The starting lineup of 32 in the World Grand Prix draw has already been whittled down to 16 at the Kai Tak Arena in Hong Kong.
The remaining contenders have begun the competition strongly but need four more wins to claim the trophy and the £180,000 top prize.
Big crowds have been in to watch the action unfold across the opening couple of days.
But there was a bizarre situation on Tuesday night when paying spectators were told to leave the venue at midnight even though the match between Kyren Wilson and Matthew Selt had yet to finish.
A delay in play and with angry fans unable to watch the concluding frames, it was an embarrassing way to celebrate snooker’s return to Hong Kong for the first time in 36 years for a ranking event.
There had been a communication mix-up of epic proportions involving a local curfew, leading event organisers to apologise and even the Hong Kong government to get involved.
Thankfully, there isn’t set to be a repeat of the late-night shenanigans for the remainder of the week.
On Thursday, the round of 16 will take place with several marquee names still involved in the competition.
Champion of Champions winner Mark Williams was a high-profile casualty of the first round, although losing to fellow former world champion Stuart Bingham hardly legislates as an enormous upset.
Ding Junhui and Mark Allen also crashed out after suffering more unexpected defeats to Xu Si and Jimmy Robertson respectively.
The likes of world champion Wilson and pre-tournament favourite Judd Trump are still in there fighting, though.
Trump’s bid for a fourth World Grand Prix title received a boost when scheduled opponent Jack Lisowski withdrew from the competition for personal reasons, giving the former a bye through to the last eight.
Wilson, meanwhile, has an even trickier prospect to overcome in the form of John Higgins – last week’s World Open champion.
Masters champion Shaun Murphy left it late before edging Ben Woollaston in a deciding frame, setting up a battle with a fellow former World Grand Prix champion in Barry Hawkins.
The Magician is still in search of the ranking points required to safeguard his automatic spot at the Crucible Theatre as a member of the top 16.
Elsewhere, Neil Robertson had one of the easier times of it in the first round with his 4-0 rout of Pang Junxu.
The Australian will next face David Gilbert, one of eight players who needed all seven frames to reach the second round of the event.
Another one of those was Mark Selby, with the three-time winner from this season through to meet Jimmy Robertson
Bingham’s reward for overcoming Williams is a date with Wu Yize, there is a showdown between two Chinese ranking event winners from this term in Xiao Guodong and Lei Peifan, while Xu will next meet Hossein Vafaei.
The Iranian made the most of his late call up to replace Ronnie O’Sullivan by beating Si Jiahui.
2025 World Grand Prix Draw
Round of 32
Judd Trump 4-2 Gary Wilson
Jack Lisowski 4-2 Zhang Anda
Hossein Vafaei 4-3 Si Jiahui
Xu Si 4-3 Ding Junhui
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Mark Williams
Wu Yize 4-0 Pang Junxu
Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Mark Allen
Mark Selby 4-3 Jackson Page
Xiao Guodong 4-3 Jak Jones
Lei Peifan 4-2 Elliot Slessor
David Gilbert 4-3 Chris Wakelin
Neil Robertson 4-0 Yuan Sijun
Barry Hawkins 4-1 Tom Ford
Shaun Murphy 4-3 Ben Woollaston
John Higgins 4-3 Ali Carter
Kyren Wilson 4-3 Matthew Selt
Round of 16 (bo7)
Matches to be played on Thursday, March 6th
Judd Trump w/o Jack Lisowski
Hossein Vafaei vs Xu Si
Stuart Bingham vs Wu Yize
Jimmy Robertson vs Mark Selby
Xiao Guodong vs Lei Peifan
David Gilbert vs Neil Robertson
Barry Hawkins vs Shaun Murphy
John Higgins vs Kyren Wilson
Click here to see the latest scores and results
(snooker.org)
Featured photo credit: WST
Can I watch for free.
If so, how.
Regards
Eddie