Si Jiahui feels the passion in York and is motivated to add his name to China's snooker success story

During the opening session at the Barbican Centre in York, world number 16 Si took the opening frame with the help of a 61 break before doubling his lead in the next.

Efforts of 80 and 68 in back-to-back frames assisted him to a commanding 4-0 mid-session advantage, and on resumption he wrapped up the clean sweep.

Four-time ranking event winner Day - who won two qualifying matches in Wigan earlier this week to make the main draw, televised stages - was left pointless in four of those frames.

If you include the Shoot Out and Championship League, Si has now defeated Day in their last four meetings on the professional circuit.

Next up for Si in the £1.2 million Triple Crown event is reigning UK Champion Judd Trump who began his title defence with a 6-4 victory over former winner Stephen Maguire on the other table.

The head-to-head record isn't pretty reading for Si as he has lost seven of his eight meetings against Trump, although his solitary win was a very memorable one, as he defeated the world number one 6-2 in the semi-finals of last year's Wuhan Open - during which he made his first 147 in professional competition.

Si's win over Day was his first victory at the popular Barbican venue, and the last 16 already represents his best run in snooker's second-most prestigious ranking event.

Last year, also as a seed player, Si lost 6-4 to compatriot Wu Yize in his opening match.

Earlier this month, Wu won his first ranking event title when he defeated John Higgins in the final to claim the International Championship on home soil in Nanjing.

In recent months before this, Zhao Xintong became China's and Asia's first world professional snooker champion, and Xiao Guodong successfully retained the Wuhan Open title.

Si's big breakthrough came at the Crucible Theatre in 2023 when he reached the semi-finals of the World Championship where he lost to eventual winner Luca Brecel having led by nine frames at one point.

Since then, Si has been to the finals of the 2024 German Masters and 2024 Wuhan Open, but he is still searching for his maiden ranking crown.

Speaking to the World Snooker Tour shortly after his win in York, Si revealed his happiness for his Chinese peers and to feeling motivated for a trophy himself, but the laid-back 23-year-old doesn't feel pressure to break his title duck yet and says that time is on his side.

"I don't feel very pressed about it because I think I still have a lot that needs to be improved and I think time is on my side so I'm quite pleased with standing at current ranking" said the number 16 seed.

"Everyone may think I need to win a title, I feel like I need to keep a calm mindset, I won't put too much pressure on myself but I am happy to see others winning titles, it does motivate me to do my best to win my first ranking title."

Earlier in the interview, Si talked about his excitement of playing in front of a big audience at the Barbican: "Yes I did because very few tournaments would present the players introduction like here so every time I would feel quite excited to step out like this - enjoy the passion and the applause from the audience, so I really enjoy playing here."

Talking of big, packed arenas, Si is trying to rubber stamp his invitation for January’s Masters event over the coming days, as the UK Championship is the final counting event towards qualification for it.

In the race for the 16 tickets, Si travelled to York in the final position, although he has strengthened his hopes with his win over Day by adding at least £15,000 to his total. Several players outside of the 16 could overtake him with the UK title which carries a £250,000 first prize.

Si made his Masters debut earlier this year when he lost 6-2 to Mark Allen in the opening round.

To view the full draw, results, match schedule, and other information from the 2025 UK Championship, visit here.