka Wai 4-1 Joshua Thomand
12. Lei Peifan 4-2 Bai Yulu
13. Allan Taylor 4-2 Adeel Aqdus
14. Farakh Ajaib 4-0 Haitham Al Mahri
15. Julien Leclercq 4-2 Dylan Emery
16. Jimmy White 4-2 Mohamed Shehab
17. Andrew Pagett 4-2 Wang Yuchen
18. Huang Jiahao 4-0 Ahmed Elsayed
19. Ben Mertens 4-0 Abdullah Alotayyani
20. Antoni Kowalski 4-1 Habib Sabah
21. Gong Chenzhi 4-0 Ali Jalil Ali
22. Mitchell Mann 3-4 Paul Deaville
23. Bulcsú Révész 4-2 Iulian Boiko
24. Dean Young 4-0 Saleh Alamoudi
25. Mostafa Dorgham 1-4 Jonas Luz
26. Haydon Pinhey 4-0 Ayman Alamri
27. Manasawin Phetmalaikul 0-4 Amir Sarkhosh
28. Zak Surety 4-0 Ali Alobaidli
29. Duane Jones 4-1 Khalid Alkamali
30. Liam Davies 4-3 Ken Doherty
31. Kreishh Gurbaxani 0-4 Sunny Akani
32. Stan Moody 4-0 Ziyad Alqabbani
Round 2 (bo7)
(Winners of R1 vs seeds 49-80)
33. Hammad Miah 1-4 Rory Thor
34. Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Mohamed Elkhayat
35. Ashley Carty 4-0 Chris Totten
36. Liu Hongyu 4-2 Michael Holt
37. Anthony Hamilton 4-2 Mink Nutcharut
38. Xing Zihao 4-2 Simon Blackwell
39. Xu Si 3-4 Artemijs Zizins
40. Ma Hailong 3-4 Robbie McGuigan
41. Ishpreet Singh Chadha 4-1 Liam Graham
42. Ben Woollaston 4-2 Oliver Lines
43. Louis Heathcote 4-2 Cheung Ka Wai
44. Jamie Clarke 3-4 Lei Peifan
45. Aaron Hill 2-4 Allan Taylor
46. Stuart Carrington 4-2 Farakh Ajaib
47. Graeme Dott 4-3 Julien Leclercq
48. Andrew Higginson 1-4 Jimmy White
49. Alexander Ursenbacher 3-4 Andrew Pagett
50. Martin O’Donnell 4-0 Huang Jiahao
51. Long Zehuang 0-4 Ben Mertens
52. He Guoqiang 0-4 Antoni Kowalski
53. David Grace 2-4 Gong Chenzhi
54. Ian Burns 0-4 Paul Deaville
55. Mark Davis 3-4 Bulcsú Révész
56. Alfie Burden 4-3 Dean Young
57. Jiang Jun 4-1 Jonas Luz
58. David Lilley 2-4 Haydon Pinhey
59. Ross Muir 3-4 Amir Sarkhosh
60. Sanderson Lam 4-3 Zak Surety
61. Daniel Wells 2-4 Duane Jones
62. Marco Fu 4-0 Liam Davies
63. Tian Pengfei 4-2 Sunny Akani
64. Liam Pullen 1-4 Stan Moody
Round 3 (bo7)
(Winners of R2 vs seeds 17-48)
65. Robert Milkins 3-4 Rory Thor
66. Fan Zhengyi 3-4 Jimmy Robertson
67. Anthony McGill 1-4 Ashley Carty
68. Ricky Walden 1-4 Liu Hongyu
69. Jamie Jones 2-4 Anthony Hamilton
70. Stuart Bingham 4-2 Xing Zihao
71. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-1 Artemijs Zizins
72. Chris Wakelin 4-2 Robbie McGuigan
73. Hossein Vafaei 4-1 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
74. Joe Perry 0-4 Ben Woollaston
75. Joe O’Connor 4-3 Louis Heathcote
76. Robbie Williams 3-4 Lei Peifan
77. Matthew Selt 4-3 Allan Taylor
78. Pang Junxu 4-3 Stuart Carrington
79. Graeme Dott w/o Sam Craigie
80. Si Jiahui 4-2 Jimmy White
81. Jack Lisowski 4-3 Andrew Pagett
82. Matthew Stevens 3-4 Martin O’Donnell
83. Stephen Maguire 4-0 Ben Mertens
84. Wu Yize 4-0 Antoni Kowalski
85. Jackson Page 2-4 Gong Chenzhi
86. Neil Robertson 4-1 Paul Deaville
87. Jordan Brown 4-3 Bulcsú Révész
88. David Gilbert 4-0 Alfie Burden
89. Zhou Yuelong 4-2 Jiang Jun
90. Elliot Slessor 4-2 Haydon Pinhey
91. Noppon Saengkham 4-1 Amir Sarkhosh
92. Yuan Sijun 4-1 Sanderson Lam
93. Xiao Guodong 4-3 Duane Jones
94. Lyu Haotian 4-3 Marco Fu
95. Scott Donaldson 4-2 Tian Pengfei
96. Ryan Day 4-2 Stan Moody
Round 4 (bo9)
(Winners of R3 play each other)
97. Rory Thor 0-5 Jimmy Robertson
98. Ashley Carty 2-5 Liu Hongyu
99. Anthony Hamilton 3-5 Stuart Bingham
100. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-4 Chris Wakelin
101. Hossein Vafaei 3-5 Ben Woollaston
102. Joe O’Connor 2-5 Lei Peifan
103. Matthew Selt 3-5 Pang Junxu
104. Graeme Dott 0-5 Si Jiahui
105. Jack Lisowski 5-2 Martin O’Donnell
106. Stephen Maguire 4-5 Wu Yize
107. Gong Chenzhi 1-5 Neil Robertson
108. Jordan Brown 3-5 David Gilbert
109. Zhou Yuelong 2-5 Elliot Slessor
110. Noppon Saengkham 4-5 Yuan Sijun
111. Xiao Guodong 5-2 Lyu Haotian
112. Scott Donaldson 5-2 Ryan Day
Round 5 (bo9)
(Winners of R4 vs Top 16 seeds)
Kyren Wilson 5-3 Liu Hongyu
John Higgins 2-5 Jimmy Robertson
Mark Williams 5-4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Ding Junhui 4-5 Stuart Bingham
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-1 Lei Peifan
Zhang Anda 5-0 Ben Woollaston
Tom Ford 2-5 Si Jiahui
Luca Brecel 2-5 Pang Junxu
Judd Trump 5-4 Wu Yize
Jak Jones 3-5 Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson 5-2 David Gilbert
Mark Selby 3-5 Neil Robertson
Shaun Murphy 5-2 Yuan Sijun
Ali Carter 3-5 Elliot Slessor
Barry Hawkins 1-5 Scott Donaldson
Mark Allen 1-5 Xiao Guodong
Round 6 (bo11)
Kyren Wilson 4-6 Jimmy Robertson
Mark Williams 6-2 Stuart Bingham
Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-5 Zhang Anda
Si Jiahui 6-5 Pang Junxu
Judd Trump 6-1 Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson 1-6 Neil Robertson
Shaun Murphy 6-3 Elliot Slessor
Scott Donaldson 5-6 Xiao Guodong
Quarter-Finals (bo11)
Jimmy Robertson 0-6 Mark Williams
Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-4 Si Jiahui
Judd Trump 6-3 Neil Robertson
Shaun Murphy 6-2 Xiao Guodong
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Mark Williams 6-3 Si Jiahui
Judd Trump 6-5 Shaun Murphy
Final (bo19)
Mark Williams 9-10 Judd Trump
What is the format?
The format for the 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters draw is similar to the one adopted for both the World and UK Championships.
A tiered system means that players will enter the competition in staggered rounds based on their ranking position.
Those seeded from 81 to 144 meet in round one, with the winners advancing to play the competitors seeded from 49 to 80 in round two.
In round three, the players ranked from 17 to 48 join with round four similar to Judgement Day at the World Championship and the 16 qualifiers joining the top 16 in the last 32.
The first three rounds are the best of seven frames before round four and five will be played over nine frames.
The length of matches increases to 11 frames for the last 16, quarter-finals, and the semi-finals, with the final then taking place over 19 frames.
What is the prize money?
Winner: £500,000
Runner-up: £200,000
Semi-finals: £100,000
Quarter-finals: £50,000
Last 16: £30,000
Last 32: £20,000
Last 48: £11,000
Last 80: £7,000
Last 112: £4,000
Last 144: £2,000
147 Break: £50,000
Total: £2,302,000
How can I watch the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters?
Live coverage will be available on Eurosport, discovery+, Matchroom.Live, and other broadcasters – depending on your location.
The full list of broadcasters is:
Europe (including UK and Ireland)
Eurosport and discovery+
Saudi Arabia and MENA region
SSC
Shahid
China
Huya.com
CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel
CBSA-WPBSA Academy Douyin
Hong Kong
Now TV
Malaysia and Brunei
Astro
Philippines
Tap
Taiwan
Sportcast
Thailand
True Sport
All other territories
matchroom.live
Featured photo credit: WST
