Stuart Bingham, Ali Carter, and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh were among the players who made it through qualifying for the 2026 Shenzhen Open.
The preliminary phase of the new ranking event, which is a direct replacement for the Xi’an Grand Prix on the calendar, took place in Leicester over the last few days.
Several notable names crashed out and failed to book their tickets to China, including 2023 world champion Luca Brecel and recent Championship League Snooker winner Jak Jones.
The latter came crashing back down to reality with a 5-2 reverse against Anthony McGill, while Brecel suffered a similar fate against Pang Junxu.
World number 17 Jack Lisowski, who was the top seed taking part in the qualifiers, also bowed out through a 5-1 loss to Zak Surety.
It means that Lisowski has failed to qualify for each of the China, Wuhan, and Shenzhen Opens in what has been a very disappointing start to the 2026/27 campaign.
Former world champion Bingham safely secured his spot in Shenzhen, though, courtesy of a 5-2 win over Aaron Hill.
Carter and Un-Nooh earned respective victories over He Guoqiang and Deng Haohui, while there were triumphs elsewhere for Stephen Maguire, Hossein Vafaei, and Gary Wilson.
Meanwhile, one of the ties of the season so far saw Elliot Slessor pip Chang Bingyu in a deciding-frame thriller.
The pair traded five century breaks and made several other sizable contributions in an entertaining encounter that ebbed one way and then the other.
David Gilbert, who lost to Jak Jones in the final of Championship League Snooker a week ago, also prevailed from a 5-4 clash against Ashley Hugill.
Lei Peifan, Yuan Sijun, Jimmy Robertson, Xu Si, and Jackson Page where the others to make it through unscathed.
The remaining matches from the last 64 involving the top 16 seeds have been held over to the venue stages, with the 2026 Shenzhen Open taking place from September 28 to October 4.
Next up in Leicester are the British Open qualifiers.
2026 Shenzhen Open qualifiers: Results
Round of 130
Andrew Higginson 5-1 Oliver Sykes
Jamie Clarke 5-2 Sean O’Sullivan
Round of 128
Jimmy White w/o Ian Burns
Iulian Boiko 5-0 Phil O’Kane
Jiang Jun 5-3 Panchaya Channoi
Craig Steadman 5-1 Liam Graham
Deng Haohui 5-3 Liam Pullen
Ross Muir 5-2 T Tirapongpaiboon
Ashley Hugill 5-3 Zhao Hanyang
Sam Craigie 5-0 Mahmoud El Hareedy
Wang Xinbo 5-2 Louis Heathcote
Julien Leclercq 5-4 Leone Crowley
Ben Mertens 5-1 Anton Kazakov
Gong Chenzhi 5-2 Michal Szubarczyk
Yao Pengcheng 5-2 Mitchell Mann
Liam Davies 5-2 Jamie Jones
Steven Hallworth 5-4 Liu Yang
Artemijs Zizins 5-2 Oliver Brown
Huang Jiahao 5-1 Liu Wenwei
Jordan Brown 5-2 Paul Norris
Reanne Evans 5-3 Michael Larkov
Luo Zetao 5-1 Xu Yichen
Dylan Emery 5-4 Bai Yulu
Andrew Higginson 5-3 Gao Yang
Lan Yuhao 5-3 Ashley Carty
David Grace 5-2 Florian Nuessle
Marco Fu 5-1 Ng On Yee
Antoni Kowalski 5-0 Fergal Quinn
Liam Highfield 5-1 Hammad Miah
Chatchapong Nasa 5-4 Sahil Nayyar
Lyu Haotian 5-3 Alfie Burden
Cheung Ka Wai 5-0 Connor Benzey
Mateusz Baranowski 5-3 Stuart Carrington
Jamie Clarke 5-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
Round of 96
Fan Zhengyi 5-1 Jimmy White
Iulian Boiko 5-2 Stan Moody
Jiang Jun 5-0 Robbie Williams
Zak Surety 5-2 Craig Steadman
Deng Haohui 5-3 Tom Ford
Michael Holt 5-4 Ross Muir
Ashley Hugill 5-2 Ryan Day
Wildcard player vs Sam Craigie (held over)
Scott Donaldson 5-2 Wang Xinbo
Luca Brecel 5-3 Julien Leclercq
Ben Mertens 5-1 Matthew Stevens
Jimmy Robertson 5-0 Gong Chenzhi
Aaron Hill 5-2 Yao Pengcheng
Liam Davies 5-3 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Matthew Selt 5-1 Steven Hallworth
Liu Hongyu 5-0 Artemijs Zizins
Huang Jiahao 5-4 David Lilley
Anthony McGill 5-4 Jordan Brown
Oliver Lines 5-2 Reanne Evans
Luo Zetao 5-4 Ben Woollaston
Jackson Page 5-3 Dylan Emery
Wildcard player vs Andrew Higginson (held over)
Lan Yuhao 5-4 Noppon Saengkham
David Grace 5-2 Martin O’Donnell
Wildcard player vs Marco Fu (held over)
Antoni Kowalski 5-3 Daniel Wells
Liam Highfield 5-2 Long Zehuang
Chang Bingyu 5-0 Chatchapong Nasa
He Guoqiang 5-3 Lyu Haotian
Ricky Walden 5-2 Cheung Ka Wai
Xu Si 5-0 Mateusz Baranowski
Wildcard player vs Jamie Clarke (held over)
Round of 64
Mark Williams vs Fan Zhengyi (held over)
Yuan Sijun 5-3 Iulian Boiko
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Jiang Jun (held over)
Zak Surety 5-1 Jack Lisowski
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-1 Deng Haohui
Xiao Guodong vs Michael Holt (held over)
David Gilbert 5-4 Ashley Hugill
Kyren Wilson vs Wildcard player / Craigie (held over)
Zhao Xintong vs Scott Donaldson (held over)
Pang Junxu 5-2 Luca Brecel
Mark Allen vs Ben Mertens (held over)
Jimmy Robertson 5-2 Zhou Yuelong
Stuart Bingham 5-2 Aaron Hill
Chris Wakelin vs Liam Davies (held over)
Lei Peifan 5-4 Matthew Selt
Neil Robertson vs Liu Hongyu (held over)
Judd Trump vs Huang Jiahao (held over)
Anthony McGill 5-2 Jak Jones
Si Jiahui vs Oliver Lines (held over)
Gary Wilson 5-2 Luo Zetao
Jackson Page 5-2 Zhang Anda
Mark Selby vs Wildcard player / Higginson (held over)
Stephen Maguire 5-3 Lan Yuhao
John Higgins vs David Grace (held over)
Shaun Murphy vs Wildcard player / Fu (held over)
Hossein Vafaei 5-4 Antoni Kowalski
Barry Hawkins vs Liam Highfield (held over)
Elliot Slessor 5-4 Chang Bingyu
Ali Carter 5-1 He Guoqiang
Ding Junhui vs Ricky Walden (held over)
Xu Si 5-1 Joe O’Connor
Wu Yize vs Wildcard player / Clarke (held over)
Featured photo credit: WST
Aaron will have regrets he lost to a poor bingham from 2,0 up Chang will be worold no.1 by 1/1/2028
There seems to be a curse with those who make a 147 and then lose their next match, It has happened to Chang Bingyu losing to Elliot Slessor yesterday thus losing the qualifier to enter the Shenzhen Open after his 147. It also happened in early July when Si Jiahui scored a max 147 to only get knocked out of the Champions League in the very next match.
There is absolutely no doubt that Chang is a breath of fresh air with his potting and break building talents but in my maybe my not so humble opinion, he is still a bit off in protecting the scoring chances of his opponents. Once his safety game improves, I agree Daniel, he will be number 1.
It’s a pity that Chang won’t be in Shenzhen.
He produced 7 centuries including 6 130+ breaks in just 2 best of 9 matches !
His potting is second to none for sure.
But I agree that he probably needs to develop an all-round game to become world number 1, which may take a while.
i think he has 1 of the best safety games of the chinese players does Chang hes not like Si only potting balls and not putting much thought into the safety
I know it’s rather early (the season hasn’t really begun yet), but looking at recent results, also not so recent results over the last couple of years, it’s doesn’t look all that promising for Brecel.
The WST is *very competitive*, not only due to established players, but also because of all the very good young players — so it’s going to be a challenge for Brecel to turn things around.