The final round of qualifying for the 2026 China Open produced plenty of drama as the 16 successful players secured their places at the venue stages.
One of the standout results on Sunday came from rising Chinese star Chang Bingyu, who continued his recent progress with a commanding 6-1 victory over Jack Lisowski.
The youngster has long been regarded as one of the brightest prospects from China’s production line of talent, the 23 year-old reaching the Scottish Open final during an impressive last campaign.
Chang compiled a 132 break and made six other contributions above 50 in a thumping display against the world number 17.
There was also a one-sided outcome in the clash between former world champions Stuart Bingham and Luca Brecel, meanwhile.
Bingham produced a dominant performance in Leicester to whitewash the Belgian 6-0 and comfortably seal qualification for Taiyuan.
For Brecel, it represents another disappointing result during what has been a prolonged difficult period.
The 2023 Crucible king has slipped alarmingly down the rankings and is placed around the top 64 cut-off point in the provisional end-of-season standings.
The outcome of the last round arguably belonged to Tom Ford, who completed a remarkable fight back to deny Liam Highfield.
Ford trailed 5-0 and appeared destined for elimination before reeling off six consecutive frames to snatch a stunning 6-5 victory.
The contest was dramatically settled on the final black in the deciding frame.
Aaron Hill also demonstrated tremendous resilience with the Irishman recovering from 4-0 down against Gary Wilson before edging it in another decider.
Elsewhere, Jiang Jun orchestrated a 6-4 success against Jimmy Robertson, while Pang Junxu overcame fellow Chinese competitor Fan Zhengyi by the same scoreline.
Hossein Vafaei brushed aside David Lilley 6-1, Zhang Anda defeated Daniel Wells 6-4, and Noppon Saengkham comfortably accounted for Elliot Slessor 6-1.
Jackson Page beat Yuan Sijun 6-3, Anthony McGill dispatched Joe O’Connor 6-2, and Matthew Selt edged Ali Carter 6-5 in another close encounter.
Zhou Yuelong ended amateur Chen Ruifu’s impressive run with a 6-3 victory, while Liu Hongyu, David Gilbert, and Yao Pengcheng completed the line-up of qualifiers.
The venue stages for the this year’s China Open – back on the calendar for the first time since 2019 – will take place from August 8 to 16.
The 16 qualifiers join the top 16 seeds from the official world rankings in the main draw.
2026 China Open qualifiers results
Round 1 (Last 144)
Zhao Hanyang w/o Xu Jiarui
Deng Haohui 6-0 Zhou Yichen
Sahil Nayyar 6-1 Liu Yang
Daniel Womersley 6-2 Mahmoud El Hareedy
Peter Lines 6-3 Bai Yulu
Duane Jones 6-5 Alexander Ursenbacher
Hammad Miah 6-2 Michael Larkov
Huang Jiahao 6-3 Connor Benzey
Simon Blackwell 6-3 Mateusz Baranowski
Jamie Clarke 6-4 Anton Kazakov
Oliver Brown 6-3 Nattanapong Chaikul
Gong Chenzhi 6-5 Artemijs Zizins
Julien Leclercq 6-4 Ashley Hugill
Florian Nüßle 6-2 Allan Taylor
Ashley Carty 6-0 Stuart Carrington
Ross Muir 6-3 Cheung Ka Wai
Oliver Sykes 6-1 Liu Wenwei
Mark Joyce 6-3 Wang Xinbo
Jimmy White 6-2 Sean O’Sullivan
Antoni Kowalski 6-4 Paul Norris
T Tirapongpaiboon 6-3 Joshua Thomond
Chatchapong Nasa 6-5 Liam Davies
Wang Yuhang 6-1 Phil O’Kane
Andrew Higginson 6-4 Leone Crowley
Mitchell Mann 6-5 Liam Graham
Chen Ruifu 6-4 Panchaya Channoi
Zhang Yang 6-3 Fergal Quinn
Craig Steadman 6-3 George Pragnell
Alfie Burden 6-0 Patrick Whelan
Ryan Thomerson 6-4 Ng On Yee
Robert Milkins 6-4 Luo Zetao
Reanne Evans 6-4 Alfie Davies
Round 2 (Last 112)
Xu Yichen 6-4 Zhao Hanyang
Matthew Stevens 6-2 Deng Haohui
Jiang Jun 6-1 Sahil Nayyar
Jordan Brown 6-1 Daniel Womersley
Fan Zhengyi 6-4 Peter Lines
Dylan Emery 6-1 Duane Jones
Hammad Miah 6-4 Robbie Williams
Steven Hallworth 6-0 Huang Jiahao
Ian Burns 6-1 Simon Blackwell
Jamie Clarke 6-4 Oliver Lines
Marco Fu 6-1 Oliver Brown
David Lilley 6-4 Gong Chenzhi
Lyu Haotian 6-3 Julien Leclercq
Liam Highfield 6-2 Florian Nüßle
Martin O’Donnell 6-3 Ashley Carty
Ross Muir 6-5 Michal Szubarczyk
Lan Yuhao 6-2 Oliver Sykes
Michael Holt 6-1 Mark Joyce
Louis Heathcote 6-2 Jimmy White
Ben Mertens 6-2 Antoni Kowalski
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 6-2 T Tirapongpaiboon
Sam Craigie 6-2 Chatchapong Nasa
Ricky Walden 6-4 Wang Yuhang
Gao Yang 6-2 Andrew Higginson
Mitchell Mann 6-2 David Grace
Chen Ruifu 6-5 Scott Donaldson
Iulian Boiko 6-1 Zhang Yang
Liu Hongyu 6-1 Craig Steadman
Jamie Jones 6-1 Alfie Burden
Liam Pullen 6-5 Ryan Thomerson
Long Zehuang 6-3 Robert Milkins
Yao Pengcheng 6-1 Reanne Evans
Round 3 (Last 80)
Jack Lisowski 6-4 Xu Yichen
Chang Bingyu 6-4 Matthew Stevens
Jiang Jun 6-3 Jak Jones
Jimmy Robertson 6-4 Jordan Brown
Fan Zhengyi 6-3 Stan Moody
Pang Junxu 6-0 Dylan Emery
Aaron Hill 6-1 Hammad Miah
Gary Wilson 6-2 Steven Hallworth
Stuart Bingham 6-4 Ian Burns
Luca Brecel 6-5 Jamie Clarke
Hossein Vafaei 6-3 Marco Fu
David Lilley 6-4 Ryan Day
Tom Ford 6-3 Lyu Haotian
Liam Highfield 6-1 Stephen Maguire
Daniel Wells 6-3 Martin O’Donnell
Zhang Anda 6-2 Ross Muir
Elliot Slessor 6-3 Lan Yuhao
Noppon Saengkham 6-3 Michael Holt
Yuan Sijun 6-5 Louis Heathcote
Jackson Page 6-4 Ben Mertens
Anthony McGill 6-2 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Joe O’Connor 6-1 Sam Craigie
Matthew Selt 6-2 Ricky Walden
Ali Carter 6-4 Gao Yang
Zhou Yuelong 6-3 Mitchell Mann
Chen Ruifu 6-1 Zak Surety
Iulian Boiko 6-2 Lei Peifan
Liu Hongyu 6-2 Ben Woollaston
Xu Si 6-1 Jamie Jones
David Gilbert 6-4 Liam Pullen
He Guoqiang 6-1 Long Zehuang
Yao Pengcheng 6-3 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Round 4 (Last 48)
Chang Bingyu 6-1 Jack Lisowski
Jiang Jun 6-4 Jimmy Robertson
Pang Junxu 6-4 Fan Zhengyi
Aaron Hill 6-5 Gary Wilson
Stuart Bingham 6-0 Luca Brecel
Hossein Vafaei 6-1 David Lilley
Tom Ford 6-5 Liam Highfield
Zhang Anda 6-4 Daniel Wells
Noppon Saengkham 6-1 Elliot Slessor
Jackson Page 6-3 Yuan Sijun
Anthony McGill 6-2 Joe O’Connor
Matthew Selt 6-5 Ali Carter
Zhou Yuelong 6-3 Chen Ruifu
Liu Hongyu 6-0 Iulian Boiko
David Gilbert 6-2 Xu Si
Yao Pengcheng 6-2 He Guoqiang
Featured photo credit: WST
Awesome reporting Sir.. I really appreciate your snooker reports and look forward to each and every one.. Cheers from Canada..
Thanks, Bill.
For WST events (most?, all?, I’m not sure), there is often a qualifying phase, and then a main draw — usually highly-ranked players are seeded, i.e. they automatically enter the main draw — others must successfully advance out of qualifying (as just happened with the China Open).
I assume, but am not entirely sure, that during a season there are professional players, meaning players with tour cards, who are so far down in the rankings that they are never seeded, but also who never advance to the main draw of any tournament via qualifying.
Is this true? — if so, are there any statistics on that? — it would be interesting to know if this happens, and for any particular season, e.g. the most recent season (2025/26), how many such players there were.
Since the Shootout has no qualifying and a large main draw (128 I think), you’d have to exclude that event.
A long time ago, it was the norm for the top 16 seeds to be guaranteed a spot in the last 32, with the other spots filled by qualifiers under a tiered entry system like at the China Open. Then 10-15 years ago, there was a big transition to flat draws with everyone entering in the first round in basically everything except the Worlds. But there has been a clear shift back in the direction of tiered draws in recent seasons. Not many flat draws remain, with the Shoot Out being an example like you said.
As for the statistics, I don’t think so. But yes, I imagine that this season there will be plenty of players who will participate in the qualifiers, win some matches, but never actually feature at the venue for a big event.
The tiered system is generally better but shouldn’t be used too regularly as it’s important to maintain a variation of formats. It’s better for the most prestigious events to operate a tiered system as it then allows the main event to feel less cluttered and each game a proper occasion.
Judgement Day coverage would’ve worked effectively for the Sunday. However, the World Cup being on means I’d have seen very little. I’ve been pleased with the fare on offer so far in North America.
Ford’s comeback is as good any witnessed in a best of 11.
Hello, I must first congratulate Shawn Murphy on his OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours for his services to snooker and charity.
Reading between lines, I thought Murphy’s attitude changed from the first 8 months of last season transforming himself into becoming a considerate and grateful player after that. His sportsmanship was incredible during his last 3 tournaments. I hope he can carry this fine display during this new season. Also, speaking of last season I personally consider his frame 30 effort display where he came back from down 70 – 0 to win the frame in the final of the World Snooker Championship against the eventual winner Wu Yize as one of my 3 top choices. The other amazing displays were Ronnie O’ Sullivan notching back to maximums in the semi finals in Saudi Arabia and although likely not you’re favourite is when I watched Zhoa Xintong cruising around during a break and then puts the rest on the wooden snooker frame and makes a hard shot look so easy.
On a completely different snooker topic, the WST has ended offering bonuses for players scoring two maximums during the Triple Crown events nor is there be a bonus for players that score 100 centuries in a season. Jackson Page, Ronnie O’ Sullivan and Chang Bingyu collected on the first bonus while Judd Trump collected on the centuries in 24/25.