Jack Lisowski triumphed in dramatic fashion at the 2025 Northern Ireland Open to reverse his recent slide down the snooker rankings.
The latest rankings update follows the conclusion of the 2025/26 snooker season’s seventh ranking event and the second on the Home Nations Series.
Lisowski beat Judd Trump 9-8 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on Sunday, edging his fellow Englishman in a gripping final to raise the Alex Higgins Trophy aloft.
It brought an end to Lisowski’s long-running saga as a title-winning pretender, with his maiden piece of silverware being awarded in what is his 16th season as a professional.
As usual, let’s reflect on how the most recent action on the snooker table has impacted the various rankings lists.
Top 16
There was hardly any change to the top 16 with most of the positions remaining unchanged from the Xi’an Grand Prix update.
Runner-up Judd Trump was unable to fully defend the points he accrued through winning the 2023 Northern Ireland Open title.
That has allowed Kyren Wilson to narrow the gap to the top slightly, but the world number two is still more than £350,000 behind Trump, who has now held number one slot for 60 consecutive weeks.
Neil Robertson, Mark Williams, and Ronnie O’Sullivan stay in the other top five spots despite having not participated in Belfast.
A run to the quarter-finals helped John Higgins to consolidate his position in sixth, while Mark Allen leapfrogs Ding Junhui into seventh after his appearance in the last four.
Behind Ding, there is Shaun Murphy in ninth and Mark Selby in tenth with Xiao Guodong, Zhao Xintong, and Barry Hawkins continuing to occupy the following three spots in the standings.
Gary Wilson moves up to 14th ahead of Zhang Anda, who looks set to suffer a dramatic slide down the pecking order with his points from the 2023 International Championship success soon to be deducted from his rolling two-year tally.
Si Jiahui is back up to 16th, which pushes 2023 Northern Ireland Open runner-up Chris Wakelin down to 17th.
Next month’s International Championship will provide players with the last opportunity to break into the top 16 and earn an automatic spot at the venue stages of the UK Championship draw.
Who were the other movers?
Unsurprisingly, Jack Lisowski has received a rankings boost with the £100,000 champion’s cheque helping him to rise back up to number 24.
The 34 year-old still has a long way to go to get back to the top 16, but he is certainly on the right track again after an indifferent period of form.
A semi-final appearance for Zhou Yuelong helps the Chinese potter move up to number 28 in the world.
Elsewhere, Jordan Brown eased his tour survival concerns with by pocketing £13,200 for reaching the quarter-finals, with the Antrim man up to number 52.
Click here for the full two-year list (snooker.org)
An emotional Jack Lisowski celebrated with the Alex Higgins Trophy. Photo credit: WST
1-year snooker rankings
Once again, the one-year snooker rankings will determine qualification for three lucrative events later in the campaign.
The fields for the 32-player World Grand Prix, the 16-field Players Championship, and the 12-strong Tour Championship all come from these standings.
Jack Lisowski jumps up to ninth on this list, which provisionally puts him in line to qualify for all three tournaments from the Players Series.
Judd Trump had been enduring a difficult campaign before Belfast, but his runner-up cheque helps him to finally move into the top 32 and up to 16th place.
Neil Robertson remains in first on the back of his glory at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
The Australian leads Mark Wlliams, Shaun Murphy, Ronnie O’Sullivan, and Mark Allen who each look a strong bet to reach the Tour Championship.
Click here for the full one-year list (snooker.org)
Home Nations Series Bonus
For the second season in a row, the big jackpot that is sponsored by BetVictor will be awarded through performances on the Home Nations Series only.
The Northern Ireland Open followed last month’s English Open, with the Scottish Open and the Welsh Open to come later in the campaign.
The highest earner at the end of these four tournaments will land a bumper bonus worth £150,000.
Mark Allen is in pole position after backing up his victory in Brentwood with a run to the semi-finals of his home tournament in Belfast.
Jack Lisowski is in second place and just £12,000 behind, with Zhou Yuelong and Judd Trump leading the rest of the chasing pack.
When is the next snooker event?
There is a brief respite from the World Snooker Tour this week before the players head to Nanjing for next week’s International Championship.
The season’s eighth ranking event, where Ding Junhui will be the defending champion, runs from November 2nd to November 9th.
Details and updates for that tournament and more will be available as usual here on SnookerHQ.com.
Featured image credit: WST