As we head towards the business end of the season the World Snooker Tour travels to Yushan, China for the World Open, starting on Sunday.
Judd Trump is the defending champion at the ranking event after he downed Ding Junhui in last year’s final, beating the Chinese superstar 10-4 in the showpiece.
With the winner claiming £175,000, the World Open could prove hugely significant in the race to get into the upcoming Players Championship and Tour Championship, then make it into the top 16 to avoid World Championship qualifying and head straight to the Crucible.
There have been some withdrawals in the days leading up to the event, with Ronnie O’Sullivan, Luca Brecel, Ricky Walden, Jak Jones and Chris Totten all pulling out.
However, it remains a heavyweight field at the tournament, including world number one Trump, world champion Kyren Wilson, Masters winner Shaun Murphy and newly-crowed Welsh Open champ Mark Selby.
Trump is bidding for a hat-trick of World Open crowns having won the previous edition in 2019 as well, before an enforced break due to Covid.
The other players to lift the trophy since the event moved to Yushan in 2016 have been Ali Carter, Ding and Mark Williams.
World Open draw and schedule
Sunday 23 February
All times UK
01.30
Elliot Slessor 5-2 Lyu Haotian
Sanderson Lam 1-5 Zhou Jinhao
David Lilley 5-4 Cao Jin
Scott Donaldson 5-0 Wang Yuhang
Zhang Anda 3-5 Stan Moody
Xu Si 5-3 Zou Pengfei
Kyren Wilson 5-2 Hammad Miah
06.00
Mark Selby 2-5 Liu Hongyu
Jimmy Robertson 5-3 Noppon Saengkham
Aaron Hill 5-3 Sunny Akani
Mark Davis 1-5 John Higgins
Daniel Womersley 2-5 Stuart Carrington
11.30
Antoni Kowalski 5-3 Matthew Stevens
Michael Holt 5-3 Martin O’Donnell
Wu Yize 5-4 Jackson Page
Ali Carter 5-3 He Guoqiang
M Phetmalaikul 1-5 Zhou Yuelong
Judd Trump 5-0 Xing Zihao
Ding Junhui 5-1 Jiang Jun
Monday 24 February
01.30
Zhou Jinhao vs Shaun Murphy
Mark Allen vs David Lilley
Jack Lisowski vs Scott Donaldson
Zak Surety vs Jordan Brown
06.00
Ben Woollaston vs Amir Sarkosh
Jamie Jones vs Barry Hawkins
Louis Heathcote vs Stuart Carrington
Xiao Guodong vs Duane Jones
Pang Junxu vs Anthony McGill
Zhang/Moody vs Graeme Dott
Lei Peifan vs Kyren Wilson
11.30
Judd Trump vs Long Zehuang
Alfie Burden vs Joe O’Connor
Yuan Sijun vs Hossein Vafaei
Joe Perry vs Ding Junhui
Ishpreet Singh Chadha vs Tom Ford
Daniel Wells vs Gary Wilson
Robert Milkins vs Xu Si
Wed 26 Feb: Last 16
Thu 27 Feb: QFs
Fri 28 Feb: SFs
Sat 01 Mar: Final
How to watch the World Open
As per World Snooker Tour, in the UK and Ireland: ‘Until February 28th live coverage will be simulcast on Eurosport and TNT Sports 3, and available to stream on discovery+. Eurosport officially stops broadcast at 2am UK time on February 28th. From that point onwards all live coverage will continue to be live on TNT Sports 3 and discovery+.’
World Open prize money
Winner: £175,000
Runner-up: £75,000
Semi-final: £33,000
Quarter-final: £22,000
Last 16: £14,000
Last 32: £9,000
Last 64: £5,000
Highest break: £5,000
World Open odds
Judd Trump 3/1
Mark Selby 11/2
Kyren Wilson 6/1
Mark Allen 9/1
Xiao Guodong 11/1
Shaun Murphy 12/1
Ding Junhui 14/1
John Higgins 14/1
Barry Hawkins 18/1
Jack Lisowski 25/1
Zhang Anda 25/1
Wu Yize 25/1
Ali Carter 33/1
Ryan Day 33/1
Jak Jones 33/1
Pang Junxu 45/1
Anthony McGill 45/1
Thepchaiya Un Nooh 50/1
Yuan Sijun 50/1
Elliot Slessor 50/1
Noppon Saengkham 50/1
Tom Ford 50/1
Zhou Yuelong 50/1
Joe O’Connor 50/1
Hossein Vafaei 50/1
Gary Wilson 66/1
Ben Woollaston 70/1
Jackson Page 70/1
Xu Si 70/1
Jimmy Robertson 75/1
Matthew Stevens 125/1
Lu Haotian 125/1
Jamie Jones 125/1
Graeme Dott 125/1
Long Zehuang 125/1
He Guoqiang 125/1
Lei Peifan 150/1
Jordan Brown 150/1
Stan Moody 150/1
Ishpreet Chadha 150/1
Sunny Akani 150/1
Aaron Hill 150/1
Daniel Wells 150/1
Louis Heathcote 175/1
Tian Pengfei 175/1
Robert Milkins 175/1
Michael Holt 175/1
Martin O’Donnell 175/1
Odds courtesy of Betfair
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