The 2024 Wuhan Open is nearing the business end of the week, with 16 contenders still vying for the snooker season’s sixth ranking title.
Defending champion Judd Trump has continued his recent good run of form with victories over the likes of He Guoqiang and Anthony McGill.
It’s likely to get tougher for the world number one on Wednesday when he faces the rejuvenated John Higgins, a recent finalist at the British Open.
Trump has reached the quarter-finals or better of every tournament he’s participated in during 2024, so he’ll be hoping to extend that incredible streak here.
Higgins, who fought back from 3-0 down to pip Fan Zhengyi in the last 64 before beating Zak Surety on Tuesday, will likely need to play close to his A-game to prevent that from happening.
There are six Chinese players, meanwhile, still in the 2024 Wuhan Open snooker draw – including home hero Ding Junhui and world number 11 Zhang Anda.
Ding looked to be in trouble when he trailed Robbie McGuigan 2-0 in his opening fixture a few days ago, but he has lost only another two frames since then.
The former world number one romped to victories over compatriots Xu Si and Yuan Sijun in the following rounds to set up a last-16 tie against Chris Wakelin.
Zhang scored a high break of 109 to overcome Hossein Vafaei in the round of 32, last year’s International Championship winner to face Mark Joyce next.
The latter, who replaced Ronnie O’Sullivan who withdrew, has certainly grabbed his late opportunity to compete in the tournament and has already guaranteed himself £12,000 in prize money.
The remaining top-half match sees this year’s German Masters runner-up Si Jiahui in action against Duane Jones.
Three more players from China feature in the bottom half of the draw, including Wuhan’s very own Long Zehuang.
The 27 year-old only became a professional for the first time last year, but solid performances are taking him into the running for a place in the top 64 of the world rankings.
Long will play Ben Woollaston for a quarter-final berth, with the Englishman continuing his improved form this season with a second appearance at this stage of a ranking event.
Elsewhere, one of the ties of the fourth round sees English Open runner-up Wu Yize encounter Jack Lisowski.
Wu needed all nine frames to emerge from a titanic tussle with Jamie Clarke in a decider on Tuesday, firing in a hat-trick of century breaks in the process.
Lisowski was also in a scoring mood and thrashed World Championship runner-up Jak Jones 5-1 with breaks of 136, 130, 87, 81, and 50.
Xiao Guodong is the other Chinese player still in the field, the 35 year-old holding on to record a 5-4 triumph over world champion Kyren Wilson.
Barry Hawkins will be Xiao’s next challenge, while the other fixture sees a battle of the two most recent Championship League Snooker ranking winners – Shaun Murphy and Ali Carter.
A champion’s cheque worth £140,000 is up for grabs this week, with the final scheduled for Saturday at the China Optics Valley Convention & Exhibition Centre.
Another incentive is a possible invitation to play in the upcoming Champion of Champions in Bolton.
Of the 16 competitors left in Wuhan, only Trump and Carter have already safeguarded their places in that lineup.
Live coverage of the Wuhan Open snooker tournament is available for European viewers on discovery+ and Eurosport.
Details on other global broadcasters are available here.
2024 Wuhan Open
Last 16 (bo9)
All matches to be played on Wednesday, October 9th
Times in UTC+1
Judd Trump vs John Higgins (7am)
Chris Wakelin vs Ding Junhui (12:30pm)
Mark Joyce vs Zhang Anda (12:30pm)
Si Jiahui vs Duane Jones (12:30pm)
Wu Yize vs Jack Lisowski (7am)
Ben Woollaston vs Long Zehuang (7am)
Shaun Murphy vs Ali Carter (7am)
Barry Hawkins vs Xiao Guodong (12:30pm)
Click here to view the full draw
(snooker.org)
Featured photo credit: WST
During last week’s qualifiers for the International Championship, Yuan Sijun became the 84th player to compile 100 career centuries.