World Snooker Championship 2025

The draw for Judgement Day:

Tuesday, April 15th

Gary Wilson vs Daniel Wells
Zhou Yuelong vs Yuan Sijun
Ricky Walden vs Zak Surety
Ross Muir vs Ben Woollaston
Elliot Slessor vs Zhao Xintong
Ryan Day vs Sunny Akani
Martin O’Donnell vs Chris Wakelin
David Gilbert vs Aaron Hill

Wednesday, April 16th

Wang Yuchen vs Hossein Vafaei
Michael Holt vs Fan Zhengyi
Joe O’Connor vs Jackson Page
Jamie Jones vs Pang Junxu
Matthew Stevens vs Wu Yize
Gao Yang vs Lei Peifan
Matthew Selt vs Jimmy Robertson
He Guoqiang vs Ali Carter

(14-04-2025 21:37 )Joannis Wrote:  I've got to be pleased that he beat Maguire 10-3.

I know someone more pleased

A pity about Milkins, but it gives someone else a chance. Not a pity about Bingham, or even Maguire, if I'm that honest.

(15-04-2025 12:27 )Doddle Wrote:  I know someone more pleased

I'm still totally pissed on drinking all the celebratory champagne .

Anyway, time to move on to judgement day 1 updates.

Zak Surety will play at the Crucible for the first time after trouncing Ricky Walden 10-3. Well done to him.
Chris Wakelin has seen off Martin O'Donnell 10-2 to also qualify.
Zhou Yuelong has made it through beating Yuan Sijun 10-5.
The seeds will all want to avoid Zhou Xintong after he came through 10-8 against a gritty Elliot Slessor.
Ryan Day will return to the home of snooker after seeing through a 10-5 win over Sunny Akani.
The very lucky husband of Tatiana Woollaston has made it to The Crucible with a 10-4 victory over Ross Muir. Congratulations to Ben.
2024 semi finalist Dave Gilbert recovered impressively from 3-7 and 7-9 down to beat Aaron Hill 10-9.
Biggest casualty of judgement day one is Gary Wilson as he suffered a deciding frame defeat to Welshman Daniel Wells.

Mostly good stuff there then. Not just Zhao, but Zhou should make a tough challenge too. Woollaston hasn't been to the Crucible too often before, so that's nice.

So to judgement day 2.
First man through to qualify for the tournament proper is Fan Zhengyi who claimed a resounding 10-4 win over Michael Holt.
Hossein Vafaei swiftly followed suit beating Wang Yuchen 10-4 aided by five century breaks.
Ali Carter also successfully qualified for the main event with a 10-5 victory over He Guoqiang.
Pang Junxu will return to the home of snooker after sealing a comfortable 10-6 triumph over Jamie Jones.
Joe O'Connor produced an impressive display to beat double maximum man Jackson Page 10-7.
Scottish Open champion Lei Peifan survived a compelling yet topsy turvy encounter with Gao Yang to win 10-9.
Matthew Selt produced a stirring fightback from 3-8 down to beat Jimmy Robertson in a decider and reach The Crucible.
And Wu Yize scraped past former finalist Matthew Stevens 10-9 to make it through too.

Mostly good stuff there.

The Crucible Qualifiers 2025

Zak Surety
Chris Wakelin
Zhou Yuelong
Zhou Xintong
Ryan Day
Ben Woollaston
David Gilbert
Daniel Wells
Fan Zhengyi
Hossein Vafaei
Ali Carter
Pang Junxu
Joe O'Connor
Lei Peifan
Matthew Selt
Wu Yize

I'm delighted that Zhao Xintong made it through to the Crucible. It would have been double delight if Gao Yang had made it through. Both are officially amateurs at the moment, and don't get back on the tour until next season. I wonder if 2 amateurs have ever made it to the Crucible in the same year. Gao did make a 98 break to go 9-8 up, and he came close to the winning line in the next, but Scottish Open Champion Lei Peifan won it on the pink, and wrapped up victory with a decisive 66 break in the decider.

After the season Wu Yize has had I'm amazed how close he came to losing to Matthew Stevens. The decider was close, but a timely green to pink clearance got Wu over the line.

The draw tomorrow morning will be totally random, any seed can draw any qualifier. Let's see what the luck of the draw shall bring.

I did my own little random draw for fun last night and drew out Ding Junhui v Zhou Xintong

First Round Draw

All matches best of 19 frames

Kyren Wilson (1) v Lei Peifan
Jak Jones (16) v Zhou Xintong
Neil Robertson (9) v Chris Wakelin
Mark Allen (8) v Fan Zhengyi
Ronnie O'Sullivan (5) v Ali Carter
Zhang Anda (12) v Pang Junxu
Si Jiahui (13) v David Gilbert
Mark Selby (4) v Ben Woollaston

--------------------------------------------------------------

John Higgins (3) v Joe O'Connor
Xiao Guodong (14) v Matthew Selt
Barry Hawkins (11) v Hossein Vafaei
Mark Williams (6) v Wu Yize
Luca Brecel (7) v Ryan Day
Ding Junhui (10) v Zak Surety
Shaun Murphy (15) v Daniel Wells
Judd Trump (2) v Zhou Yuelong