John Higgins was an early casualty as the 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix qualifiers from the last three days threw up some interesting results.
Higgins, who admitted during the recent Wuhan Open that he has been struggling for motivation so far this term, won’t be returning to China on this occasion after suffering a 5-3 defeat to Liam Pullen.
The Scot was the highest-profile player to exit the competition at this early stage, with most of the other top 16 players in action safely making it through.
There was another unexpected loss, however, for Zhang Anda who failed to build on what could have been a confidence-boosting run to the last eight in Wuhan a week ago.
With his top 16 concerns mounting amid a large chunk of ranking points that are soon to be deducted from his rolling two-year tally, Zhang was downed 5-4 by Farakh Ajaib on the final black.
Among the heavy hitters to safely make it through to the venue stages next month were Mark Allen and Shaun Murphy, albeit under very different circumstances.
Allen needed all nine frames to eventually outlast Mitchell Mann while Murphy, who lost his top 16 ranking for the first time in 19 years last week, whitewashed Liam Highfield.
Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins, Si Jiahui, and this season’s Championship League Snooker winner Stephen Maguire were among the others to qualify for the last 64.
The likes of world number one Judd Trump, world champion Zhao Xintong, and 2024 winner Kyren Wilson all had their initial fixtures held over to the event proper.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Mark Williams, and Ding Junhui also had their round-of-128 matches deferred.
There were a few other interesting results at the Xi’an Grand Prix qualifiers, meanwhile, with Jack Lisowski losing 5-4 to rookie Xu Yichen and Luca Brecel crashing out to Sunny Akani.
Brecel’s recent woes continued as he was forced to play with somebody else’s cue, but his concession in the middle of the third frame while 2-0 behind was still somewhat bizarre.
Zhou Yuelong, meanwhile, also made headlines after recording his third career maximum break during a 5-2 victory over Julien Leclercq.
It marked the eighth 147 break of the fledgling 2025/26 snooker season already, with the single campaign record of 15 very much under threat.
The main stages of this year’s Xi’an Grand Prix will run from October 7th to 13th, with ยฃ177,000 up for grabs for the champion.
Next up this week are the Northern Ireland Open qualifiers, with more details on that available by clicking here.
2025 Xi’an Grand Prix Draw
Round of 128 (bo9)
Kyren Wilson vs Haris Tahir (held over)
Marco Fu 5-1 Sanderson Lam
Yuan Sijun 5-1 Mahmoud El Hareedy
Jamie Jones 5-1 Connor Benzey
Shaun Murphy 5-0 Liam Highfield
Long Zehuang 5-1 Artemijs Zizins
Wu Yize 5-4 Florian Nuessle
Xu Si 5-1 Bulcsu Revesz
Ricky Walden 5-1 Liam Davies
Elliot Slessor 5-1 Liam Graham
Oliver Lines 5-1 Gao Yang
Mark Allen 5-4 Mitchell Mann
Jackson Page 5-3 Sahil Nayyar
Louis Heathcote 5-3 Lei Peifan
Jordan Brown 5-1 Oliver Brown
Ding Junhui vs Sam Craigie (held over)
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Iulian Boiko (held over)
Yao Pengcheng 5-1 Zak Surety
Stephen Maguire 5-2 Bai Yulu
Robbie Williams 5-1 Fergal Quinn
Farakh Ajaib 5-4 Zhang Anda
David Lilley 5-3 Kreishh Gurbaxani
Jak Jones 5-0 Haydon Pinhey
Dylan Emery 5-3 Ben Woollaston
Sunny Akani 5-0 Luca Brecel
Gary Wilson vs Wildcard (held over)
Mateusz Baranowski 5-4 Liu Hongyu
Chris Wakelin vs Wildcard (held over)
He Guoqiang 5-1 Zhao Hanyang
Xu Yichen 5-4 Jack Lisowski
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 5-0 Jonas Luz
Neil Robertson vs Leone Crowley (held over)
Judd Trump vs Ng On Yee (held over)
Matthew Stevens 5-0 Ian Burns
Wang Yuchen 5-3 Pang Junxu
Lyu Haotian 5-2 Steven Hallworth
Ali Carter 5-1 Allan Taylor
Stan Moody 5-4 Amir Sarkhosh
Stuart Bingham 5-2 Duane Jones
Matthew Selt 5-4 Antoni Kowalski
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-1 Patrick Whelan
Jiang Jun 5-0 Hossein Vafaei
David Grace 5-4 Anthony McGill
Barry Hawkins 5-0 Hatem Yassen
Ryan Day 5-4 Ross Muir
Zhou Yuelong 5-2 Julien Leclercq
Scott Donaldson 5-1 Robbie McGuigan
Mark Williams vs Chatchapong Nasa/Wildcard (held over)
Liam Pullen 5-3 John Higgins
Michael Holt 5-1 Umut Dikme
Noppon Saengkham 5-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
Michal Szubarczyk 5-4 Martin O’Donnell
Mark Selby 5-0 Gong Chenzhi
Mark Davis 5-1 Reanne Evans
Huang Jiahao 5-3 Tom Ford
Aaron Hill 5-2 Liu Wenwei
Daniel Wells 5-1 Ken Doherty
David Gilbert 5-1 Chris Totten
Fan Zhengyi 5-1 Ben Mertens
Si Jiahui 5-3 Chang Bingyu
Jimmy Robertson 5-2 Cheung Ka Wai
Joe O’Connor 5-2 Lan Yuhao
Robert Milkins 5-1 Mink Nutcharut
Zhao Xintong vs Wildcard (held over)
Featured photo credit: WST
Shaun Murphy comeback trail?
No, because he’s not particularly in a position you’d regard as in doldrums. He’s dropped one place on a fluid ranking list and the provisional rankings later in the season bode well. It’s also worth reminding people he’s the reigning Masters champion.