The quarter-finals of the 2025 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters will take place on Thursday at the Green Halls in Jeddah.
What began with 144 contenders has been whittled down to the last eight, with three wins separating the remaining players from the £500,000 top prize.
Some big names crashed out on Wednesday, including world champion Zhao Xintong in addition to Mark Selby and Ding Junhui.
But there is still plenty of firepower left in the tournament, so let’s take a look at the four quarter-finals in the Saudi Arabia Masters draw.
Ali Carter vs Neil Robertson
Ali Carter continued his fine start to the 2025/26 snooker season with a 6-3 victory over Oliver Lines in the last 16.
It wasn’t quite as dramatic as some of his other comebacks from this term already, but the Captain did manage to overturn a 3-1 deficit to safely reach the last eight.
Carter wasn’t supposed to be involved in the recent Shanghai Masters but benefited from Mark Allen’s withdrawal and duly reached the final.
He wasn’t even meant to be a seeded player in Saudi Arabia but was bumped up after Xiao Guodong instead chose to participate in the World Games.
The 46 year-old will look to extend his good run when he takes on Neil Robertson next, the Australian having beaten Mark Selby 6-4 to reach this stage.
Robertson got the better of a long battle with his old rival by taking the last three frames – including a superb 137 break in the final frame – to move through.
The Melbourne man boasts a far superior head-to-head record against Carter, winning 18 of their 26 overall encounters.
When is it? Thursday, August 14th at 11am UTC+1 (BST)
Elliot Slessor vs Mark Williams
Elliot Slessor represents the only contender left in the Saudi Arabia Masters draw who isn’t one of the top 16 seeds.
The Englishman, who has been steadily improving and rising up the ranks in recent campaigns, followed up his excellent triumph over John Higgins with a 6-5 success against Stuart Bingham in round six of the competition.
Slessor has guaranteed himself a handsome payday worth £50,000, earnings that will already guarantee him a new world-ranking high position of number 26.
Next up for the 31 year-old is Mark Williams, who memorably reached the final twelve months ago only to be denied glory in a black-ball deciding frame thriller.
The Welshman is back challenging again in the Kingdom after orchestrating a comprehensive 6-1 thumping of Shaun Murphy in the last round.
Williams and Slessor have crossed paths on four occasions on the World Snooker Tour in the past, with the former emerging as the victor three times.
When is it? Thursday, August 14th at 11am UTC+1 (BST)
Kyren Wilson vs Ronnie O’Sullivan
Kyren Wilson and Ronnie O’Sullivan will clash in the quarter-finals for the second successive tournament, this time at the Saudi Arabia Masters.
At the end of last month, the pair met at the same hurdle of the Shanghai Masters with Wilson winning 6-3 on his way to claiming the prestigious invitational title in China.
The world number two – arguably the most formidable player in the world at present – reached the last eight here courtesy of a 6-3 triumph over Si Jiahui.
O’Sullivan endured a much tougher time of it as he was forced to scramble his way back from 5-2 down to deny Chang Bingyu in a deciding frame.
The Rocket looked dead and buried in the event but kept his hopes alive with the aid of two terrific tons, including a trademark 125 at the end.
At one time, O’Sullivan held all the cards against Wilson and even won three pieces of silverware at his fellow Englishman’s expense.
But the latter has won their last six affairs in all competitions and will be the favourite to advance to the last four again here.
When is it? Thursday, August 14th at 5:30pm UTC+1 (BST)
Barry Hawkins vs Chris Wakelin
“Even if I won this tournament, people wouldn’t think that I’m a top player.”
Those were the words of Chris Wakelin after he orchestrating another eye-catching victory to knock Zhao Xintong out of the running in Jeddah.
Wakelin has represented a rapidly improved force in the game since capturing the 2023 Snooker Shoot Out crown, and the one thing missing from his growing list of achievements is a bigger piece of silverware to boast about.
The 33 year-old has put himself into another position to challenge after winning the last three frames to pip the world champion.
Wakelin’s next opponent survived his last-16 fixture in similar fashion, with Barry Hawkins reversing a late two-frame deficit to deny Ding Junhui in another 6-5 thriller.
In some ways, Hawkins will understand the current career trajectory of Wakelin – the Hawk was also into his thirties before establishing himself as a regular presence at the business end of events.
Hawkins and Wakelin have met only four times in the past with the former emerging triumphantly on three of those occasions.
When is it? Thursday, August 14th at 5:30pm UTC+1 (BST)
Featured photo credit: WST
