Castle denies White to set up dream tie with Ronnie O'Sullivan at Snooker 900 Global Championship

Following three days of action at the Crucible Sports and Social Club in Reading, the last eight line-up for the 2026 Snooker 900 Global Championship is now known.

Ex-professional player Castle got into this competition via a popularity contest - winning the fans' favourite poll to book a berth in the main draw.

The 33-year-old former English Amateur Championship winner defeated junior qualifying winner Kaylan Patel 5-2 in Tuesday's opening round before denying former German Masters champion Anthony Hamilton - who compiled a hat-trick of centuries - 5-3 in round two the following day.

The next batch of new players to enter the fray came in on Thursday, with Castle facing the ever-popular White.

It was 10-times ranking event winner White who took the opening frame before Castle registered runs of 98 and 52 en route to establishing a 2-1 lead.

Former Masters and UK Champion White had a chance to counter in frame four with just enough points left, but failed to escape from a snooker on the yellow and eventually lost it, although the 64-year-old did keep in touch by depositing frame five.

After a scruffy start to the sixth, Castle found a groove with a 58 on his way to reaching the hill at 4-2 up, but White (54 break) kept his hopes alive by taking frame seven.

However, Castle - who is playing on home turf in Berkshire - got the job done in the next to arrange a dream tie with newly-minted world seniors champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.

It won’t be Castle and O’Sullivan’s first competitive meeting - nor under shot-clock conditions - with Castle getting the better of his high-profile opponent at the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out.

O'Sullivan is one of the top four seeds who begin their challenge for this crown on Friday. The other cueists who have been exempt, so far, are recent world championship runner-up Shaun Murphy, and fellow former world champions Kyren Wilson and Luca Brecel.

Advani, Nuessle, Perry advance to the quarters

Like Castle, both Pankaj Advani and Florian Nuessle have navigated all three completed rounds to make the final eight in Reading.

Indian superstar Advani - who has multiple world championship titles to his name in various categories across snooker and billiards - has dropped just two frames in three matches, eliminating Patsy Fagan and Tony Drago, both 5-1, before whitewashing 1997 World Champion Ken Doherty 5-0 in Thursday’s third round.

Next up for the ‘Pune Potter’ is an encounter with current Masters champion Kyren Wilson.

Nuessle has just finished his rookie season as a professional, and could end his competitive term on a real high by lifting this Snooker 900 Global Championship crown.

The Austrian cueman defeated 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham, 5-2, to set up a continental European clash with the Crucible conqueror from three years ago, Luca Brecel. Nuessle had previously got the better of Simon Lichtenberg and Dominic Dale in the opening two rounds with 5-1 victories.

Despite stepping away from the top tier last year, two-time ranking event winner Joe Perry continues to impress on snooker’s secondary circuit.

The former world number eight won the British Seniors Open last December and was runner-up to O’Sullivan at last week’s World Seniors Championship at the Crucible Theatre.

This week, Perry has seen off Canada’s Levi Meiller 5-0, and then Matthew Stevens 5-3; next up for ‘The Gentleman’ is Murphy, who will be making his first green baize outing since his narrow world final loss to Wu Yize.

It was the second time inside a week that Perry defeated Stevens following a quarter-final success at the world seniors in Sheffield.

With Advani, Perry, Castle, and Nuessle all winning, it meant that all four of the ‘penultimate’ batch of seeds who came in on Thursday exited on the same day.