Xi'an Grand Prix and Northern Ireland Open qualifying to break off professional snooker in September
Following a lucrative triple-header of events in Asia over the past few weeks - that ended with a successful title defence for Xiao Guodong at the Wuhan Open - professional snooker returns to English shores for the start of September.
Players will be off to the Mattioli Arena in Leicester for the qualifying rounds of the Xi’an Grand Prix and Northern Ireland Open, aiming to book a spot for the main venue, televised stages in China and Belfast, respectively, later in the year.
The 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix features a flat draw, although due to there being 129 contestants for the event, there is a solitary preliminary round match with the winner going through to the last 128 (round one).
The vast majority of round one matches will be played at the Mattioli, with these ‘qualifying’ victors then able to make travel plans for the final rounds in the Far East in October (7th to 13th).
As always these days for Chinese ranking events, though, several round one matches have been held over to the main venue to guarantee the appearance of many of the sport's top stars.
Defending champion Kyren Wilson will play his opening assignment in China, so will world number one and last year's runner-up Judd Trump, and reigning World Champion Zhao Xintong.
Fixtures involving Ding Junhui, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Neil Robertson will also be played at the main venue, as too will the matches involving the four amateur wildcards from the host nation.
A handful of top 16 exponents will be in action in Leicester across the upcoming three days, though, with world number six John Higgins being the highest ranked of these as he meets 20-year-old Liam Pullen.
Former world number ones Mark Selby and Mark Allen face Gong Chenzhi and Mitchell Mann, respectively. Barry Hawkins shares the baize with Hatem Yassen, and it’s Zhang Anda versus Farakh Ajaib.
Possibly the standout match of these qualifying ties is an all-Chinese affair between youngsters Si Jiahui and Chang Bingyu.
Shaun Murphy - who has recently fallen outside the world’s top 16 - begins his Xi’an campaign against Liam Highfield.
2023 World Champion Luca Brecel is set to make his competitive return - and first appearance of the season - on Tuesday when he plays Sunny Akani.
Other qualifying games we’ve picked out are: Wu Yize v Florian Nuessle, Stephen Maguire v Bai Yulu, Stan Moody v Amir Sarkhosh, Michael Holt v Jimmy White, and Daniel Wells v Ken Doherty.
All matches at this stage are the best of nine frames.
Preliminary Round
Chatchapong Nasa v Wildcard *
Round One (Last 128)
Kyren Wilson v Haris Tahir *
Sanderson Lam v Marco Fu
Yuan Sijun v Mahmoud El Hareedy
Jamie Jones v Connor Benzey
Shaun Murphy v Liam Highfield
Long Zehaung v Artemijs Zizins
Wu Yize v Florian Nuessle
Xu Si v Bulcsu Revesz
Ricky Walden v Liam Davies
Elliot Slessor v Liam Graham
Oliver Lines v Gao Yang
Mark Allen v Mitchell Mann
Jackson Page v Sahil Hayyar
Lei Peifan v Louis Heathcote
Jordan Brown v Oliver Brown
Ding Junhui V Sam Craigie *
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Iulian Boiko *
Zak Surety v Yao Pengcheng
Stephen Maguire v Bai Yulu
Robbie Williams v Fergal Quinn
Zhang Anda v Farakh Ajaib
David Lilley v Kreishh Gurbaxani
Jak Jones v Haydon Pinhey
Ben Woollaston v Dylan Emery
Luca Brecel v Sunny Akani
Gary Wilson v Wildcard *
Liu Hongyu v Mateusz Baranowski
Chris Wakelin v Wildcard *
He Guoqiang v Zhao Hanyang
Jack Lisowski v Xu Yichen
Ishpreet Singh Chadha v Jonas Luz
Neil Robertson v Leone Crowley *
Judd Trump v Ng On Yee *
Matthew Stevens v Ian Burns
Pang Junxu v Wang Yuchen
Lyu Haotian v Steven Hallworth
Ali Carter v Allan Taylor
Stan Moody v Amir Sarkhosh
Stuart Bingham v Duane Jones
Matthew Selt v Antoni Kowalski
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Mohammed Shebab
Hossein Vafaei v Jiang Jun
Anthony McGill v David Grace
Barry Hawkins v Hatem Yassen
Ryan Day v Ross Muir
Zhou Yuelong v Julien Leclercq
Scott Donaldson v Robbie McGuigan
Mark Williams v Nasa/Wildcard *
John Higgins v Liam Pullen
Michael Holt v Jimmy White
Noppon Saengkham v Alexander Ursenbacher
Martin O'Donnell v Michal Szubarczyk
Mark Selby v Gong Chenzhi
Mark Davis v Reanne Evans
Tom Ford v Huang Jiahao
Aaron Hill v Liu Wenwei
Daniel Wells v Ken Doherty
David Gilbert v Chris Totten
Fan Zhengyi v Ben Mertens
Si Jiahui v Chang Bingyu
Jimmy Robertson v Cheung Ka Wai
Joe O'Connor v Lan Yuhao
Robert Milkins v Mink Nutcharut
Zhao Xintong v Wildcard *
* matches held over to the main venue in China. All other matches above will be played in Leicester between September 1-3.
For the order of play, visit the World Snooker Tour website here.
Immediately after the Xi’an qualifiers will be the Northern Ireland Open qualifiers which take place at the same venue between Thursday to Sunday (4th to 7th).
The format for all four Home Nations Series events is the same as last season, with a tiered draw in place. This means the top 32 seeds for each tournament go straight through to the televised stages where they will be joined by 32 qualifiers.
There are two rounds at the qualifiers, with players entering depending on their ranking/seeding. Matches at these qualifiers are all the best of seven frames.
The final rounds on the Emerald Isle are set for between Sunday 19th to Sunday 26th October. Like Xi’an, Kyren Wilson is the reigning champion.
To view the 2025 Northern Ireland Open qualifying rounds draw, visit snooker.org here.