There are 16 players in the draw who are still in contention for glory as the 2025 Welsh Open creeps toward the business end of the week in Llandudno.
It was a day of upsets on Wednesday with several marquee names bowing out of the running at the Venue Cymru.
The likes of Kyren Wilson, Mark Allen, Mark Williams, and Neil Robertson all exited the competition in the round of 32.
World number four Mark Selby is the highest-ranked competitor remaining in the 2025 Welsh Open draw, with only four top-16 members still involved altogether.
Like Selby, two of the other three are former champions with record five-time winner John Higgins and 2009 champion Ali Carter on course for a repeat triumph.
Selby, who edged Elliot Slessor in a deciding-frame thriller on day three, next encounters Jamie Jones.
Higgins and Carter will hope to extend their runs in the calendar year’s second ranking event when they play Yuan Sijun and Ryan Day respectively.
Who can win the Home Nations bonus?
The only other top-16 player is Luca Brecel, who will face Pang Junxu in an interesting tie that could have huge implications for the Home Nations bonus.
Robertson’s 4-3 defeat to Tom Ford yesterday left the door ajar for world champion Wilson to leapfrog the Australian into top spot on the Home Nations series rankings.
But the recent German Masters champion succumbed to a surprise 4-3 reverse of his own to Joe O’Connor, leaving Brecel and Pang as the only two cueists left who could catch Robertson.
One of the pair is now guaranteed to reach the quarter-finals, but they will have to go all the way and win the title if they are to snatch the £150,000 jackpot bonus from the Melbourne man.
Race to the World Grand Prix
Brecel, of course, also needs to reach the final if he is to secure a last-gasp ticket to the upcoming World Grand Prix through the one-year ranking list.
Indeed, there are several players in the last 16 of the 2025 Welsh Open who could still nab a spot in next month’s Hong Kong draw.
A win for Day over Carter would see the Welshman displace Hossein Vafaei in the top 32 of the provisional one-year standings.
But Stephen Maguire, O’Connor, Matthew Stevens, Sanderson Lam, and Jones could all force their way into contention in that race too depending on how results go over the next few days.
Matthew Selt, who faces Jack Lisowski for a quarter-final berth, looks to be pretty safe in 30th place and would only be denied by a specific sequence of results.
| Provisional 1-Year Snooker Rankings* | Feb 12, 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judd Trump | £949,200 |
| 2 | Kyren Wilson | £517,800 |
| 3 | Xiao Guodong | £281,500 |
| 4 | Mark Williams | £255,600 |
| 5 | Neil Robertson | £227,050 |
| 6 | Barry Hawkins | £224,550 |
| 7 | Ding Junhui | £211,000 |
| 8 | Si Jiahui | £209,200 |
| 9 | Shaun Murphy | £200,900 |
| 10 | Chris Wakelin | £184,400 |
| 11 | Wu Yize | £181,600 |
| 12 | Mark Selby | £169,000 |
| 13 | Mark Allen | £148,400 |
| 14 | Lei Peifan | £141,000 |
| 15 | John Higgins | £134,550 |
| 16 | Zhang Anda | £117,550 |
| 17 | Jack Lisowski | £117,400 |
| 18 | Elliot Slessor | £107,250 |
| 19 | Jimmy Robertson | £102,600 |
| 20 | Pang Junxu | £102,400 |
| 21 | Ali Carter | £98,800 |
| 22 | David Gilbert | £97,150 |
| 23 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £94,500 |
| 24 | Xu Si | £92,050 |
| 25 | Tom Ford | £91,950 |
| 26 | Yuan Sijun | £91,600 |
| 27 | Stuart Bingham | £89,400 |
| 28 | Jackson Page | £85,100 |
| 29 | Jak Jones | £75,300 |
| 30 | Matthew Selt | £73,250 |
| 31 | Gary Wilson | £72,400 |
| 32 | Hossein Vafaei | £69,800 |
| — | — | — |
| 34 | Ryan Day | £66,800 |
| 38 | Stephen Maguire | £59,750 |
| 42 | Joe O’Connor | £55,050 |
| 48 | Luca Brecel | £47,400 |
| 56 | Matthew Stevens | £43,550 |
| 67 | Sanderson Lam | £34,000 |
| 80 | Jamie Jones | £28,350 |
Click here for the full update-to-date list
(snooker.org)
Can there be a Welsh champion?
Maguire beat home favourite Williams on Wednesday to set up a fixture against Lam, who is the lowest-ranked player left in the hunt for the Ray Reardon Trophy this year.
Williams is the only previous Welsh champion, and traditionally this has been a bad event for the local contingent.
But a quarter of the last-16 lineup is Welsh, and there is the potential for an exciting climax for the home fans at the Venue Cymru.
Veterans Day and Stevens could set up an exciting quarter-final battle against one another if they can get past Carter and O’Connor respectively.
Jones has a tough one against Selby, while young talent Jackson Page meets Snooker Shoot Out champion Tom Ford.
2025 Welsh Open draw
Last 16 (bo7)
Matches to be played on Thursday, February 13th. Times in UTC.
Jackson Page vs Tom Ford (1pm)
Pang Junxu vs Luca Brecel (est: 9pm)
Mark Selby vs Jamie Jones (7pm)
John Higgins vs Yuan Sijun (1pm)
Matthew Selt vs Jack Lisowski (est: 9pm)
Sanderson Lam vs Stephen Maguire (est: 3pm)
Ryan Day vs Ali Carter (7pm)
Matthew Stevens vs Joe O’Connor (est: 3pm)
Featured photo credit: WST
The inaugural staging of the Welsh Open was played over the same exact dates as this year’s event.
Cuetracker has Ali Carter down as still competing in the 2007 Welsh Open!
Ronnie O’Sullivan holds the record for Welsh Open centuries, with 88. John Higgins is next on 77. The Scot has not dropped a frame in his first three matches this week.
Matthew Stevens has never gone further than the quarter-finals in his home event.