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.
Reigning champion Xiao Guodong’s attempt to win the tournament for the third straight year has continued as well after beating Jackson Page.
Featured photo credit: WST
The decider frame between Wu Yize and Artemijs Zizins’s ending was reminiscent of how Mark Allen missed the black ball giving Wu Yize the match but this time karma was at play by Artemijs Zizins cleaning up after Wu Yize missed a black ball to the same pocket that Mark Allen missed.
It took awhile for Mark Williams to get his gears going against David Gilbert however by final frame Mark Williams put together a 134 break to win the match 5-3.
Once again Ronnie O’ Sullivan had more fans for him than Judd Trump’s match and Mark Williams’s combined.
After putting away China’s pride and pioneer in upset fashion Liam Davies continued by winning over Gary Wilson.
Xiao Guodong is still on course to making it three consecutive Wuhan’s Opens. The tough matches are on their way; let’s see what happens.
What total sadness I feel. My buddy came so close to winning the World Championships and his coach is no longer by his side. Do not worry Shaun Murphy, I’ll be your coach. To lose to Pang Junxu is just not acceptable for such an esteemed player. All joking aside I wait for your next amazing performance.
Dylan Emery is getting his feet wet in the big leagues. Si Jiahui won handedly over Dylan 5-1.
The “Rocket” and also “Mr.Showtime” Ronnie O’ Sullivan showed Yao Pengcheng that despite his early season 8 game winning streak, he still has some time to go to hone in on his skills.
After winning the highlight match of his young career, Artemijs Zizins suffered an equaling heartbreak loss. He was up 4-1 against Stephen Maguire but could not close out the match. Congrats Stephen Maguire.
Let’s just say that if Mark Selby played like he played against He Guoqiang, I really believe that Noppon Saengkham would have won the China Open.
Too many mistakes gave the Captain the decider. I love deciders, it is all or nothing.Ali Carter was the winner over Kyren Wilson 5-4.