Jimmy White and Marco Fu win as 2025 English Open begins

Jimmy White and Marco Fu advanced to the second round as the 2025 English Open commenced on Thursday at the Brentwood Centre.

The Whirlwind came from 2-0 and 3-2 behind to edge Cheung Ka Wai in a deciding frame, scoring three half-century breaks in the process.

White, who aged 63 is by far the oldest player on the main tour, will challenge Luca Brecel in a blockbuster round-two tie on Saturday.

Cheung’s Hong Kong compatriot Fu had a much easier time of it during his speedy 4-0 success of Gao Yang.

The three-time ranking event winner has been in fine form this season so far and again scored heavily, compiling a brace of century breaks in a one-sided victory.

It was an interesting day all-round for Hong Kong snooker with both Wang Yuchen and Ng On Yee also in action.

Wang managed to outlast rookie Florian Nuessle in a decider, and even though Ng suffered a 4-2 reverse to Liam Highfield, her break of 137 in the second frame represents the highest ever made by a woman on the World Snooker Tour.

Elsewhere on day one in what is the opening tournament of four on the Home Nations Series, Sam Craigie and David Grace both progressed to the last 96.

Craigie is attempting to rebuild his career after a year our through injury and comfortably beat Chatchapong Nasa, while Grace recorded a similar 4-0 victory over Jonas Luz.

Chinese trio Jiang Jun, Zhao Hanyang, and Huang Jiahao were among the others to safely negotiate their opening hurdles in the competition.

There were triumphs too for Pakistan’s Haris Tahir, Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh, and Belgian Julien Leclercq.

Sunny Akani, Duane Jones, Liam Highfield, and Louis Heathcote completed the list of winners on day one, each moving a step closer to claiming the Steve Davis Trophy.

The remaining matches from the round of 128 take place on Friday with the likes of women’s world champion Bai Yulu and the in-form Chang Bingyu entering the fray.

The top 32 seeds, including defending champion Neil Robertson and world champion Zhao Xintong, won’t join the action until Monday.

World number one Judd Trump represents the current favourite in the outright betting market with odds of 7/2, ahead Zhao who is rated a 9/2 chance.

While there is a £100,000 champion’s cheque up for grabs at the English Open, snooker fans can win cash prizes through the best online casino with plenty of fun games to avail of.

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2025 English Open Draw

Round of 128 (bo7)

Sunny Akani 4-2 Oliver Brown
Zhao Hanyang 4-2 Connor Benzey
Haris Tahir 4-0 Michal Szubarczyk
Julien Leclercq 4-0 Aidan Murphy
Farakh Ajaib vs Kreishh Gurbaxani
Chris Totten vs Ross Muir
Antoni Kowalski 1-4 Liam Graham
Liam Highfield 4-2 Ng On Yee

Amir Sarkhosh 4-2 Sahil Nayyar
David Grace 4-0 Jonas Luz
Louis Heathcote 4-1 Mahmoud El Hareedy
Duane Jones 4-1 Patrick Whelan
Cheung Ka Wai 3-4 Jimmy White
Sam Craigie 4-0 Chatchapong Nasa
Reanne Evans 2-4 Jiang Jun
Huang Jiahao 4-0 Oliver Sykes

Robbie McGuigan vs Mink Nutcharut
Bulcsu Revesz vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Mitchell Mann vs Ian Burns
Wang Yuchen 4-3 Florian Nuessle
Dylan Emery vs Fergal Quinn
Allan Taylor vs Umut Dikme
Liam Davies vs Hatem Yassen
Lan Yuhao vs Liam Pullen

Chang Bingyu vs Leone Crowley
Bai Yulu vs Liu Wenwei
Steven Hallworth vs Mateusz Baranowski
Iulian Boiko vs Xu Yichen
Artemijs Zizins vs Yao Pengcheng
Marco Fu 4-0 Gao Yang
Haydon Pinhey vs Ryan Davies
Ben Mertens vs Ashley Hugill

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Round of 96 (bo7)

1. David Lilley vs Sunny Akani
2. Noppon Saengkham vs Zhao Hanyang
3. Zak Surety vs Haris Tahir
4. Fan Zhengyi vs Julien Leclercq
5. He Guoqiang vs Ajaib/Gurbaxani
6. Robert Milkins vs Totten/Muir
7. Ryan Day vs Liam Graham
8. Oliver Lines vs Liam Highfield

9. Long Zehuang vs Amir Sarkhosh
10. Xu Si vs David Grace
11. Jordan Brown vs Louis Heathcote
12. Martin O’Donnell vs Duane Jones
13. Luca Brecel vs Jimmy White
14. Liu Hongyu vs Sam Craigie
15. Daniel Wells vs Jiang Jun
16. Robbie Williams vs Huang Jiahao

17. Michael Holt vs McGuigan/Nutcharut
18. Ben Woollaston vs Revesz/Ursenbacher
19. Sanderson Lam vs Mann/Burns
20. Jimmy Robertson vs Wang Yuchen
21. Matthew Stevens vs Emery/Quinn
22. Scott Donaldson vs Taylor/Dikme
23. Lyu Haotian vs Davies/Yassen
24. Stan Moody vs Lan/Pullen

25. Gong Chenzhi vs Chang/Crowley
26. Ricky Walden vs Bai/Liu
27. Anthony McGill vs Hallworth/Baranowski
28. Jamie Jones vs Boiko/Xu
29. Aaron Hill vs Zizins/Yao
30. Mark Davis vs Marco Fu
31. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Pinhey/Davies
32. Ishpreet Singh Chadha vs Mertens/Hugill

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Round of 64 (bo7)

Neil Robertson vs Winner of Match 1 (above)
Jackson Page vs Winner of Match 2
Shaun Murphy vs Winner of Match 3
David Gilbert vs Winner of Match 4
Wu Yize vs Winner of Match 5
Chris Wakelin vs Winner of Match 6
Lei Peifan vs Winner of Match 7
Mark Selby vs Winner of Match 8

Mark Williams vs Winner of Match 9
Zhou Yuelong vs Winner of Match 10
Barry Hawkins vs Winner of Match 11
Tom Ford vs Winner of Match 12
Hossein Vafaei vs Winner of Match 13
Si Jiahui vs Winner of Match 14
Pang Junxu vs Winner of Match 15
Kyren Wilson vs Winner of Match 16

Judd Trump vs Winner of Match 17
Yuan Sijun vs Winner of Match 18
Gary Wilson vs Winner of Match 19
Elliot Slessor vs Winner of Match 20
Stuart Bingham vs Winner of Match 21
Mark Allen vs Winner of Match 22
Matthew Selt vs Winner of Match 23
Ding Junhui vs Winner of Match 24

Xiao Guodong vs Winner of Match 25
Joe O’Connor vs Winner of Match 26
Zhang Anda vs Winner of Match 27
Jak Jones vs Winner of Match 28
Stephen Maguire vs Winner of Match 29
Ali Carter vs Winner of Match 30
Jack Lisowski vs Winner of Match 31
Zhao Xintong vs Winner of Match 32

Click here for the updated results and draw (snooker.org)

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Featured photo credit: WST