2025 World Grand Prix first round draw confirmed; several big opening fixtures in store

The opening Players Series event of the season will take place in the Far East for the first time, with Hong Kong hosting its first ranking tournament since 1989.

Carrying a huge prize fund of £700,000, the competition will take place at the impressive Kai Tak Sports Park with its indoor arena able to accommodate 4,000 spectators.

Only the top 32 players from this season’s one-year list have been invited to the prestigious event, and with only one of the world’s current top 24 players having not qualified (Luca Brecel), there were guaranteed to be blockbuster encounters on show.

Trump number one seed, reigning champion O’Sullivan qualifies

For the second consecutive year Judd Trump has qualified for the World Grand Prix as the number one seed.

As per the draw bracket used for this event, the top seed faces the bottom seed in round one, with reigning Saudi Masters and UK Champion Trump to play number 32 seed Gary Wilson first up.

Following an opening round exit at the recent Welsh Open - where he was the title holder - Wilson had to sweat over subsequent days before his participation in Hong Kong was confirmed as he held on to his place.

World Champion Kyren Wilson is the number two seed and is in the bottom half of the draw where he meets Matthew Selt.

Xiao Guodong has been a revelation this season, collecting his maiden ranking event crown. The Wuhan Open champion is the number three seed and plays last year’s World Championship runner-up Jak Jones.

Mark Selby - winner of two ranking titles this season, including the recent Welsh Open - is the fourth seed. ‘The Jester’ prepares to share the baize with youngster Jackson Page.

The current World Grand Prix champion is Ronnie O’Sullivan, who defeated Judd Trump in last year’s final held in Leicester. O’Sullivan won the last professional tournament in Hong Kong in 2022, when he defeated home hero Marco Fu 6-4 in the final in front of around 9,000 fans at the venue - a record for a live audience at a snooker match.

Despite his troubles this 2024/25 season, seven-time World Champion O’Sullivan comfortably qualified for this event largely by virtue of runs at the Xi’an Grand Prix and Saudi Arabia Masters.

Number 24 seed O’Sullivan has a very tasty round one tie against Si Jiahui, the player who eliminated him from the quarter-finals in Saudi earlier this term.

Other standout first round ties include Jack Lisowski v Zhang Anda, John Higgins v Ali Carter and Shaun Murphy v Stephen Maguire.

The winner on March 9th will collect the £180,000 first prize.