Shaun Murphy and Ding Junhui are the best seeds left within the 2025 World Open draw with the sphere all the way down to its final 16 in Yushan.
The respective eighth and ninth seeds of the competitors will go head-to-head on Wednesday for a berth within the quarter-finals.
Murphy, who compiled a 147 break within the earlier spherical, continued his tremendous kind with a 5-0 thrashing of Thepchaiya Un-Nooh on day three in China.
The Magician tallied runs of 138, 94, 94, 85, and 83 to whitewash Un-Nooh for the second time in as many months, having eclipsed the Thai by the identical margin on the latest German Masters in Berlin.
Murphy will seemingly face a a lot sterner problem within the subsequent spherical within the type of house favorite Ding.
The 2024 runner-up had a tough outing with Hossein Vafaei within the final 32 however finally prevailed with a 5-3 defeat of the Iranian.
Masters champion Murphy and Worldwide Championship winner Ding are amongst simply 5 top-16 members who stay within the hunt for glory within the 2025 World Open draw.
Two of the others are additionally within the high half with Barry Hawkins and Ali Carter recording dramatic 5-4 triumphs over Ben Woollaston and Jack Lisowski respectively.
Hawkins will play Ryan Day – a 5-2 winner towards Louis Heathcote – whereas Carter is subsequent in motion towards David Lilley, who shocked Wu Yize in a deciding body.
In the identical part is Joe O’Connor, who produced a tremendous show to see off an out-of-sorts Judd Trump with a 5-2 scoreline.
O’Connor encounters Michael Holt on Wednesday with a spot within the final eight up for grabs.
John Higgins, in the meantime, is the one competitor from the elite bracket of the world rankings who remains to be in competition within the backside half of the draw.
The Scot hasn’t gained a rating occasion since 2021 however is effectively positioned to make a severe problem this week.
Higgins will subsequent do battle with Zhou Yuelong, who squandered a 4-0 lead earlier than finally pipping world champion Kyren Wilson in a ninth-frame shoot out.
Elsewhere, Tom Ford and Jimmy Robertson will conflict in a match between a few single-time rating occasion winners.
There may be an all-Chinese language showdown between Pang Junxu and Xu Si, whereas Liu Hongyu’s reward for reversing a 4-1 deficit to Elliot Slessor is a date with the world quantity 89, Zak Surety.
All the final 16 matches happen on Wednesday with classes once more beginning at 6am and 11:30am UTC.
2025 World Open Draw
Spherical of 32 (Outcomes)
Joe O’Connor 5-2 Judd Trump
Michael Holt 5-1 Antoni Kowalski
Ding Junhui 5-3 Hossein Vafaei
Shaun Murphy 5-0 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
David Lilley 5-4 Wu Yize
Ali Carter 5-4 Jack Lisowski
Barry Hawkins 5-4 Ben Woollaston
Ryan Day 5-2 Louis Heathcote
Liu Hongyu 5-4 Elliot Slessor
Zak Surety 5-4 Duane Jones
Tom Ford 5-3 Daniel Wells
Jimmy Robertson 5-4 Aaron Hill
Pang Junxu 5-3 Tian Pengfei
Xu Si 5-3 Stan Moody
John Higgins 5-3 Robbie Williams
Zhou Yuelong 5-4 Kyren Wilson
Spherical of 16 (bo9)
Matches to happen on Wednesday, February twenty sixth
Joe O’Connor vs Michael Holt
Ding Junhui vs Shaun Murphy
David Lilley vs Ali Carter
Barry Hawkins vs Ryan Day
Liu Hongyu vs Zak Surety
Tom Ford vs Jimmy Robertson
Pang Junxu vs Xu Si
John Higgins vs Zhou Yuelong
Click on right here for the most recent outcomes and scores
(snooker.org)
Featured picture credit score: WST
