{"id":521597,"date":"2025-10-23T07:17:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T07:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/521597\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T07:17:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T07:17:15","slug":"how-the-last-16-looks-in-the-2025-northern-ireland-open-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/521597\/","title":{"rendered":"How the last 16 looks in the 2025 Northern Ireland Open draw"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025 Northern Ireland Open draw has been whittled down to its last 16 contenders at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is an interesting selection of players left still in the hunt for glory, including former winners of the event, ex-finalists, home stars, in-form competitors, and wannabe champions.<\/p>\n

Who is in the top half?<\/p>\n

Kyren Wilson, who won his maiden Home Nations Series title in this tournament a year ago, is the top seed and has safely reached the third round of the venue stages.<\/p>\n

The world number two beat Ryan Day 4-1 on Wednesday with He Guoqiang representing his next challenge to overcome on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Wilson has endured a difficult few months on the circuit since capturing the Shanghai Masters invitational title<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A bout of illness for his wife that required surgery brought with it an unwelcome distraction, but as she is on the road to recovery his form has looked better this week.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s He beat countryman Wu Yize to move to within one win of matching his best-ever performance in a ranking event.<\/p>\n

Apart from Wilson who is the obvious favourite in the top half of the 2025 Northern Ireland Open draw, the top segment looks pretty open on paper.<\/p>\n

Jack Lisowski\u2019s reward for a strong triumph over Mark Selby is a firecracker fixture against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh \u2013 a match that is unlikely to feature too many bouts of safety play.<\/p>\n

Tom Ford learned a couple of days ago of his confirmed invitation to the upcoming Champion of Champions<\/a>, which will be staged in his hometown of Leicester.<\/p>\n

Before that, the Shoot Out winner will be hoping to go on a deeper run in Belfast with Yuan Sijun representing his next opponent on the baize.<\/p>\n

Ali Carter, meanwhile, held off a spirited fight back from Jimmy Robertson on day four of the competition \u2013 the Captain squandering a 3-0 lead before eventually prevailing in a deciding frame.<\/p>\n

The 46 year-old is among those in the chasing pack who are attempting to break into the top 16 of the world rankings before the crucial cut-off point for an automatic spot at the UK Championship.<\/p>\n

Carter is in the same quarter of the draw as Neil Robertson and Mark Williams who both withdrew on the eve of the event, so there\u2019s an unexpected opportunity to take advantage.<\/p>\n

Next up is Zhou Yuelong, who has already begun this Home Nations Series in strong fashion after his run to the final of last month\u2019s English Open.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Alex Higgins Trophy that the players are striving to get their hands on. Photo credit: WST<\/p>\n

Who is in the bottom half?<\/p>\n

Moving on to the bottom half of the draw, record four-time Northern Ireland Open champion Judd Trump will be in action against Gary Wilson.<\/p>\n

It has been a lean spell for the world number one, but Trump loves this event and it would be the perfect place for him to rediscover his best.<\/p>\n

Wilson, though, represents a tough upcoming opponent and the three-time ranking event winner beat Trump en route to an appearance in the Wuhan Open final this term.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, John Higgins will encounter Si Jiahui after the pair emerged from contrasting round-of-32 clashes.<\/p>\n

Si thumped Championship League Snooker winner Stephen Maguire 4-0 while Higgins relied on all of his tenacity and experience to grind out a 4-3 defeat of Pang Junxu.<\/p>\n

The remaining quarter of the draw is all about Ireland with an exciting all-Irish showdown between Mark Allen and Aaron Hill to come.<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s fellow Antrim potter Jordan Brown is also in this section and will face an adopted Irishman in Shaun Murphy, the latter having lived on the Emerald Isle for a number of years.<\/p>\n

The Magician is arguably the best player in the world at the moment and remains on course to reach a third ranking event final on the trot.<\/p>\n

Against Brown, Murphy faces a player who will be trying to benefit from the local support as he continues his fight for tour survival.<\/p>\n

Two-time champion Allen reached the last 16 with a 4-3 win over Ben Woollaston \u2013 incredibly marking the seventh time in a row that he has won a match in a deciding frame on the Home Nations Series this season.<\/p>\n

Aaron Hill has represented one of the most improved players on the circuit this season and beating Allen at this stage would elevate his game even further.<\/p>\n

All of the round-of-16 matches take place on Thursday.<\/p>\n

2025 Northern Ireland Open Draw<\/p>\n

Round of 64 (bo7)
<\/strong>
Kyren Wilson vs Oliver Lines
Matthew Selt vs Ryan Day
Wu Yize 4-3 Scott Donaldson
David Gilbert 2-4 He Guoqiang
Joe O\u2019Connor 3-4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Zhang Anda vs Mark Davis
Jack Lisowski 4-0 Haris Tahir
Mark Selby 4-1 Ian Burns<\/p>\n

Long Zehuang w\/o Mark Williams
Yuan Sijun 4-1 Daniel Wells
Chris Wakelin 4-1 Lan Yuhao
Tom Ford w\/o Marco Fu
Stuart Bingham 2-4 Jimmy Robertson
Ali Carter vs Stan Moody
Zhou Yuelong 4-2 Dylan Emery
David Grace w\/o Neil Robertson<\/p>\n

Judd Trump 4-2 Anthony McGill
Jackson Page 4-0 Steven Hallworth
Gary Wilson 4-3 Chang Bingyu
Jak Jones 3-4 Martin O\u2019Donnell
Stephen Maguire vs Luca Brecel
Si Jiahui vs Cheung Ka Wai
Pang Junxu 4-1 Robbie Williams
John Higgins 4-0 Louis Heathcote<\/p>\n

Barry Hawkins 4-0 Zak Surety
Lei Peifan 1-4 Aaron Hill
Mark Allen 4-3 Robert Milkins
Hossein Vafaei 2-4 Ben Woollaston
Elliot Slessor 4-3 Fan Zhengyi
Shaun Murphy 4-0 David Lilley
Noppon Saengkham 2-4 Ashley Hugill
Zhao Xintong 4-0 Jordan Brown<\/p>\n

Round of 32 (bo7)
<\/strong>
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<\/p>\n

Long Zehuang 2-4 Yuan Sijun
Chris Wakelin 1-4 Tom Ford
Jimmy Robertson 3-4 Ali Carter
Zhou Yuelong 4-2 David Grace<\/p>\n

Judd Trump 4-2 Jackson Page
Gary Wilson 4-2 Martin O\u2019Donnell
Stephen Maguire 0-4 Si Jiahui
Pang Junxu 3-4 John Higgins<\/p>\n

Barry Hawkins 3-4 Aaron Hill
Mark Allen 4-3 Ben Woollaston
Elliot Slessor 2-4 Shaun Murphy
Ashley Hugill 0-4 Jordan Brown<\/p>\n

Round of 16 (bo7)
<\/strong>
Kyren Wilson vs He Guoqiang
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Yuan Sijun vs Tom Ford
Ali Carter vs Zhou Yuelong<\/p>\n

Judd Trump vs Gary Wilson
Si Jiahui vs John Higgins
Aaron Hill vs Mark Allen
Shaun Murphy vs Jordan Brown<\/p>\n

Click here for the updated draw and results<\/a> (snooker.org)<\/p>\n

Featured photo credit: WST<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 Northern Ireland Open draw has been whittled down to its last 16 contenders at the Waterfront…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[169551,169552,93257,140275,22041,20143,23767,1144,140276,169553,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-521597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-aaron-hill","9":"tag-ali-carter","10":"tag-home-nations","11":"tag-jordan-brown","12":"tag-judd-trump","13":"tag-kyren-wilson","14":"tag-mark-allen","15":"tag-northern-ireland","16":"tag-northern-ireland-open","17":"tag-shaun-murphy","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115422261964558085","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}