Don't rip up the form book; favourites sweep the board on opening day of the British Open

The main venue, televised stages of the £502,000 world ranking event broke off at the Cheltenham Racecourse with 16 matches on the programme across afternoon and evening sessions. All 16 pre-match favourites won, at approximately combined odds of 51/1.

In the opening session, reigning champion Mark Selby began his title defence with a win, while fellow top 16 stars Barry Hawkins and John Higgins also advanced, although Higgins did have to battle back from 3-1 down to oust Mark Davis, 4-3.

In an all-Chinese affair between two of the sport's hottest properties, Wu Yize whitewashed Pang Junxu, 4-0.

Later in the afternoon, World Champion Zhao Xintong - who looked great at times, but unconvincing at others - recovered from 2-0 behind as he eventually shaded amateur Ashley Hugill, 4-3.

Zhang Anda also needed all seven frames to progress, while Ali Carter twice trailed early on before scoring a 4-2 verdict over amateur Patrick Whelan.

There were no such concerns for Neil Robertson, though, who notched up his 997th century break in professional competition during a 4-0 win.

These results meant that match favourites were eight from eight from the first half of the day.

On to the evening session, and the favourites continued to dominate, even in the all-top 16 contests that were trickier to call.

World number five Mark Williams wrapped up a 4-2 victory over world number 15 Si Jiahui with a 127, while world number two Kyren Wilson posted efforts of 105 and 141 during a 4-1 success against world number 14 Chris Wakelin.

Shaun Murphy, Gary Wilson, Xiao Guodong, and Judd Trump all won; world number one Trump was very impressive in sweeping past the in-form Aaron Hill 4-0, producing breaks of 103 and 101 in consecutive frames.

Sanderson Lam was rated to get the result against Q School top-up Daniel Womersley - Ronnie O'Sullivan's replacement in the draw - and he lived up to expectations.

All the fixtures above were round one matches held over to the bright lights of Cheltenham, but there was one last 64 tie played on Monday, and it went to form as Zak Surety dismissed another non-tour card holder in Ashley Carty, 4-0.

Mark Allen was due to play his first round match against Jiang Jun on Monday night, but because of his run to the final of the English Open - and subsequent post-midnight title triumph - the Northern Irishman has been given some much deserved rest, and will begin his campaign on Tuesday evening instead.

The British Open is often dubbed the 'FA Cup of snooker' as the tournament uses a random draw for each round, hence why we had some blockbuster first round encounters.

Action continues on Tuesday morning with both Zhang and Hawkins back on the baize; the former faces world women's champion Bai Yulu.

Later on, several more of the sport’s biggest names return to try and book a spot in the round of 32, including Crucible champion Zhao.

Visit our 2025 British Open tournament information centre here for the draw, results, and details on the format, schedule, and prize money.

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