Mark Williams and John Higgins opened their accounts for the 2025/26 snooker season with wins at the Wuhan Open qualifiers in Leicester.
The new term commenced at the Mattioli Arena with the professional players back in action for the first time in almost seven weeks since the conclusion of the World Snooker Championship.
At the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, Williams missed out on a fourth world title after suffering an 18-12 defeat to Zhao Xintong.
The Welshman and fellow 50 year-old Higgins, who had just won the prestigious Tour Championship in April, continue to defy Father Time, however.
With both still ranked inside the top four in the world rankings, Williams and Higgins launched their 34th terms on the World Snooker Tour with respective wins against Chatchapong Nasa and Huang Jiahao on Sunday.
It was a busy opening day of play with plenty of dramatic ties, as the players attempted to get their fresh seasons off to the best possible start.
Among the best results was Reanne Evans’ 5-4 victory over David Lilley, while teenager Liam Davies edged veteran Mark Davis by the same narrow margin.
Last year’s Wuhan Open runner-up Si Jiahui scored a high break of 112 during his 5-2 triumph over Bulcsu Revesz.
But Si’s highly fancied countryman Wu Yize was a shock loser after suffering a 5-2 reverse at the hands of Louis Heathcote.
Three-time ranking event winner Ricky Walden and former European Masters champion Fan Zhengyi were also on the wrong ends of close defeats to David Grace and Ben Mertens.
Luca Brecel, meanwhile, was a no-show as he gifted scheduled opponent Haris Tahir an early gift and an automatic ticket to China in late-August.
There were comprehensive wins elsewhere for the likes of Noppon Saengkham, Ishpreet Singh Chadha, and Jordan Brown.
The latter is right on the cut-off point for tour survival inside the top 64 at present.
It might seem early to be talking about such matters, but Brown will be keen on getting himself away from that conversation as quickly as possible to avoid any drama later on in the campaign.
There is a lot of prize money on offer at the Wuhan Open with £140,000 up for grabs for the winner – earnings that snooker fans can only dream of pocketing through real money games on 1xBet Casino, a company which also has betting odds for all the latest snooker events.
Zhou Yuelong, Joe O’Connor, Elliot Slessor, Michael Holt, and Matthew Selt were among the others to progress, while rookie Zhao Hanyang orchestrated a fine 5-1 victory over Sanderson Lam.
On Monday, the Wuhan Open qualifiers continue with Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, and Shaun Murphy among those entering the fray.
Sunday’s Results
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 5-1 Yao Pengcheng
Zhou Yuelong 5-2 Lan Yuhao
Noppon Saengkham 5-0 Robbie McGuigan
Louis Heathcote 5-2 Wu Yize
Jamie Jones 5-4 Liu Wenwei
Joe O’Connor 5-4 Jiang Jun
Haris Tahir w/o Luca Brecel
Si Jiahui 5-2 Bulcsu Revesz
John Higgins 5-2 Huang Jiahao
Ben Mertens 5-3 Fan Zhengyi
Elliot Slessor 5-4 Oliver Lines
Dylan Emery 5-3 Long Zehuang
David Grace 5-4 Ricky Walden
Mark Williams 5-0 Chatchapong Nasa
Zhao Hanyang 5-1 Sanderson Lam
Michael Holt 5-3 Liam Graham
Haydon Pinhey 5-1 Martin O’Donnell
Jordan Brown 5-1 Duane Jones
Matthew Selt 5-4 Sunny Akani
Reanne Evans 5-4 David Lilley
Liam Davies 5-4 Mark Davis
Monday’s order of play
10AM UTC+1 (BST)
Daniel Wells vs Chang Bingyu
Zhang Anda vs Steven Hallworth
Liu Hongyu vs Ian Burns
Gary Wilson vs Gao Yang
Lyu Haotian vs Bai Yulu
He Guoqiang vs Artemijs Zizins
Yuan Sijun vs Xu Yichen
2:30pm UTC+1 (BST)
Aaron Hill vs Sam Craigie
Shaun Murphy vs Michal Szubarczyk
Neil Robertson vs Leone Crowley
Pang Junxu vs Hatem Yassen
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Fergal Quinn
Zak Surety vs Gong Chenzhi
Stephen Maguire vs Kreishh Gurbaxani
7pm UTC+1 (BST)
Stan Moody vs Antoni Kowalski
Mark Selby vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Jack Lisowski vs Amir Sarkhosh
Tom Ford vs Mateusz Baranowski
Scott Donaldson vs Mitchell Mann
Ali Carter vs Florian Nuessle
Matthew Stevens vs Sahil Nayyar
Featured photo credit: WST
Normal service resumed straight away!