Qualifying round Qualifiers were held from 9 to 14 August at the Robin Park Arena and Sports Centre in Wigan, comprising round-of-128 matches that did not feature top-16 players.
Ng On-yee fluked the final pink in the deciding frame to defeat 1997 world champion
Ken Doherty 4–3, a victory she described as "one of the best of my career". Other veteran players
Jimmy White and
Stephen Hendry also lost their qualifiers as
Anthony Hamilton whitewashed White 4–0, while
Zhang Anda defeated Hendry 4–1. After serving a four-month suspension following a domestic assault conviction,
Liang Wenbo returned to professional competition at the event but lost his qualifier 2–4 to
Dean Young.
Matthew Stevens defeated
Stephen Maguire 4–1 and
Jamie Clarke whitewashed
Fan Zhengyi 4–0. Of the 22 Chinese players who competed in Wigan, 17 won their matches.
Early rounds The remaining round-of-128 matches, featuring the top 16 players in the world rankings, were played at the Marshall Arena on 26 September. The reigning world champion and world number one
Ronnie O'Sullivan lost 1–4 to Switzerland's
Alexander Ursenbacher. It was the third time the Swiss player had beaten O'Sullivan in a ranking event, having previously defeated him at the
2019 Welsh Open and the
2020 UK Championship. Defending champion Mark Williams defeated Estonia's
Andres Petrov 4–1, in a match watched by the Estonian ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Shaun Murphy was tied with the 2021 runner-up Gary Wilson at 3–3, and required just a on the final to win the match. Murphy potted the ball, but went to award the match to Wilson.
Graeme Dott made a 139 break in defeating
Luca Brecel 4–1, and
Judd Trump also made a 139 while defeating
Si Jiahui by the same score.
John Higgins defeated
Andy Hicks 4–2, although Hicks made breaks of 110 and 143 in the two frames he won. The round of 64 was played on September 27 and 28. Higgins made his 900th century break in professional competition, becoming the second player (after O'Sullivan) to reach that milestone, although he lost his match 3–4 against
Yuan Sijun. Higgins led 64–8 in the deciding frame but missed a red that would have left Yuan requiring a snooker, and Yuan eventually won the frame after clearing the colours. Higgins voiced his frustration after the match, calling the loss "unforgivable" and saying "You can add this to the list of so many times when I have collapsed near the finishing line".
Zhao Xintong made breaks of 112, 128, 101, and 52 in his 4–1 defeat of
Stuart Bingham, Dott made a 110 break while defeating fellow Scot
Anthony McGill by the same score, and
Lyu Haotian won the deciding frame on the colours to defeat
David Gilbert 4–3.
Barry Hawkins defeated
Kyren Wilson by the same score, making breaks of 72, 120, 78, and 134, while
Jack Lisowski made a 132 break in his 4–2 win over
Mitchell Mann. Trump whitewashed Young 4–0, making breaks of 52, 84, 100, and 64 in a match that lasted 61 minutes, while
Ding Junhui made four half-centuries in his 4–1 win over
Joe Perry. Although
Mark Allen lost the first frame against
Li Hang, he then won four consecutive frames with breaks of 63, 133, 100, and 83. The round of 32 was played on September 28 and 29. Lisowski defeated
Lu Ning 4–1, finishing the match with a 111 break. Selby defeated Cao 4–2, making breaks of 55, 90, and 109. Dott defeated
Xiao Guodong 4–3, despite requiring two snookers in the deciding frame. Dott got the required foul points by laying snookers on the last red, and later cleared the colours to win the frame and match. Trump made a 130 break while whitewashing
Xu Si 4–0, and reached the last 16 having lost just one frame in the tournament. Allen defeated Gary Wilson 4–2, making four half-centuries in the match. Zhao lost 1–4 to
Noppon Saengkham, while Ding lost 2–4 to Robbie Williams.
Jordan Brown defeated
Yan Bingtao 4–3, making a break of 134. The round of 16 was played on 29 September. In the opening frame of his match with Lisowski, Selby made a
maximum break, the fourth of his career and his first since 2018. With four reds remaining, Selby ran out of position, but recovered with a treble on a red to a middle pocket. He went on to defeat Lisowski 4–1. Trump came from 0–2 behind against Allen to force a deciding frame, but Allen won the match 4–3 after twice unintentionally snookering Trump in the decider.
Jamie Jones defeated Woollaston 4–2 to reach the quarter-finals, having reached the same stage at the previous month's
European Masters. Saengkham whitewashed Brown 4–0, while Lyu defeated Stevens 4–1, making breaks of 141 and 131. Robbie Williams came from 2–3 behind against amateur
Steven Hallworth to win the match with a 134 total clearance in the deciding frame. Yuan defeated Hamilton in a decider, while
Ryan Day defeated Dott 4–2.
Later rounds The quarter-finals were played on 30 September as the best of nine frames. Allen made century breaks of 143 and 126 in his match against Selby, who also made two centuries, 123 and 109. After tying the scores at 3–3, Selby led 51–12 in the seventh frame before missing a long pot on a red. Allen won the frame with a 47 break, and went on to make a match-winning century in the eighth frame for a 5–3 victory. Robbie Williams defeated Lyu to reach the third ranking semi-final of his career. After losing the first frame, Williams trailed by 0–55 in the second, but recovered to win the frame on the colours; he then won another four consecutive frames for a 5–1 victory. Saengkham defeated Jones 5–3, also reaching the third ranking semi-final of his career, while Day defeated Yuan 5–4, making a 124 total clearance in the deciding frame. The semi-finals were played on 1 October as the best of 11 frames. In his match against Saengkham, Allen made breaks of 69, 76, 133, 69, and 56 to take a 5–0 lead, while his opponent scored just 11 points in the first five frames. In the sixth frame, Allen missed a red while on a break of 44, allowing Saengkham to avoid a whitewash with a clearance of 48. Saengkham had another chance to make a winning clearance in the seventh frame, but missed the final green, after which Allen clinched a 6–1 victory. In the other semi-final, Day came from 2–4 behind against Robbie Williams to win three consecutive frames and lead 5–4, but Williams won the 10th frame to force a decider. However, Day won the deciding frame with a break of 45 after his opponent misjudged a safety shot. The final was played on 2 October as a best-of-19-frames match, held over two sessions, between world number 14 Allen and world number 27 Day. Allen was contesting his 14th ranking final, while Day was competing in his ninth. Allen won the first frame with a 126 break, but Day made breaks of 58, 77, and 73 to take a 2–1 lead. Allen won the fourth and fifth frames with breaks of 75 and 105 to lead 3–2, but Day won frames six and seven for a 4–3 advantage. Allen won the eighth and final frame of the session to tie the scores at 4–4. The afternoon session featured two centuries and six half-centuries. Day called the victory "the biggest win of my life" and said he was "delighted I finished the match off". Allen remarked that he believed table conditions had changed in the evening session, stating "I just completely lost my action and faith in the table. Ryan [Day] adapted better than I did and probably deserved to win". ==Main draw==