The qualifiers for the 2026 World Open concluded on Thursday with most of the round of 64 for the venue stages now complete.
The season’s 16th ranking event will take place next month in Yushan from March 16th to 22nd, but a preliminary phase was first required in Barnsley this week.
Some players had their round-of-128 fixtures held over to China, including world number one Judd Trump, world champion Zhao Xintong, and reigning World Open winner John Higgins.
Fan favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan also had his initial tie deferred, as did popular Chinese duo Xiao Guodong and Zhang Anda.
The likes of Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby, Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy, Mark Allen, and Ding Junhui all had to contest their first encounters at the Barnsley Metrodome, however.
And Ding, who usually would be among the regular promoter picks at Chinese events, was an early casualty as he bowed out with a 5-2 reverse to Marco Fu.
That means the 38 year-old won’t be seen again until the World Championship, a tournament he’s not yet guaranteed to enjoy automatic seeding at.
Fellow former World Open champions Murphy and Allen safely progressed with respective victories over Chatchapong Nasa and Louis Heathcote, however.
The pair, who combined to win all three editions of the World Open from 2012 to 2014, will be among the outside betting favourites for glory with more odds at MelBet download (Arabic: MelBet تحميل) available for all the latest snooker tournaments.
Wilson and Williams recorded easy 5-0 wins but it was much tougher for Selby, Wednesday’s Championship League champion emerging from a tight tussle with Haydon Pinhey in a deciding frame.
Elsewhere, there were disappointing defeats for a lot of the players further down the rankings who are battling for tour survival.
Losses for Jordan Brown, Jamie Jones, Mark Davis, Sanderson Lam, and Robert Milkins mean they each have no more opportunities to earn ranking points ahead of the season-concluding World Championship.
As usual, the top 64 on the official two-year list will be assured of their tour safety, with Brown through to Milkins ranked from 63rd to 67th on the provisional end-of-year standings.
Further up the rankings, Stuart Bingham, Gary Wilson, Jak Jones, and Ali Carter all won to keep alive their aspirations of qualifying for the World Championship automatically.
The World Open will be the third-last ranking event on the 2025/26 snooker calendar, but for most it’ll be the last chance to manipulate a better seeding position for the World Championship.
Like Ding, Si Jiahui might be looking over his shoulder in that regard after suffering a 5-3 loss to Zhao Hanyang.
The full list of results at the qualifiers is below.
2026 World Open draw
Round of 128 (bo9)
John Higgins vs Liam Highfield (Held over)
Stan Moody 5-4 Jiang Jun
Lei Peifan 5-0 Michal Szubarczyk
Ryan Day 5-3 Jordan Brown
Chris Wakelin 5-1 Mink Nutcharut
Jamie Jones 5-0 Artemijs Zizins
Jak Jones 5-1 Sahil Nayyar
Luca Brecel 5-4 Mateusz Baranowski
Matthew Selt 5-4 Liam Davies
David Gilbert 5-3 Connor Benzey
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 5-2 Bulcsu Revesz
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Ross Muir (Held over)
Xu Si 5-1 Mahmoud El Hareedy
Stephen Maguire 5-1 Sanderson Lam
David Lilley 5-0 Reanne Evans
Shaun Murphy 5-3 Chatchapong Nasa
Umut Dikme 5-4 Oliver Brown
Scott Donaldson 4-5 Xu Yichen
Zhou Yuelong 5-0 Dylan Emery
He Guoqiang 5-4 Amir Sarkhosh
Mark Allen 5-2 Louis Heathcote
Antoni Kowalski 5-4 Liu Hongyu
Jack Lisowski 5-2 Gong Chenzhi
Cheung Ka Wait 5-3 Jimmy Robertson
Anthony McGill 5-3 Leone Crowley
Stuart Bingham 5-0 Ng On Yee
Chang Bingyu 5-0 Hatem Yassen
Wu Yize 5-2 Liam Pullen
Zak Surety 5-1 Huang Jiahao
Tom Ford 5-4 Allan Taylor
Lyu Haotian 5-3 Gao Yang
Kyren Wilson 5-0 Alexander Ursenbacher
Judd Trump vs Chris Totten (Held over)
Florian Nuessle 5-3 Oliver Lines
Joe O’Connor 3-5 Liu Wenwei
Jackson Page vs Wildcard player (Held over)
Si Jiahui 3-5 Zhao Hanyang
Robbie Williams 5-3 Wang Yuchen
Elliot Slessor 5-2 Bai Yulu
Daniel Wells 5-4 Robbie McGuigan
Noppon Saengkham 3-5 Steven Hallworth
Zhang Anda vs Wildcard player (Held over)
Fan Zhengyi 2-5 Julien Leclercq
Xiao Guodong vs Ben Mertens (Held over)
Matthew Stevens 5-1 Fergal Quinn
Hossein Vafaei 5-2 Lan Yuhao
Ricky Walden vs Mitchell Mann/Wildcard (Held over)
Mark J Williams 5-0 Kreishh Gurbaxani
Mark Selby 5-4 Haydon Pinhey
Michael Holt 5-2 Ken Doherty
Yuan Sijun 5-2 David Grace
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-0 Mohammed Shehab
Ding Junhui 2-5 Marco Fu
Robert Milkins 3-5 Iulian Boiko
Ali Carter 5-2 Jimmy White
Martin O’Donnell 5-1 Jonas Luz
Aaron Hill 5-0 Haris Tahir
Gary Wilson 5-1 Farakh Ajaib
Mark Davis 5-1 Ian Burns
Barry Hawkins 5-3 Duane Jones
Yao Pengcheng 5-3 Ben Woollaston
Pang Junxu 4-5 Sam Craigie
Long Zehuang 5-2 Liam Graham
Zhao Xintong vs Wildcard player (Held over)
Featured photo credit: WST
Shame for Ding, nice for Marco Fu. Mostly wins for the favourites it seems. In an event with “World” in the name I’m fully expecting Zhao to prevail at the main tournament.