The World Snooker Tour has announced the introduction of the Shenzhen Open, a new world ranking event that will replace the Xi’an Grand Prix on the calendar.
The tournament will retain the same slot in the schedule, with the venue stages taking place from September 28 to October 4 after qualifying rounds are held in the UK between July 19 and 22.
A total prize fund of £850,000 will be on offer, with the winner collecting £177,000.
The qualifying competition will adopt a three-tier structure, but the top 16 seeds will once again have their opening matches held over to the venue in China.
While the Xi’an Grand Prix only made its debut in 2024, WST has elected to relocate and rebrand the tournament rather than introduce an additional ranking event.
Shenzhen, located in Guangdong Province in southern China, is home to around 17 million people and is the country’s third-largest city behind Beijing and Shanghai.
Widely recognised as one of China’s leading technology and financial hubs, it will now also become one of the sport’s newest destinations.
For snooker fans, Shenzhen’s greatest significance probably lies elsewhere as it is the home city of 2025 world snooker champion Zhao Xintong.
Few players have transformed the landscape of the sport as quickly as the 29 year-old.
Zhao’s extraordinary triumph at the 2025 World Snooker Championship, when he became the first player from China to capture the title at the Crucible Theatre, instantly established him as one of the game’s biggest attractions.
He has enjoyed plenty of success since then too, and during a superb 2025/26 campaign Zhao collected four big titles including a clean sweep of the prestigious Players Series events.
Indeed, the Cyclone appears on course to become the sport’s world number one at some stage this season.
China has long been snooker’s most important overseas market, but Zhao’s emergence has given WST a genuine superstar around whom it can continue to build.
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of hero’s welcome he’ll get when he competes in front of his home audience this year.
The Shenzhen Open will be the third of five ranking events staged in mainland China during the 2026/27 season.
WST chief executive Simon Brownell welcomed the announcement by saying: “We are thrilled to be bringing a huge event to the incredible city of Shenzhen for the first time.”
“The fans there will get the opportunity to watch their heroes play live and it will be a fantastic experience for the top players to visit another new city in China, as our sport continues to grow across the region.”
One aspect of the announcement does seem a bit strange, though.
WST is treating the Shenzhen Open as a continuation of the Xi’an Grand Prix, meaning Mark Williams will arrive as the defending champion after winning the title in Xi’an last year.
Technically, that makes some sense because the tournament occupies the same place on the calendar.
Yet in reality, it feels much more like the birth of a completely new ranking event.
The name has changed, the host city has changed, the branding has changed, and even the “Grand Prix” identity has disappeared altogether.
It does, however, underline the appetite for snooker in China’s biggest cities, with more of them seemingly eager to secure a place on the calendar.
Featured photo credit: WST
