The latest snooker rankings update follows the conclusion of the 2025 World Open, the season’s 14th ranking tournament.
John Higgins won his first ranking title in four years with a 10-6 victory over Joe O’Connor in the final at the Yushan Sport Centre on Saturday.
The Scot hadn’t claimed silverware at this level since his triumph at the 2021 Players Championship, losing five ranking finals in the interim.
But he always had an element of control after winning the opening three frames of the title-deciding affair and eventually sealed the win with the encounter’s only century break.
Aged 49 (and 287 days), Higgins becomes the second-oldest winner of a ranking event – only 100 or so days shy of Ray Reardon’s record.
The 2025 World Open had big implications on the two main snooker rankings lists, so let’s take a look at some of the important updates.
Top 16
With an extra £175,000 added to his rolling two-year tally, Higgins rises five places in the official standings and back into the top eight.
Nothing else has changed above that, with Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson still occupying the top two spots.
Mark Selby stays in third ahead of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Williams, Luca Brecel, and Mark Allen.
Ding Junhui and Zhang Anda continue to place in ninth and tenth respectively ahead of Barry Hawkins.
Shaun Murphy drops down four spots to 12th despite reaching the World Open quarter-finals last week.
The Masters champion has lost the ranking points from his 2023 Players Championship victory with the points from his 2023 Tour Championship success soon to be deducted from his tally as well.
Si Jiahui drops to 13th but stays ahead of Ali Carter, Gary Wilson, and Xiao Guodong.
Who were the other movers?
Joe O’Connor’s second career appearance in a ranking event final sees the Englishman rejoin the top 32 in 31st position.
Semi-finalist Zak Surety, who was within a few pots of stunning John Higgins in the last four, moves up 16 rungs to number 73.
Considering Surety is playing in the first of a fresh two-year card and won’t have points to defend next term, a maiden membership within the top 64 is in prospect.
| Official 2-Year World Rankings | Mar 2, 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judd Trump | £1,753,700 |
| 2 | Kyren Wilson | £1,206,800 |
| 3 | Mark Selby | £778,000 |
| 4 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £693,000 |
| 5 | Mark Williams | £641,600 |
| 6 | Luca Brecel | £623,900 |
| 7 | Mark Allen | £592,400 |
| 8 | John Higgins | £587,250 |
| 9 | Ding Junhui | £551,000 |
| 10 | Zhang Anda | £499,550 |
| 11 | Barry Hawkins | £488,050 |
| 12 | Shaun Murphy | £483,900 |
| 13 | Si JIahui | £429,700 |
| 14 | Ali Carter | £385,800 |
| 15 | Gary Wilson | £376,400 |
| 16 | Xiao Guodong | £369,000 |
| — | — | — |
| 17 | Jak Jones | £367,800 |
| 18 | Tom Ford | £340,950 |
| 19 | Neil Robertson | £335,050 |
| 20 | Chris Wakelin | £331,400 |
| 21 | Wu Yize | £295,600 |
| 22 | David Gilbert | £292,150 |
| 23 | Stuart Bingham | £269,900 |
| 24 | Hossein Vafaei | £268,800 |
| 25 | Jack Lisowski | £262,600 |
Tour Survival
The World Open was the penultimate opportunity this season for the players further down the snooker rankings to gain points.
Only the World Snooker Championship is left on the calendar for those competitors to compete in.
As usual, the top 64 on the two-year rankings will secure a tour card for another season.
The top four on the one-year rankings who are not otherwise assured safety will additionally receive a fresh two-year card.
That’s good news for Stan Moody, Louis Heathcote, Tian Pengfei, and Ma Hailong – who are all outside the top 64 on the provisional end-of-season snooker rankings but rank highly on the one-year list as things stand.
Marco Fu, Ashley Carty, Anthony Hamilton, Stuart Carrington, Joe Perry, and Alfie Burden are a few of the familiar names who will need a strong outing in Sheffield next month to extend their pro careers.
Sanderson Lam, Jamie Clarke, and Ishpreet Singh Chadha currently occupy the last three spots inside the top 64 on the provisional end-of-season rankings.
1-year snooker rankings
The top 32 from the one-year snooker rankings had already qualified for next week’s World Grand Prix.
But points earned at the World Open have counted towards qualification for the other two ranking events ahead of the Crucible.
The top 16 from this list will feature at the Players Championship in Telford with the top 12 then competing at the Tour Championship in Manchester.
Joe O’Connor came agonisingly short of a Players Championship berth with his runner-up prize of £75,000 taking him to just below the cut-off point in 17th.
As the 29 year-old didn’t qualify for the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong, he won’t have any more opportunities to improve on his standing.
Higgins jumps to third on the one-year list, guaranteeing his involvement in both the Players and Tour Championships.
Ronnie O’Sullivan had already been struggling to qualify for those lucrative events, but the Rocket’s withdrawal from the World Grand Prix has officially put an end to any chance of seeing him return to the baize before Sheffield.
Hossein Vafaei, in 33rd place, will replace O’Sullivan in the World Grand Prix draw.
| 1-Year Snooker Rankings | Mar 2, 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judd Trump | £958,200 |
| 2 | Kyren Wilson | £526,800 |
| 3 | John Higgins | £313,750 |
| 4 | Xiao Guodong | £286,500 |
| 5 | Mark Selby | £265,000 |
| 6 | Mark Williams | £255,600 |
| 7 | Barry Hawkins | £246,550 |
| 8 | Neil Robertson | £227,050 |
| 9 | Ding Junhui | £225,000 |
| 10 | Shaun Murphy | £222,900 |
| 11 | Si Jiahui | £209,200 |
| 12 | Wu Yize | £190,600 |
| 13 | Chris Wakelin | £184,400 |
| 14 | Mark Allen | £153,400 |
| 15 | Lei Peifan | £146,000 |
| 16 | Ali Carter | £143,800 |
| — | — | — |
| 17 | Joe O’Connor | £134,250 |
| 18 | Jack Lisowski | £130,600 |
| 19 | Pang Junxu | £124,400 |
| 20 | Zhang Anda | £117,550 |
| 21 | Jimmy Robertson | £116,600 |
| 22 | Elliot Slessor | £116,250 |
| 23 | Tom Ford | £113,950 |
| 24 | Xu Si | £106,050 |
| 25 | David Gilbert | £97,150 |
| 26 | Yuan Sijun | £96,600 |
| 27 | Stephen Maguire | £95,750 |
| 28 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £94,500 |
| 29 | Jackson Page | £94,300 |
| 30 | Stuart Bingham | £89,400 |
| 31 | Ryan Day | £80,800 |
| 32 | Jak Jones | £80,300 |
| 33 | Hossein Vafaei | £78,800 |
When is the next snooker event?
Next up on the snooker calendar is the World Grand Prix, which moves to Hong Kong for the first time.
The 2025 edition, with an increased prize fund and £180,000 going to the winner, runs from March 4th to March 9th.
More details on that event will be available on SnookerHQ.com in the coming days.
Featured photo credit: WST
The text is clear and informative, even for a lay snooker-lover. From an historical perspective, snooker seems to be yet another sporting ‘product’ successfully packaged and merchandised by the UK: an invisible export, so to say…
Where can I watch the full videos of the matches?
Thanks.