The 2026 World Open draw has been whittled down to its last eight contenders with the quarter-finals on Friday’s schedule in Yushan.
Three match wins are still required before one of the remaining contenders can get his hands on the trophy this year.
There is a £175,000 top prize up for grabs in what is the 16th ranking tournament of the ongoing 2025/26 campaign.
Let’s take a brief look at all four quarter-final ties.
Ryan Day vs Ronnie O’Sullivan
Ronnie O’Sullivan reached the 150th ranking event quarter-final of his illustrious career with another morale-boosting victory, this time over Shaun Murphy in the last 16.
O’Sullivan remains on course to land a first ranking crown since the World Grand Prix at the start of 2024, and he will be highly fancied to continue his progress against Ryan Day.
The Welshman boasts just two victories from ten previous meetings with the Rocket, and both of those wins came all the way back in 2011.
It has been a poor couple of seasons for Day overall, with this run representing his first to a quarter-final of a tournament in over two years.
When is it? Friday, 06:00 GMT
Mark Allen vs Wu Yize
The tie of the round is arguably between Mark Allen and Wu Yize, the only match from the last eight that features two players who are ranked inside the world’s top 16.
Allen started this week with an outside chance of missing out on the Tour Championship, but his performances here have safeguarded his trip to Manchester.
Despite his experience and stature within the game, however, the former world number one will potentially begin his contest with Wu as the underdog.
The latter is in superb form and produced another eye-catching victory as he won five frames on the spin to defeat Kyren Wilson 5-2 in the last round.
When is it? Friday, 06:00 GMT
Judd Trump vs Hossein Vafaei
A bit like Day in the top half, it has been a long time since we’ve seen Hossein Vafaei at this stage of a tournament with the Iranian through to this latter stage for the first time this season.
It doesn’t get much easier for the Iranian with world number one Judd Trump next up on the agenda in Yushan.
Trump, a two-time former World Open champion, has already won a piece of silverware in 2026 and is hitting encouraging form ahead of the World Championship in April.
The 36 year-old enjoys a superior 10-4 overall head-to-head record against Vafaei, including a 5-0 drubbing when they last crossed paths at the World Grand Prix in 2025.
When is it? Friday, 11:30 GMT
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Gary Wilson
The match-up between Gary Wilson and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is an interesting one as they are the only two players who can affect the draw for the 12-strong Tour Championship through the one-year rankings.
Both would need the top prize in order to leapfrog their way into contention, but here there is a big chance to move forward into the competition’s last four.
Wilson produced a fine display to dispatch world champion Zhao Xintong in the last round, while Un-Nooh’s first quarter-final in more than three years was sealed with a triumph over Marco Fu.
Funnily enough, that run for Un-Nooh at the 2022 Scottish Open was ended at the semi-final stage by none other than Wilson himself – albeit the Thai did win all of their meetings before that.
When is it? Friday, 11:30 GMT
Featured photo credit: WST
