Top 16 seeds enter fray at Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters as round five line-up completed

It has been a conveyor belt of action at the £2.3 million world ranking event in the Middle East over the past few days; from an initial field of 144 players last Friday, less than a quarter of that now remains.

Due to the tiered draw format, the tournament’s top 16 seeds have yet to strike a ball, but they will on Tuesday when they enter the fray to face the 16 lower ranked players who have emerged from the opening four rounds.

Reigning and defending Saudi Masters champion Judd Trump will face good friend Oliver Lines for his opening assignment.

World number 68 Lines has already won three matches to get this far. He ousted Matthew Selt 4-3 on the final black in the third round before hitting a 106 break in a 5-2, round four win against Noppon Saengkham.

Elsewhere in the top quarter of the draw, world number 17 and recent Shanghai Masters finalist Ali Carter will play world number 19 Gary Wilson.

Wilson came back from 3-1 down to deny Gao Yang, 4-3, in round three.

Ben Woollaston's reward for shading Jack Lisowski 5-4 is a date with Neil Robertson, while Mark Selby shares the baize with Long Zehuang.

Further down the top half of the draw, Elliot Slessor plays John Higgins; Slessor scored a fine comeback win in round four, stringing together four consecutive frames from 4-1 down to pip 16-year-old rookie Lan Yuhao.

Another player who survived a fourth round deciding frame finish was former World Champion Stuart Bingham who ousted Sam Craigie to book a meeting with Zhang Anda.

Speed cueist Thepchaiya Un-Nooh has been brilliant over the last couple of days; the Thai ace compiled a maximum 147 break in round three before racking up back-to-back centuries in the next round. Un-Nooh plays Shaun Murphy in another tasty affair.

Mark Williams was within a few pots of winning last year’s inaugural title, and the world number three will need to get past Yuan Sijun first if he is to go another deep run. Yuan has dropped just one frame from two matches, so far.

In the third quarter of the draw is arguably the best player on planet snooker right now: newly minted Shanghai Masters champion Kyren Wilson.

World number two Wilson has won six professional titles within the space of 15 months, but he’ll start his Saudi campaign against a high-in-confidence Iulian Boiko.

The Ukrainian teenager has come through all four rounds to be here, defeating Zak Surety and Jackson Page before surviving a deciding frame against Louis Heathcote in round four.

In the same section, there is an all-Chinese clash between two of the sport’s hottest young properties - Si Jiahui v Wu Yize.

Mark Allen is back in action having missed Shanghai due to family reasons, and the former world number one is up against another Chinese youngster in the field Chang Bingyu.

Chang - who was highly rated by Ronnie O’Sullivan several years ago - is back on the professional tour this season following the expiration of his ban. The 23-year-old has won four matches already; the first three were deciding frame finishes.

Also in quarter three is seven-time World Champion O’Sullivan who has a blockbuster tie with Joe O’Connor, a player who has appeared in two ranking event finals this year already.

Current World Champion Zhao Xintong is placed at the bottom of the draw as the number two seed and he’ll cross cues with Steven Hallworth who is another player who has navigated four steps of the ladder, so far - two of those were deciders.

Farakh Ajaib is the fourth player who has been at the Green Halls this year right from the start.

The Pakistani potter has relinquished just four frames from his four matches, and will try to continue his run against Chris Wakelin.

It's Barry Hawkins versus Martin O'Donnell, while Ding Junhui plays recent Championship League winner Stephen Maguire in a repeat of the 2019 UK Championship final.

All matches in round five are the best of nine frames with a scheduled mid-session interval after frame four.

Please visit our 2025 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters tournament information centre here for the draw, results and other details on the event.