Wu Yize suffered a shock 5-4 loss to Artemijs Zizins in the Wuhan Open on Monday, ending the world champion’s immediate aspirations of becoming snooker’s world number one.
The 22 year-old was pipped to the post in an entertaining round-of-64 encounter that went all the way down to the final colours.
Wu took the opening frame but trailed 3-1 at the interval, with his opponent compiling a brace of 85 breaks to establish a foothold.
Back came the Crucible king with contributions of 129 and 87 to lead 4-3 – seemingly seizing control of the affair at just the right time.
But Zizins forced a deciding frame with a break of 80, and the challenger from Latvia pounced on a couple of misses from Wu to pinch glory at the death.
Defeat for the latter means that he is out of the running to end this week’s ranking tournament as the sport’s world number one.
Five players began the event with a chance of finishing August in top spot on the official two-year list.
Zhao Xintong is provisionally in pole position to claim the accolade for the first time in his career, but Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, and current world number one Judd Trump are all still in contention.
Trump, who has held the coveted position since August in 2024, has already reached the last 16 after orchestrating a couple of 5-0 victories over Florian Nuessle and Yuan Sijun.
The remaining three will play their round-of-32 ties on Tuesday after safely negotiating their initial held-over fixtures.
Zhao thrashed Gao Yang 5-0, Robertson ousted Ben Mertens 5-1, and recent China Open champion Selby outsmarted Fan Zhengyi with a 5-2 display.
Trump and Selby need to win the Wuhan Open to become (or stay in the former’s case) the world number one.
If neither can do that, Zhao will become snooker’s 13th world number one if he can match or better Robertson’s performance in Wuhan.
Zhao and Robertson could face each other in a mouthwatering quarter-final fixture should they both make it that far, with Selby and Trump on the opposite side of the draw.
Zizins, meanwhile, will face Stephen Maguire in the next round after orchestrating arguably the result of his career so far.
The likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Shaun Murphy, and Kyren Wilson are also still in contention at the 2026 Wuhan Open where a whopping £175,000 winner’s cheque is up for grabs.
Featured photo credit: WST
