Updated world snooker rankings after 2025 World Open: John Higgins rises up

Four-time World Champion Higgins ended a four-year wait for a ranking crown following his 10-6 victory over Joe O’Connor in Saturday’s final at the Yushan Sports Centre in China.

The £175,000 top prize he earned went on to his world ranking total which sees him move from 13th to 8th in the global standings.

Because of the nature of the two-year rolling ranking system the sport uses, prize money won at the 2023 Players Championship was removed from players’ cumulative totals for this latest revision, and that had an impact for a few well-known cueists.

Top 16: Judd Trump extends lead at top of world rankings

Despite a last 32 exit earlier this week at the hands of O’Connor, Judd Trump remains snooker’s world number one ranked player, and has even strengthened his lead at the top of the tree.

Reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson - who is the current world number two - went out in the same round as Trump in Yushan, but loses ground to him in the rankings chase as he was defending £30,000 from reaching the semi-finals of the aforementioned Players Championship.

Trump is still the runaway number one and now has an advantage of £546,900 over Wilson.

The top seven positions in the world rankings all remain the same, with Trump and Wilson followed by Mark Selby (3rd), Ronnie O’Sullivan (4th), Mark Williams (5th), Luca Brecel (6th) and Mark Allen (7th). With Higgins now in eighth, all three members of the ‘Class of 92’ - who are all set to turn 50 in 2025 - are in the top eight.

Ding Junhui (9th), Zhang Anda (10th) and Barry Hawkins (11th) all stay where they are, but Shaun Murphy - despite a run to the quarter-finals this week - goes down four spots from 8th to 12th.

The reason for this is because Murphy won the 2023 Players Championship and was defending £125,000 from his ranking total.

In the coming weeks, Murphy will also be defending another £150,000 for winning the 2023 Tour Championship, which means his top 16 membership is in jeopardy, and he may have to qualify for the Crucible stages of the upcoming World Championship.

Elsewhere in the top 16, Si Jiahui drops one to 13th; Ali Carter (14th), Gary Wilson (15th) and Xiao Guodong (16th) all stay where they are.

17-32: O’Connor back into the top 32

Joe O’Connor reached the second ranking event final of his career at the World Open, and his brilliant run has put him back into the world’s top 32.

The Leicester cueman came into this tournament under some ranking pressure as he made the last four of the 2023 Players Championship and was guarding £30,000. However, he banked £75,000 for his final berth in China - over double his previous highest career payday of £35,000 - and rises up eight places from 38th to 31st.

Despite his fantastic form - he also made the quarter-finals of the recent Welsh Open - we won’t see O’Connor again until the World Championship qualifiers as he didn’t make the cut for any of the three Players Series events.

Jak Jones qualified for the World Open but withdrew, and he stays on the top 16 bubble in 17th.

Tom Ford goes up two to 18th, while Chris Wakelin goes down two to 20th. Several others players either went up or down one place in this 17 to 32 bracket.

33-64

There isn't a great deal of movement in the 33 to 64 bracket, and for the majority of the players in this section, they have just one more event this season - the World Championship.

Daniel Wells goes up four places to 50th, Ben Woollaston (up to 45th) and Liu Hongyu (up to 58th) each rise three positions.

Robert Milkins' world ranking takes another dent; the 2023 Welsh Open Champion drops six places to 38th.

65 downwards

Zak Surety enjoyed a fairytale run at the World Open, going all the way to the semi-finals where he was edged out by Higgins in a deciding frame, having been two up with three to play.

Surety did pocket £33,000 though - over treble his previous best professional payout - and as a consequence zips up 16 places in the world rankings to number 73.

Duane Jones (up to 90th) and Antoni Kowalski (up to 91st) each move on five places after reaching the last 32, while Michael Holt continues to have a very solid season on his professional return as his last 16 result puts him up three to 79th.

For the full unofficial updated world rankings list - including totals and positional changes for every player - please visit snooker.org here.