Next up on the agenda for the 2025 Northern Ireland Open are the quarter-finals, which will take place on Friday at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.
There is a nice mix of proven winners and aspiring champions with the eight remaining contenders for glory on course to land the £100,000 top prize.
Let’s take a look at the four upcoming quarter-finals in the 2025 Northern Ireland Open draw.
Kyren Wilson vs Jack Lisowski
Top seed Kyren Wilson is three victories away from becoming the third Northern Ireland Open winner to successfully defend the title.
The world number two beat He Guoqiang 4-2 on Thursday to continue his progress as he bids to rediscover the form that saw him win the Shanghai Masters at the start of the campaign.
In Jack Lisowski, Wilson faces a player who he would have encountered back in their junior days with the pair first turning professional at the same time in 2010.
Since then their career trajectories have been markedly different with Wilson arguably overachieving and Lisowski definitely underachieving up until this point.
The latter reached the last eight with a 4-2 defeat of Thepchaiya Un-Nooh as he flirts once again with landing that elusive maiden ranking crown.
Wilson boasts a narrowly superior head-to-head record (9-7), but he has won his last seven ties with Lisowski in all competitions.
When is it? Friday, not before 2pm UTC+1 (BST)
Tom Ford vs Zhou Yuelong
It has been a positive Home Nations Series for Zhou Yuelong so far, with his quarter-final run here coming shortly after his devastating 9-8 defeat in the English Open final last month.
Zhou benefited from Ali Carter’s late withdrawal from the tournament, the Captain forced to pull out due to personal reasons.
Tom Ford will be the Chinese cueist’s next opponent after the Snooker Shoot Out champion extended his stay with a 4-2 triumph over Yuan Sijun.
Ford has been gradually slipping down the rankings of late and his provisional end-of-season standing is just inside the world’s top 32, so his improved displays this week are timely.
Zhou and Ford have played each other six times in all competitions (4-2), but two of those were under the 6-reds guise, another couple in the Championship League, and one at the Shoot Out.
Indeed, they have never encountered each other in a best-of-nine match in a ranking event before.
When is it? Friday, 7pm UTC+1 (BST)
Judd Trump won the Northern Ireland Open in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2023. Photo credit: WST
Judd Trump vs John Higgins
A repeat of two World Championship finals pits marquee names Judd Trump and John Higgins against each other.
The Northern Ireland Open is one of Trump’s favourite events, underlined by his appearance in five finals from which he emerged victoriously on four occasions.
Higgins is a former runner-up too, and the pair emerged from their respective round-of-16 ties on Thursday with 4-1 defeats of Gary Wilson and Si Jiahui.
It has been an indifferent start to the 2025/26 season for Trump, who will be looking at a happy stomping ground in Belfast as the perfect place to kick start his campaign.
Higgins, meanwhile, will have seen Mark Williams’ triumph at the recent Xi’an Grand Prix as motivation to suggest that sustained success into his fifties is not only possible, but a likely reality.
Trump and Higgins share a very even head-to-head record (26-26-1), and there is every reason to believe this showdown should be a cracker as well.
When is it? Friday, 12pm UTC+1 (BST)
Mark Allen vs Jordan Brown
The crowd is in for an absolute treat with the fourth and most intriguing affair in the quarter-finals of this year’s Northern Ireland Open.
The atmosphere inside the Waterfront Hall is going to be electric as Antrim boys Mark Allen and Jordan Brown take to the baize.
Allen, of course, is used to all this as a two-time former champion, but it’s new territory for Brown on home soil after recording standout victories over Zhao Xintong and Shaun Murphy.
Brown began this season with concerns surrounding his tour survival, but the guaranteed £9,000 sum for reaching the last eight will go a long way to safeguarding his status as a professional.
For Allen, the further he goes in this tournament, the more likely it is that he’ll end up bagging the Home Nations Series bonus having already taken the top prize in September’s English Open.
Friends Allen and Brown have only played each other once before on the main tour, a 6-4 win for the former at the 2022 UK Championship.
When is it? Friday, 7pm UTC+1 (BST)
2025 Northern Ireland Open Draw
Round of 32 (bo7)
Kyren Wilson 4-1 Ryan Day
Wu Yize 2-4 He Guoqiang
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-1 Mark Davis
Jack Lisowski 4-2 Mark Selby
Long Zehuang 2-4 Yuan Sijun
Chris Wakelin 1-4 Tom Ford
Jimmy Robertson 3-4 Ali Carter
Zhou Yuelong 4-2 David Grace
Judd Trump 4-2 Jackson Page
Gary Wilson 4-2 Martin O’Donnell
Stephen Maguire 0-4 Si Jiahui
Pang Junxu 3-4 John Higgins
Barry Hawkins 3-4 Aaron Hill
Mark Allen 4-3 Ben Woollaston
Elliot Slessor 2-4 Shaun Murphy
Ashley Hugill 0-4 Jordan Brown
Round of 16 (bo7)
Kyren Wilson 4-2 He Guoqiang
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 2-4 Jack Lisowski
Yuan Sijun 2-4 Tom Ford
Zhou Yuelong w/o Ali Carter
Judd Trump 4-1 Gary Wilson
Si Jiahui 1-4 John Higgins
Aaron Hill 1-4 Mark Allen
Shaun Murphy 2-4 Jordan Brown
Quarter-Finals (bo9)
Kyren Wilson vs Jack Lisowski
(Friday, not before 2pm)
Tom Ford vs Zhou Yuelong
(Friday, 7pm)
Judd Trump vs John Higgins
(Friday, 12pm)
Mark Allen vs Jordan Brown
(Friday, 7pm)
Click here for the updated draw and results (snooker.org)
Featured photo credit: WST