The 2026/27 snooker season continues with the 2026 Shenzhen Open qualifiers taking place at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
Just a few days after the conclusion of Championship League Snooker, players will immediately turn their attention toward another ranking event on the calendar.
The Shenzhen Open is making its debut this season after replacing the Xi’an Grand Prix on the World Snooker Tour schedule.
Mark Williams will be regarded as the reigning champion after the Welshman captured the Xi’an Grand Prix title last year, with the tournament retaining its place on the calendar under a new name.
The Shenzhen Open is also adopting a revised qualifying format, with a tiered entry system replacing the flat draw that had been commonplace at the Xi’an Grand Prix.
More tournaments are moving toward this structure again, with the China Open and Wuhan Open having already introduced a seeded system at the start of the campaign.
When are the 2026 Shenzhen Open qualifiers?
The Shenzhen Open qualifiers run for four days, starting on Sunday, July 19 and ending on Wednesday, July 22.
The venue stages of the 2026 Shenzhen Open will then take place from September 28 to October 4.
Who is in the draw?
The Shenzhen Open qualifiers will be contested through a tiered entry system, with players entering the competition at different stages based on their rankings.
The top 16 seeds have all been placed in the round of 64, but their opening matches will be held over to the venue stages in Shenzhen.
Players ranked from 17 to 32 also enter at the last-64 stage, although they will be required to contest their opening matches in Leicester.
That means competitors such as Jack Lisowski, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Ali Carter, Stuart Bingham, Stephen Maguire, and Hossein Vafaei will all be in action during the qualifying phase.
The Shenzhen Open carries a confirmed total prize fund of £850,000, with the champion receiving a top prize of £177,000.
Shenzhen Open prize money
Champion: £177,000
Runner-up: £76,000
Semi-Finals: £34,500
Quarter-Finals: £22,350
Last 16: £14,000
Last 32: £9,400
Last 64: £5,350
Highest Break: £5,000
Total: £850,000
Note: The champion’s sum and the total sum have been confirmed.
The other figures are based on the 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix prize fund.
World champion Wu Yize, Judd Trump, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby, John Higgins, Mark Allen, Shaun Murphy, and home favourite Zhao Xintong are among the elite stars whose opening matches have been held over to the main arena.
Meanwhile, several established professionals and emerging talents from lower down the rankings will have to negotiate the qualifying rounds in Leicester before they can dream of a trip to Shenzhen later in the year.
2026 Shenzhen Open qualifiers: full draw
Round 1: Last 130 (bo9)
1) Oliver Sykes v Andrew Higginson (Sun 19 Jul, 10:00 BST)
2) Jamie Clarke v Sean O’Sullivan (Sun 19 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Round 2: Last 128 (bo9)
3) Ian Burns v Jimmy White (Sun 19 Jul, 10:00 BST)
4) Iulian Boiko v Phil O’Kane (Sun 19 Jul, 10:00 BST)
5) Jiang Jun v Panchaya Channoi (Sun 19 Jul, 10:00 BST)
6) Liam Graham v Craig Steadman (Sun 19 Jul, 10:00 BST)
7) Liam Pullen v Deng Haohui (Sun 19 Jul, 10:00 BST)
8) Ross Muir v Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon (Sun 19 Jul, 10:00 BST)
9) Zhao Hanyang v Ashley Hugill (Sun 19 Jul, 14:30 BST)
10) Sam Craigie v Mahmoud El Hareedy (Sun 19 Jul, 14:30 BST)
11) Louis Heathcote v Wang Xinbo (Sun 19 Jul, 14:30 BST)
12) Leone Crowley v Julien Leclercq (Sun 19 Jul, 14:30 BST)
13) Ben Mertens v Anton Kazakov (Sun 19 Jul, 14:30 BST)
14) Michal Szubarczyk v Gong Chenzhi (Sun 19 Jul, 14:30 BST)
15) Yao Pengcheng v Mitchell Mann (Sun 19 Jul, 14:30 BST)
16) Jamie Jones v Liam Davies (Sun 19 Jul, 14:30 BST)
17) Steven Hallworth v Liu Yang (Mon 20 Jul, 10:00 BST)
18) Oliver Brown v Artemijs Zizins (Sun 19 Jul, 19:00 BST)
19) Liu Wenwei v Huang Jiahao (Sun 19 Jul, 19:00 BST)
20) Jordan Brown v Paul Norris (Sun 19 Jul, 19:00 BST)
21) Reanne Evans v Mykhailo Larkov (Sun 19 Jul, 19:00 BST)
22) Xu Yichen v Luo Zetao (Sun 19 Jul, 19:00 BST)
23) Dylan Emery v Bai Yulu (Sun 19 Jul, 19:00 BST)
24) Gao Yang v To be decided (Mon 20 Jul, 10:00 BST)
25) Lan Yuhao v Ashley Carty (Sun 19 Jul, 19:00 BST)
26) David Grace v Florian Nuessle (Sun 19 Jul, 19:00 BST)
27) Marco Fu v Ng On Yee (Mon 20 Jul, 10:00 BST)
28) Fergal Quinn v Antoni Kowalski (Mon 20 Jul, 10:00 BST)
29) Liam Highfield v Hammad Miah (Mon 20 Jul, 10:00 BST)
30) Chatchapong Nasa v Sahil Nayyar (Mon 20 Jul, 10:00 BST)
31) Lyu Haotian v Alfie Burden (Mon 20 Jul, 10:00 BST)
32) Connor Benzey v Cheung Ka Wai (Mon 20 Jul, 10:00 BST)
33) Mateusz Baranowski v Stuart Carrington (Mon 20 Jul, 14:30 BST)
34) Alexander Ursenbacher v To be decided (Mon 20 Jul, 14:30 BST)
Round 3: Last 96 (bo9)
35) Fan Zhengyi v Burns/White (Mon 20 Jul, 14:30 BST)
36) Stan Moody v Boiko/O’Kane (Mon 20 Jul, 14:30 BST)
37) Robbie Williams v Jiang/Channoi (Mon 20 Jul, 14:30 BST)
38) Zak Surety v Graham/Steadman (Mon 20 Jul, 14:30 BST)
39) Tom Ford v Pullen/Deng (Mon 20 Jul, 14:30 BST)
40) Michael Holt v Muir/Thirapongpaiboon (Mon 20 Jul, 14:30 BST)
41) Ryan Day v Zhao/Hugill (Mon 20 Jul, 19:00 BST)
42) Wildcard Player v Craigie/El Hareedy (Held over)
43) Scott Donaldson v Heathcote/Wang (Mon 20 Jul, 19:00 BST)
44) Luca Brecel v Crowley/Leclercq (Mon 20 Jul, 19:00 BST)
45) Matthew Stevens v Mertens/Kazakov (Mon 20 Jul, 19:00 BST)
46) Jimmy Robertson v Szubarczyk/Gong (Mon 20 Jul, 19:00 BST)
47) Aaron Hill v Yao/Mann (Mon 20 Jul, 19:00 BST)
48) Ishpreet Singh Chadha v Jones/Davies (Mon 20 Jul, 19:00 BST)
49) Matthew Selt v Hallworth/Liu (Tue 21 Jul, 10:00 BST)
50) Liu Hongyu v Brown/Zizins (Mon 20 Jul, 19:00 BST)
51) David Lilley v Liu/Huang (Tue 21 Jul, 10:00 BST)
52) Anthony McGill v Brown/Norris (Tue 21 Jul, 10:00 BST)
53) Oliver Lines v Evans/Larkov (Tue 21 Jul, 10:00 BST)
54) Ben Woollaston v Xu/Luo (Tue 21 Jul, 10:00 BST)
55) Jackson Page v Emery/Bai (Tue 21 Jul, 10:00 BST)
56) Wildcard Player v Gao/To be decided (Held over)
57) Noppon Saengkham v Lan/Carty (Tue 21 Jul, 10:00 BST)
58) Martin O’Donnell v Grace/Nuessle (Tue 21 Jul, 16:00 BST)
59) Wildcard Player v Fu/Ng (Held over)
60) Daniel Wells v Quinn/Kowalski (Tue 21 Jul, 16:00 BST)
61) Long Zehuang v Highfield/Miah (Tue 21 Jul, 16:00 BST)
62) Chang Bingyu v Nasa/Nayyar (Tue 21 Jul, 16:00 BST)
63) He Guoqiang v Lyu/Burden (Tue 21 Jul, 16:00 BST)
64) Ricky Walden v Benzey/Cheung (Tue 21 Jul, 16:00 BST)
65) Xu Si v Baranowski/Carrington (Tue 21 Jul, 16:00 BST)
66) Wildcard Player v Ursenbacher/To be decided (Held over)
Round 4: Last 64 (bo9)
67) Mark Williams v Winner of Match 35 (Held over)
68) Yuan Sijun v Winner of Match 36 (Wed 22 Jul, 10:00 BST)
69) Ronnie O’Sullivan v Winner of Match 37 (Held over)
70) Jack Lisowski v Winner of Match 38 (Wed 22 Jul, 10:00 BST)
71) Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Winner of Match 39 (Wed 22 Jul, 10:00 BST)
72) Xiao Guodong v Winner of Match 40 (Held over)
73) David Gilbert v Winner of Match 41 (Wed 22 Jul, 10:00 BST)
74) Kyren Wilson v Winner of Match 42 (Held over)
75) Zhao Xintong v Winner of Match 43 (Held over)
76) Pang Junxu v Winner of Match 44 (Wed 22 Jul, 10:00 BST)
77) Mark Allen v Winner of Match 45 (Held over)
78) Zhou Yuelong v Winner of Match 46 (Wed 22 Jul, 10:00 BST)
79) Stuart Bingham v Winner of Match 47 (Wed 22 Jul, 10:00 BST)
80) Chris Wakelin v Winner of Match 48 (Held over)
81) Lei Peifan v Winner of Match 49 (Wed 22 Jul, 10:00 BST)
82) Neil Robertson v Winner of Match 50 (Held over)
83) Judd Trump v Winner of Match 51 (Held over)
84) Jak Jones v Winner of Match 52 (Wed 22 Jul, 16:00 BST)
85) Si Jiahui v Winner of Match 53 (Held over)
86) Gary Wilson v Winner of Match 54 (Wed 22 Jul, 16:00 BST)
87) Zhang Anda v Winner of Match 55 (Wed 22 Jul, 16:00 BST)
88) Mark Selby v Winner of Match 56 (Held over)
89) Stephen Maguire v Winner of Match 57 (Wed 22 Jul, 16:00 BST)
90) John Higgins v Winner of Match 58 (Held over)
91) Shaun Murphy v Winner of Match 59 (Held over)
92) Hossein Vafaei v Winner of Match 60 (Wed 22 Jul, 16:00 BST)
93) Barry Hawkins v Winner of Match 61 (Held over)
94) Elliot Slessor v Winner of Match 62 (Wed 22 Jul, 16:00 BST)
95) Ali Carter v Winner of Match 63 (Wed 22 Jul, 16:00 BST)
96) Ding Junhui v Winner of Match 64 (Held over)
97) Joe O’Connor v Winner of Match 65 (Wed 22 Jul, 16:00 BST)
98) Wu Yize v Winner of Match 66 (Held over)
How to watch the Shenzhen Open qualifiers
The Shenzhen Open qualifiers will be broadcast live worldwide (excluding China) on WST Play.
Featured photo credit: WST
