Qualifiers In the qualifiers held at the
Leicester Arena from 22 to 24 June 2025,
Class of '92 players
Mark Williams and
John Higgins, both of whom had recently turned 50, began their 34th professional season with wins. Williams recorded a
whitewash over
Chatchapong Nasa while Higgins defeated
Huang Jiahao 5–2.
Reanne Evans, a 12-time
World Women's Champion, trailed
David Lilley, a former
World Seniors Champion, by two at 1–3, but she recovered to win the match in a . The previous year's runner up,
Si Jiahui, defeated
Bulcsú Révész 5–2.
Joe O'Connor and
Elliot Slessor both recovered from 2–4 behind to beat their respective opponents,
Jiang Jun and
Oliver Lines, in deciding frames, with Slessor winning his decider on the last and . The world number 70
Louis Heathcote defeated the world number 20
Wu Yize 5–2. Also in Leicester,
Shaun Murphy and
Neil Robertson both recorded whitewash victories over tour debutants as Murphy defeated 14-year-old
Michał Szubarczyk, the youngest player ever to turn professional, and Robertson beat 19-year-old
Leone Crowley. Veteran player
Jimmy White made four breaks over 70 as he beat
Anthony McGill 5–2, while
Marco Fu made
century breaks of 120, 136, and 113 as he defeated the world number 16
Chris Wakelin. Fu's performance contributed to his receiving the inaugural Player of the Month award from the WPBSA Players organisation. In the held-over qualifiers played in Wuhan, the defending champion
Xiao Guodong made the second
maximum break of his professional career in the fourth frame of his whitewash victory over
Mink Nutcharut. "To make a 147 here today, and my first ever maximum break in China, was really special," said Xiao afterwards. The reigning World Champion
Zhao Xintong attempted a maximum in his held-over qualifier against
Iulian Boiko but missed the last pink to end the break on 134. Zhao made two other century breaks of 122 and 132 as he won the match 5–3.
Judd Trump, the
world number one, made a 130 break in his 5–1 win over
Farakh Ajaib. Three of the four Chinese wildcard players lost their qualifying matches, with only Wang Xinbo progressing to the last 64. The world number seven
Ding Junhui made a 117 break to win the first frame against 18-year-old
Stan Moody, the world number 61. However, Moody made breaks of 64, 65, 53, and 131 as he won five of the next seven frames for a 5–3 victory. "It was a fantastic experience," said Moody, commenting on playing a Chinese favourite. "I knew what it would be like, with the crowd clapping every shot. When he got they were cheering. I tried to enjoy it, view myself as the
underdog and take the pressure off." Higgins advanced with a 5–1 win over
Dylan Emery but commented afterward that he was "struggling for motivation" after celebrating his 50th birthday with a summer holiday in
Dallas.
Aaron Hill, a quarter-finalist at the
2023 edition, advanced with a 5–2 victory over
Kyren Wilson, the world number two. "[Wilson] is probably the best player in the world at the moment, so I knew I had to play my best snooker to win and I did that," commented Hill afterwards. Trump defeated
Liu Hongyu 5–1, and Murphy whitewashed
Jordan Brown.
Last 32 (pictured in 2015) lost to
Gary Wilson in the last 32. He fell to 17th in the
world rankings, after spending 19 continuous years in the top 16. Following his win over Ding in the last 64, Moody made four breaks as he defeated
Zhou Yuelong 5–1. Since the
2024 Players Championship, every player who had defeated Ding in a professional event had lost in the following round—a phenomenon that had extended over 18 months and 22 tournaments, becoming known as the "Ding curse." After ending the "curse" with his victory over Zhou, Moody commented: "I got over the line so I'm happy with that. [The Ding curse] was definitely playing on my mind, so I had to just focus and get on with it." Selby made three half-centuries as he defeated
David Gilbert 5–2, The defending champion Xiao reached the last 16 with a 5–3 win over
David Grace, Un-Nooh also advanced to the last 16 by beating
Scott Donaldson 5–2. Having failed on three previous occasions to get past the last-16 stage of a ranking event, Moody reached his maiden ranking quarter-final, also becoming the first British teenager in 11 years to reach the last eight of a ranking tournament. "It's the best win of my career," he said afterwards. "I played very, very well. I was in the zone. I don't know what happened really, I just potted everything." Williams won the first three frames against Selby. Selby recovered to tie the scores at 3–3, but Williams made breaks of 63 and 68 to secure a 5–3 victory and reach his 118th ranking quarter-final. Xiao made a century break of 136 during his 5–2 win over Selt. Trump led Gary Wilson 4–3, but Wilson tied the scores and then won the decider to record his first victory over Trump in seven years, having last beaten him at the
2018 World Open. "I'm really happy with the win," Wilson commented afterwards. "It is great to beat [Trump]. Being hyper-critical, there were a few bad mistakes, where a player of [Trump's] class doesn't normally let you off the hook."
Quarter-finals Facing Zhang, Williams made a break of 74 to win the opening frame. Zhang took the second, but Williams won four consecutive frames, making breaks including 83 and 60, as he secured a 5–1 victory to reach the 68th ranking semi-final of his professional career. "If you had said to me five years ago I would still be in semi-finals and competing I wouldn't have believed you, but here we still are," commented 50-year-old Williams. "I'm still giving the top players in the world a run for their money. How long it will go on for, I don't know. I just have to enjoy it." Xiao made breaks of 94, 87, and 100 as he defeated Moody 5–2. Si made breaks including 90 and 51 to lead Allen 3–1 at the mid-session interval. Allen responded with breaks including 109 and 66 to win three consecutive frames for a 4–3 advantage. Si won frame eight, but Allen made a match-winning break of 70 in the deciding frame. "You want to start any season well but it just didn't happen for me [at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters] although I played alright in that game," Allen said afterwards. "I wasn't overly gutted, but I've come here having put in a lot of good work on the practice table." Facing Higgins, Wilson made breaks of 85, 90, 128, and 73 as he moved into a 4–2 lead. Higgins won frame seven to reduce his deficit to one frame. The eighth came down to a safety battle on the brown. Higgins went the brown to leave himself , and Wilson went on to take the frame for a 5–3 win.
Semi-finals (pictured in 2025) defeated
Mark Allen 6–3 to reach the final. He re-entered the top 16 after the event. The semi-finals were played on 29 August as the best of 11 frames. In the first semi-final between Williams and Xiao, the scores were tied at 2–2 at the mid-session interval. Williams made a break of 75 to win the fifth frame and move 3–2 ahead, but Xiao took the 27-minute sixth frame to tie the scores and made an 80 break in frame seven to go 4–3 in front. Xiao also won frame eight and came from 58 points behind in the ninth to secure a 6–3 victory with a break of 68. "My focus really improved after 3–3," Xiao said afterwards. "I told myself that even though my scoring wasn't great today, I needed to concentrate fully on the on every single shot. Even in the final , I wasn't nervous. I just tried to treat it as a normal situation and stay relaxed." Facing Allen in the other semi-final, Wilson made a 77 break to win the opening frame. Allen responded with breaks of 135 and 66 to win the next two, but Wilson made breaks including 53, 113, 78, and 70 as he took a 5–2 lead. Allen led in frame eight, but Wilson produced a break of 25 to leave Allen requiring snookers on the pink. Allen could not obtain the he required, and Wilson won his fifth consecutive frame to secure a 6–3 win. Wilson's semi-final victory ensured that he would re-enter the top 16 in the world rankings after the event. "I've beat some fantastic players this week, but you aren't looking at who it is really," Wilson said afterwards. "You are just trying to play your own game. If you can do that as a professional, then you have a chance of beating anyone. It is then about holding yourself together."
Final (pictured in 2015) made his second official
maximum break in the qualifiers. He retained the title, defeating
Gary Wilson in the final. The final was played on 30 August as the best of 19 frames, held over two , between the world number 14 and defending champion Xiao and the world number 18 Wilson. When play resumed for the second session, Wilson made a second consecutive century, a break of 118, to win the 10th frame, tying the scores at 5–5. Xiao took frame 11, but Wilson won three consecutive frames with breaks of 73, 102, and 56 to lead 8–6. Xiao made breaks including 103 and 90 as he won three in a row to move one from victory at 9–8, but Wilson forced a deciding frame with a 52 break. After Xiao made a break of 48 in the decider, Wilson had a scoring opportunity but he missed a pot on a red. Xiao secured the frame to win 10–9 and become only the fourth player—after
John Parrott, Allen, and Gary Wilson—to retain his maiden ranking title. He advanced from 14th to a career high of 8th in the world rankings. "Winning a first ranking title is hard, winning a second is even harder," said Xiao afterwards. "I've been a professional for 17, now 18 years, so I'm not a young player anymore. As an experienced player, winning two ranking titles at this stage feels a bit late, but in another way the timing is just right. Over the years I've built up experience, and I think this breakthrough is the result of all the work and the lessons I've learned." As runner-up, Wilson advanced from 18th to 16th in the rankings after the tournament. He said after the final: "[Xiao] having the majority of the support doesn't bring pressure. If anything it should, if you have a competitive nature like I have, spur you on to try and upset that. It didn't happen today. Now that it is finished and there is nothing more I can do about it, I just want to say well done to Xiao. I know how it feels to defend a title and he has done that in his home tournament." ==Main draw==