UK Championship: 2025 draw, final 16 preview, schedule, the way to watch

The 2025 UK Championship continues this week on the Barbican Centre in York, marking the 2025/26 season’s opening Triple Crown event.

The spherical of 32 concluded on Tuesday with 4 victories now separating the remaining gamers from the coveted trophy.

5 seeds fell on the opening hurdle, together with document eight-time UK champion Ronnie O’Sullivan who was shocked by Zhou Yuelong.

World quantity two Kyren Wilson, 2022 winner Mark Allen, and Wuhan Open finalists Xiao Guodong and Gary Wilson additionally bit the mud.

Loads of star names are nonetheless in competition for the £250,000 high prize, although.

Here’s a rundown of the upcoming UK Championship ties within the second spherical.

2025 UK Championship L16 Draw

Judd Trump vs Si Jiahui

Defending champion Judd Trump was slightly lucky to emerge unscathed from his first-round affair with Stephen Maguire.

The world primary, chasing a primary piece of silverware since final 12 months’s success in York, loved some run of the ball in a 6-4 defeat of the Scot.

Subsequent up for Trump is sixteenth seed Si Jiahui, who had a a lot simpler time of it throughout his 6-0 thrashing of Ryan Day.

Trump has overwhelmed Si in seven out of their earlier eight contests in all competitions, though the latter did prevail of their final best-of-11 fixture at a rating occasion.

Ding Junhui vs Scott Donaldson

Ding Junhui grew to become the primary UK champion from China along with his triumph on the 2005 UK Championship, and 20 years on there may be clear proof of the overall influence that glory had on the game.

This 12 months’s event started with a document 12 Chinese language gamers, and 7 of these proceed to be within the hunt within the second spherical.

Ding, who ousted countryman Xu Si in spherical one, takes on Scott Donaldson who has been on an emotional run from the second spherical of the qualifying competitors.

By way of a tricky latest interval throughout which his father handed away, Donaldson is producing among the best shows of his profession – counting Stuart Bingham and Mark Allen amongst his conquests thus far.

Mark Williams vs Pang Junxu

Mark Williams is certainly one of eight former UK champions who’re within the second spherical of the 2025 UK Championship draw.

The 50 year-old Welshman, a winner of the Xi’an Grand Prix this season, overcame David Gilbert with a 6-4 scoreline earlier this week.

Subsequent up is one other qualifier within the type of Pang Junxu, the 25 year-old having prevailed in an all-Chinese language affair in opposition to Xiao Guodong.

Williams and Pang have crossed paths on just one earlier event, again on the 2023 Shanghai Masters when the previous recorded a 6-1 win.

Wu Yize vs Neil Robertson

One of many showdowns of the second spherical is certainly the bout between three-time champion Neil Robertson and rising celebrity Wu Yize.

In a repeat of final 12 months’s English Open remaining, Robertson encounters a brand new high 16 member who’s recent off claiming his maiden rating crown.

The primary spherical noticed Wu face up to a spirited struggle again from Michael Holt to finally beat the Hitman 6-4 whereas Robertson beat Julien Leclercq by a four-frame margin.

The Australian beat Wu in that English Open remaining a 12 months in the past and enjoys a 3-1 head-to-head document general, however he’ll be cautious of the menace that the 22 year-old possesses.

UK Championship roll of honour

Elliot Slessor vs Barry Hawkins

Barry Hawkins got here inside a whisker of successful a maiden Triple Crown title a 12 months in the past when he was narrowly overwhelmed 10-8 by Trump within the remaining.

The Hawk has been removed from his finest this season however obtained the ball on the Barbican rolling once more with a 6-4 defeat of David Lilley.

Hawkins subsequent meets Elliot Slessor, who has been knocking on the door of an enormous breakthrough for fairly some time and recorded one other stable victory over Kyren Wilson within the first spherical.

English duo Hawkins and Slessor have performed one another simply as soon as prior to now.

Mark Selby vs Zhou Yuelong

Zhou Yuelong conjured the upset of the event thus far along with his 6-4 overcome Ronnie O’Sullivan, sending the Rocket packing from the 2025 version.

Zhou gained a sequence of shut frames in opposition to a formidable foe who was clearly missing match sharpness.

This time period’s English Open runner-up will possible have to enhance his normal if he’s to go any additional, with Mark Selby on the agenda subsequent.

The 2012 and 2016 UK champion appeared good in his 6-2 victory in opposition to Lei Peifan, though Selby curiously suffers from an inferior head-to-head document in opposition to Zhou.

John Higgins vs Shaun Murphy

There can be a heavyweight showdown between John Higgins and Shaun Murphy after the pair earned respective 6-2 wins over Ben Woollaston and Lyu Haotian.

Higgins and Murphy have each loved spells of kind all through the calendar 12 months of 2025, successful a brace of titles apiece and that includes in different finals as properly.

Higgins beat the Magician 6-2 within the latest Worldwide Championship and has gained 16 out of their 28 prior matches in all competitions.

Skilled duo Higgins and Murphy boast 4 UK titles between them, however the final of these successes transpired 15 years in the past.

Zhang Anda vs Zhao Xintong

Zhao Xintong started life because the world champion slightly slowly, however he’s starting to shift via the gears now and is likely one of the favourites for the UK title in 2025.

The 28 year-old thumped Lengthy Zehuang in spherical one and can play one other Chinese language cuiest within the second spherical when he entertains Zhang Anda.

Zhang is match sharp after extending his run from the qualifiers with a dramatic 6-5 besting of Gary Wilson within the final 32.

The 33 year-old beat Zhao on their solely earlier assembly, however that was approach again in 2015 when the latter was nonetheless an novice.

2025 UK Championship last-32 draw and schedule

Spherical 1 (bo11)

(Instances in UTC/GMT)

Judd Trump 6-4 Stephen Maguire
Si Jiahui 6-0 Ryan Day
Ding Junhui 6-4 Xu Si
Mark Allen 1-6 Scott Donaldson

Mark Williams 6-4 David Gilbert
Xiao Guodong 2-6 Pang Junxu
Wu Yize 6-4 Michael Holt
Neil Robertson 6-2 Julien Leclercq

Kyren Wilson 4-6 Elliot Slessor
Barry Hawkins 6-4 David Lilley
Mark Selby 6-2 Lei Peifan
Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-6 Zhou Yuelong

John Higgins 6-2 Ben Woollaston
Shaun Murphy 6-2 Lyu Haotian
Gary Wilson 5-6 Zhang Anda
Zhao Xintong 6-1 Lengthy Zehuang

Spherical 2 (bo11)

Judd Trump 6-3 Si Jiahui
Ding Junhui vs Scott Donaldson
(Thurs, 1pm)
Mark Williams 3-6 Pang Junxu
Wu Yize 1-6 Neil Robertson

Elliot Slessor vs Barry Hawkins
(Thurs, 7pm)
Mark Selby 6-2 Zhou Yuelong
John Higgins vs Shaun Murphy
(Thurs, 7pm)
Zhang Anda vs Zhao Xintong
(Thurs, 1pm)

watch the 2025 UK Championship

There are a number of methods to observe stay motion of these concerned within the 2025 UK Championship draw. Here’s a full listing of worldwide broadcasters:

UK and Eire
BBC
TNT Sports activities and discovery+
Mainland Europe
Eurosport and domestically related streaming platforms
(discovery+ in Germany, Italy and Austria and HBO Max in all different markets)
China
CCTV5
Huya.com
CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel
CBSA-WPBSA Academy Douyin
Macau China
CCTV5
Hong Kong China
Now TV
Malaysia and Brunei
Astro SuperSport
Thailand
True Sport
Taiwan
Sportcast
Philippines
Faucet
Mongolia
N Sports activities
All different territories
WST Play

Featured photograph credit score: WST ; different images: WST