English Open Snooker: Information and a Potted History

A ranking event, the competition is currently part of the BetVictor European Series and counts towards qualification for Players Series events. It is one quarter of the Home Nations Series. The English Open is open to all professional tour card holders. 

Despite its relative infancy on the circuit, the event has been held at several different locations across England: Manchester, Barnsley, Crawley, Milton Keynes and Brentwood. 

Players compete for The Steve Davis Trophy. 

English Open Snooker: Most successful players, stats, stories, best finals 

Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson are the most successful players in English Open history with two titles each. Both Trump and Robertson have also been a runner-up. Robertson is the only cueist to have reached consecutive English Open finals. As yet, no-one has successfully defended the English Open title. 

The English Open has witnessed several compelling finals. Liang Wenbo won his first ranking event at the inaugural staging in 2016; twelve months later Ronnie O’Sullivan conjured up one of his most memorable performances in a final as he registered four centuries and a 98% pot success rate as he swept aside Kyren Wilson 9-2. Throughout the tournament, The Rocket posted 12 century breaks in total. 

In the 2021 final, Robertson recovered from 8-6 down to oust John Higgins 9-8, but arguably the biggest title match comeback came in 2023 when Trump charged back from 7-3 down, stringing together six frames in-a-row to deny maiden ranking event finalist Zhang Anda, 9-7.  

In the semi-finals the day before, Trump turned a 5-2 deficit into a 6-5 win against Higgins.

In the 2024 final, having been 8-2 up, Robertson survived an incredible five-frame burst from maiden ranking event finalist Wu Yize to eventually defeat his young Chinese opponent, 9-7.

English Open Snooker: Roll of Honour, Locations and Winner’s Prize Money

2016: Liang Wenbo 9-6 Judd Trump (Manchester) | £70,000

2017: Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-2 Kyren Wilson (Barnsley) | £70,000

2018: Stuart Bingham 9-7 Mark Davis (Crawley) | £70,000

2019: Mark Selby 9-1 David Gilbert (Crawley) | £70,000

2020: Judd Trump 9-8 Neil Robertson (Milton Keynes) | £70,000

2021: Neil Robertson 9-8 John Higgins (Milton Keynes) | £70,000

2022: Mark Selby 9-6 Luca Brecel (Brentwood) | £80,000

2023: Judd Trump 9-7 Zhang Anda (Brentwood) | £80,000

2024: Neil Robertson 9-7 Wu Yize (Brentwood) | £100,000

English Open Snooker 147 Breaks

• 2016: Alfie Burden 
• 2017: Liang Wenbo 
• 2018: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Ronnie O'Sullivan 
• 2019: Tom Ford  
• 2022: Mark Williams 
• 2024: Fan Zhengyi

A total of seven maximum 147 breaks have been produced in English Open history. 

At the inaugural staging, Alfie Burden hit his first 147 in professional competition. 

In 2018, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh completed perfection in the opening round; the next day, Ronnie O’Sullivan did likewise in round two. 

Tom Ford crafted his 147 in the last 16 of the 2019 event, in a deciding frame against Shaun Murphy. 

Mark Williams’ effort in 2022 put him in the record books as the oldest player to construct a maximum 147 break in a professional tournament. He was 47 at the time. (This record has since been beaten).

Fan Zhengyi made his first maximum 147 in professional competition at the 2024 event.