2023 Wuhan Open (snooker)

The 2023 Wuhan Open (officially the 2023 Panda Club Wuhan Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 9 to 15 October 2023 at the Wuhan Gymnasium in Wuhan, China. The fifth ranking event of the 2023–24 season, it followed the 2023 English Open and preceded the 2023 Northern Ireland Open. The inaugural edition of the Wuhan Open, it was the second professional snooker tournament (following the invitational 2023 Shanghai Masters) and the first ranking event held in mainland China since the 2019 World Open, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was broadcast domestically in China by CCTV-5 and in Europe (including the UK) by Eurosport and Discovery+. It was available from Matchroom Sport in all other territories. The winner received £140,000 from a total prize fund of £700,000.

Qualifiers took place from 1 to 5 September at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England. Qualifying matches featuring the top two players in the world rankings ( Ronnie O'Sullivan and Luca Brecel), the two highest ranked Chinese players ( Ding Junhui and Zhou Yuelong), and four Chinese wildcards were held over to be played in Wuhan. The reigning world champion Brecel withdrew in advance of the tournament's main stage, as did Mark Williams, Graeme Dott, and David Gilbert.

Judd Trump won the tournament, defeating Ali Carter 10–7 in the final to secure the 25th ranking title of his career, which put him level with Williams in joint fifth place on the all-time list. Having claimed the English Open title the previous week, Trump won back-to-back ranking events for the fourth time in his career. He became the third player in snooker history to win back-to-back ranking tournaments in different countries, after Stephen Hendry in 1990 and Williams in 2002.

The qualifiers in Leicester produced 32 centuries and the main stage in Wuhan produced 69 centuries. The highest break prize was shared by Aaron Hill, who made a 145 break in his qualifying match against Joe Perry, and Carter, who made a 145 in his last-64 match against Jamie Clarke.

Format

The tournament, the inaugural edition of the Wuhan Open, took place from 9 to 15 October 2023 at the Wuhan Gymnasium in Wuhan, China. It was the fifth ranking event of the 2023–24 season, following the 2023 English Open and preceding the 2023 Northern Ireland Open. it was the second professional snooker tournament, following the invitational 2023 Shanghai Masters, and the first ranking event held in mainland China since the 2019 World Open, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

All matches up to and including the quarter-finals were best of nine frames. The semi-finals were best of 11 frames, and the final was best of 19 frames.

The event was broadcast domestically in China by CCTV-5, Migu, Youku, and Huya Live and in Europe (including the UK) by Eurosport and Discovery+. It was available from Matchroom Sport in all other territories.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this event is shown below:

* Winner: £140,000
* Runner-up: £63,000
* Semi-final: £30,000
* Quarter-final: £16,000
* Last 16: £12,000
* Last 32: £8,000
* Last 64: £4,500
* Highest break: £5,000

* Total: £700,000

Summary

Qualifying round

Qualifying for the event took place from 1 to 5 September at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England.

He Guoqiang trailed by 62 points in the deciding frame against eighth seed Kyren Wilson, but made a 64 clearance to win 5–4. The 24th seed Joe Perry was whitewashed 0–5 by Aaron Hill, who made a 145 break in the fifth frame, the joint highest of the tournament. The 19th seed Anthony McGill lost 4–5 to Ishpreet Singh Chadha, who won the deciding frame on the final black ball. Other top 32 seeds who lost out during qualifying were Shaun Murphy⁽⁷⁾, Hossein Vafaei⁽¹⁷⁾, Gary Wilson⁽¹⁸⁾, Ricky Walden⁽²⁰⁾, Jimmy Robertson⁽²⁸⁾, and Fan Zhengyi⁽³¹⁾ who were beaten by Ben Mertens, Marco Fu, Ashley Carty, Ian Burns, Rod Lawler, and Stuart Carrington respectively.

Neil Robertson made his 900th century break in professional competition (a 137) in his match against fellow Australian Ryan Thomerson. He became the fourth player in professional snooker history (after Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins, and Judd Trump) to reach the 900-century milestone.

Early rounds

The reigning world champion Luca Brecel withdrew prior to the main stage in Wuhan, as did tenth seed Mark Williams, Graeme Dott, and David Gilbert. Gilbert was replaced in the draw by Daniel Womersley. Due to time and visa constraints, the other players' opponents received walkovers.

Held-over qualifying matches

The held-over qualifying matches were played on 9 October as the best of nine frames. O'Sullivan lost the first frame against Ken Doherty but won five in a row with breaks including 88, 89, and 82 for a 5–1 victory. Following Brecel's withdrawal, O'Sullivan's win meant he would retain the world number one ranking after the tournament unless third seed Mark Allen won the event; Allen later lost in the quarter-finals. The 15th seed Ding Junhui defeated Ashley Hugill 5–3. The 11th seed Ali Carter defeated the 2023 British Women’s Open champion Bai Yulu 5–2. Si Jiahui, a 2023 World Championship semi-finalist, made one half-century break as he defeated amateur player Wang Xinzhong by the same score.

Last 64

The round of 64 was played as the best of nine frames on 9 and 10 October, with the exception of the match between Judd Trump and Oliver Lines, which was played on 11 October due to Trump having arrived in China on 10 October after winning the 2023 English Open on 8 October. Allen trailed Mark Joyce 3–4 but recovered to win in a 26-minute deciding frame. Afterwards, Allen called his performance "awful" and commented: "It's been a very long time since I’ve played that badly". The 14th seed Jack Lisowski won the eighth frame on the black to defeat Scott Donaldson 5–3. Stephen Maguire defeated Joe O'Connor 5–2. Yuan Sijun whitewashed Ding 5–0, after Ding had whitewashed Yuan in their previous two encounters. World number 86 Martin O’Donnell, who had defeated Mark Selby in the previous week's British Open, defeated ninth seed Higgins 5–1. O’Sullivan defeated Mark Davis by the same score.

The fifth seed Selby lost 4–5 to Xu Si, who made a 125 break in the deciding frame. The sixth seed Neil Robertson took a 3–1 lead over Liam Highfield, making a 140 break in frame four, but Highfield won four consecutive frames with breaks of 95, 76, 63, and 68 to defeat Robertson 5–3. It was Highfield's second professional victory since an e-scooter accident that forced him to take several months away from the sport. Following his exit from the event, Robertson revealed that he would miss some tournaments at the end of the year while spending time in his native Australia. Carter made a 145 break in the fourth frame of his match against Jamie Clarke, equalling Hill's break in the qualifiers as the highest of the tournament. Carter went on to win the match 5–1. Lines made a 135 break in the fourth frame of his match against Trump, but Trump made breaks including 75, 91, 100, and 107 as he secured a 5–2 victory.

Last 32

The round of 32 was played on 11 October as the best of nine frames. Playing his second match of the day, Trump made four half-centuries as he whitewashed Matthew Selt 5–0. Lisowski defeated Sam Craigie and Allen defeated Si, both in deciding frames. Carter trailed 1–4 against Stuart Bingham, but won four consecutive frames to clinch the match 5–4. Highfield defeated Zhou 5–3. O'Sullivan won the first two frames against Pang Junxu with breaks of 68 and 128, but Pang won the next three. O'Sullivan tied the scores at 3–3 with a 93 break, but Pang went 4–3 ahead with a 107 in frame seven. However, O'Sullivan won the last two frames with breaks of 117 and 64. Barry Hawkins defeated Jamie Jones 5–1 and Maguire beat Xing Zihao by the same score.

Last 16

The round of 16 was played on 12 October as the best of nine frames. O'Sullivan won the first frame against Yuan, who took the second with a 112 century. O'Sullivan made breaks including 130, 64, and 82 as he took a 4–1 lead. In the final frame, O'Sullivan trailed by 58 points and required blacks with all reds, which were in difficult positions on the table. After winning the frame for a 5–1 victory, O'Sullivan said: "I quite like that sort of challenge sometimes. I didn’t expect to win it, but you know what you have to do and know you need to go red, black, red, black to have a chance. There is nothing to lose in a frame like that". Hawkins made a 109 century in the first frame against Trump, who won the next two with breaks of 76 and 59. Hawkins tied the scores at 2–2 with an 84 break. However, Trump produced breaks of 97, 67, and 100 as he won three consecutive frames for a 5–2 victory.

Lisowski won the opener against Allen with a 118 century, but Allen won the next four frames with breaks including 54, 76, and 61. Lisowski won the sixth with a 79 break, but Allen took the seventh after a lengthy safety battle for a 5–2 win, reaching his first quarter-final of the season. Allen praised Lisowski afterwards, calling him a "class player" and saying: "You need to play well to beat him and I played better today. He will get me back in the future no doubt". Playing professionally in China for the first time, 21-year-old Irish player Aaron Hill reached the first quarter-final of his career with a 5–3 victory over He Guoqiang. Carter defeated Highfield 5–1, while Wu Yize defeated Maguire 5–4, winning the deciding frame on a re-spotted black.

Later rounds

Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals were played on 13 October as the best of nine frames. In the afternoon session Trump whitewashed Tom Ford 5–0, making a 118 break in the third frame. Trump reached the semi-finals of the event having lost only four frames. Wu defeated Hill 5–4, making a 104 break in the deciding frame to reach his first ranking semi-final. In the evening session, Lyu Haotian defeated O'Sullivan 5–1 to reach his fifth ranking semi-final; O'Sullivan praised Lyu afterwards, saying: "He didn’t miss much, scored well, played good safety and potted some good pressure balls". Carter made breaks of 78, 63, 77, 52, and 57 to beat Allen 5–2. Allen's defeat meant that O'Sullivan retained the world number one ranking.

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were played on 14 October as the best of 11 frames. In the first semi-final between Carter and Lyu, the scores were tied at 2–2 at the mid-session interval. Carter produced breaks of 96, 122, 91, and 70 to win four consecutive frames and defeat Lyu 6–2. It was Lyu's fourth loss in his five ranking semi-final appearances. Carter said afterwards: "Anyone will tell you that it is never easy to get over the line and reach a big final. To clear up and make it a relatively easy day’s work was pleasing". Trump faced Wu in the second semi-final and made breaks of 110, 53, 77, and 52 as he took a 4–0 lead. Wu won frame five with a 68 break, but Trump made breaks of 127 and 63 as he clinched a 6–1 victory. On facing Carter in the final, Trump said: "Ali will probably make it a lot more difficult than some of the younger players have done. I think he is similar to Barry Hawkins, in that you have to earn everything".

Final

Trump and Carter contested the final on 15 October, played as the best of 19 frames over two sessions. Trump was competing in a second consecutive ranking final, having won the English Open the previous week, while Carter, with two previous tournament wins in China, was playing in his 12th career ranking final and his third ranking final of 2023. Trump won the opening frame with a 72 break, but Carter won the second with a 103 century. Trump won three consecutive frames for a 4–1 advantage, but Carter responded to win four consecutive frames and lead 5–4 after the first session.

Trump began the second session with breaks of 116, 56, and 71 to win another three consecutive frames for a 7–5 lead. Carter took the 13th with a 56 break, but Trump won the 14th to maintain a two-frame advantage at 8–6. Carter had the opportunity to win the 15th but missed a pot on the green to a middle pocket, which let Trump go 9–6 in front. The 16th frame was decided on the pink, on which both players missed shots before Carter potted it on his second attempt to narrow Trump's lead to 9–7. However, Trump made a 105 century in the 17th frame to secure a 10–7 victory and claim the 25th ranking title of his career, which put him level with Williams at joint fifth on the all-time list. It was the fourth time in his professional career that Trump had won back-to-back ranking tournaments. He became the third player to win successive ranking tournaments in different countries, after Stephen Hendry in 1990 and Williams in 2002. "My record in finals over the last five to ten occasions hasn’t been as good as it was before, so it was nice to get the win", Trump said afterwards. "I gave it my best go and it has been a successful week", commented Carter, remarking the Wuhan Open was such a big-money event that his £63,000 runner-up prize was "almost like a tournament win" in terms of its impact on the world rankings.

Main draw

The draw for the tournament is shown below. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the top 32 seeded players, whilst players in bold denote match winners.

Top half

Bottom half

:Note: w/d=withdrawn; w/o=walk-over

Final

Qualifying

Qualification for the tournament took place from 1 to 5 September at the Morningside Arena in Leicester. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the top 32 seeded players, whilst players in bold denote match winners.

Wuhan

Qualifying matches featuring the top two players in the world rankings ( Ronnie O'Sullivan and Luca Brecel), the two highest ranked Chinese players ( Ding Junhui and Zhou Yuelong), and four Chinese wildcards ( Gong Chenzhi, Bai Yulu, Wang Xinbo, and Wang Xinzhong) were held over to be played in Wuhan. Brecel withdrew in advance of the tournament and his opponent Xing Zihao received a walkover. David Gilbert also withdrew and was replaced by Daniel Womersley. Results of the held-over matches played in Wuhan on 9 October were as follows:

* w/d–w/o
* 5–1
* 5–3
* 5–2
* 5–2
* 5–2
* 3–5
* 5–0

:Note: w/d=withdrawn; w/o=walk-over

Leicester

The results of the qualifying matches played in Leicester were as follows:

1 September

* 5–3
* 5–3
* 4–5
* 5–3
* 5–0
* 5–3
* 0–5
* 3–5
* 5–0
* 5–3
* 5–2
* 5–0

2 September

* 5–3
* 5–0
* 3–5
* 5–3
* 0–5
* 3–5
* 5–1
* 1–5
* 2–5
* 5–0
* 5–2
* 5–3

3 September

* 5–2
* 5–1
* 4–5
* 5–2
* 5–2
* 5–4
* 5–0
* 5–1
* 5–1
* 5–3
* 5–0
* 5–2

4 September

* 5–1
* 1–5
* 5–0
* 5–2
* 4–5
* 5–1
* 5–2
* 5–3
* 5–2
* 5–0
* 2–5
* 5–0

5 September

* 5–3
* 4–5
* 5–1
* 5–1
* 5–1
* 3–5
* 5–1
* 5–1

Century breaks

Main stage centuries

A total of 69 century breaks were made during the main stage of the tournament in Wuhan.

* 145, 122, 103, 102 Ali Carter
* 143, 137, 105, 102, 101 Zhou Yuelong
* 140 Neil Robertson
* 138, 127 Tom Ford
* 137, 115 He Guoqiang
* 136, 131, 121, 100 Aaron Hill
* 135, 107, 104 Pang Junxu
* 135, 109, 100 Barry Hawkins
* 135 Oliver Lines
* 132, 107 Stuart Bingham
* 132 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
* 130, 128, 117, 101, 101 Ronnie O'Sullivan
* 127, 118, 116, 110, 107, 105, 100, 100 Judd Trump
* 125 Ian Burns
* 125 Xu Si
* 122, 120, 117, 113 Xiao Guodong
* 120, 112, 107, 102, 100 Yuan Sijun
* 120, 102 Jordan Brown
* 120, 101 Si Jiahui
* 118 Jack Lisowski
* 114 Matthew Selt
* 111 Anthony Hamilton
* 105, 103, 100 Lyu Haotian
* 109 Elliot Slessor
* 108, 104 Wu Yize
* 103 Ashley Carty
* 101 Sam Craigie
* 100 Robert Milkins
* 100 Stephen Maguire

Qualifying stage centuries

A total of 32 century breaks were made during the qualifying stage of the tournament in Leicester.

* 145 Aaron Hill
* 137 Neil Robertson
* 134 Cao Yupeng
* 132, 128 Michael White
* 132 Sanderson Lam
* 132 Anthony McGill
* 131 Ben Woollaston
* 122, 101 Kyren Wilson
* 120 John Astley
* 117 Mark Joyce
* 117 Ben Mertens
* 116 Yuan Sijun
* 116 Tom Ford
* 115 John Higgins
* 113 Gary Wilson
* 112 Jordan Brown
* 111, 107 Stuart Carrington
* 109 Mark Allen
* 109 Andrew Higginson
* 108 Jack Lisowski
* 106 Mark Selby
* 105 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
* 104 Tian Pengfei
* 104 Liam Highfield
* 103 Anton Kazakov
* 102 Ryan Day
* 101 He Guoqiang
* 100 Pang Junxu
* 100 Jak Jones

Notes

References

External links

World Snooker Tour – Home

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Wuhan Open
2023 in Chinese sport
October 2023 sports events in China
2023 in Wuhan