1 hour ago
3 
The Shenzhen Open begins for the first time on Monday, with the Xi’an Grand Prix having uprooted and changed its name to suit its new location.
There were just two editions of the Xi’an Grand Prix, but the promoter fancied a change and it sees big time snooker return to Shenzhen for the first time in a long time.
Ronnie O’Sullivan won the China Open in Shenzhen 26 years ago, beating Mark Williams in the 2000 final. Remarkably, the two men are in the draw again as the tour returns to the city.
Williams comes into the rebadged event as defending champion thanks to his record-breaking win over Shaun Murphy in the last Xi’an Grand Prix final.
The great Welshman became the oldest ever ranking event winner and he came close to breaking his own record earlier this month when he made it to the English Open final, losing out to Ali Carter.
As all the big names land in Shenzhen there is plenty on the line for all of them, not least the £177,000 top prize.
Are you snooker loopy?
You're in the right place. I'm Phil Haigh, and I cover the game we all love for Metro.
In my newsletter, The Table, I analyse the biggest talking points, pull back the curtain on the sport and crown the biggest winners and losers every week.
However, it seems like a bigger week for some than others. Here are five players under pressure over the coming days for differing reasons.
Kyren Wilson
With Kyren Wilson brilliantly winning the Xi’an Grand Prix in 2024, the ranking points he won two years ago will come tumbling off the rankings after this event.
The Warrior is under quite a lot of pressure on that front after a quiet last season and start to this campaign in ranking tournaments.
He’s number nine in the world right now, but is currently projected to miss out on a seeded place at the Crucible, with his provisional end of season ranking down at 24.
Wilson has not been past a ranking quarter-final since March 2025 and must improve on that soon, but he does not look too far off.
The 34-year-old has been strong in non-ranking events over the last year, while this season already he has beaten the likes of O’Sullivan, Williams, Zhao Xintong, Wu Yize, Chang Bingyu and Mark Selby.
It is not panic stations yet, but he needs to start going deep in ranking tournaments soon.
Ding Junhui
Chinese icon Ding Junhui is also fighting against a slide down the rankings, not specifically in this event, but his time in the top 16 is running very low unless he stops the rot.
The 39-year-old appeared to have done just that at the English Open earlier this month, looking as good as he has done for ages on his way to the semi-finals.
He needs that kind of performance again in the next three events or a seeded spot at the UK Championship in November and a place at the Masters in January are both in serious danger.
Shenzhen is a good time to improve his ranking situation as two years ago in Xi’an he suffered a shock first round defeat to Alfie Burden. He is playing with pure profit this year.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
The Rocket has landed in Shenzhen and will bid to get his hands on a ranking title for the first time since January 2024.
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s reduced schedule means that this might be the last time he plays professionally before the UK Championship in November.
The 50-year-old has made it clear he wants to win an eighth World Championship title and while he is playing far fewer events than his rivals over the season, he really needs to make the ones he does compete in count.
This is both in terms of gaining form and confidence, but also by racking up enough ranking points to play in the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship if he wants to.
Zak Surety
He’s not battling to stay in the top 16, instead Zak Surety is dealing with a different kind of pressure of the current tour set-up.
With block qualifiers for multiple events held in Leicester, if you have a bad few days it can create a big chasm on your calendar.
Surety had one of those nightmare spells this month, losing his qualifiers for the Northern Ireland Open, International Championship and Scottish Open.
He had a great season last time round, so there’s no fear of dropping off tour, but after a disappointing spell at the Mattioli Arena, it’s important to get results in Shenzhen with a fair amount of downtime to come.
His first match is against Ronnie O’Sullivan or Jiang Jun, so it isn’t going to be easy.
Zhao Xintong
Another different brand of pressure is on world number one and local hero Zhao Xintong, who will have the weight of expectation on him at the Bao’an Stadium.
Zhao grew up in Shenzhen and is front and centre of the marketing for the event, which has moved to the city, in part, because of his star power.
Not a lot seems to faze the Cyclone and he could breeze through the draw like he has done in many events before, but there is a lot of focus on him here.
It’s not been a bad season so far for the 29-year-old, with a final at the Wuhan Open and quarter-final of the British, but he is coming off a disappointing first round defeat to Oliver Lines at the English Open.
It will be interesting to see how much he can wow his home crowd this week.
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·