{"id":524104,"date":"2025-10-24T06:43:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T06:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/524104\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T06:43:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T06:43:17","slug":"northern-ireland-open-quarter-finals-draw-preview-and-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/524104\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland Open: quarter-finals draw, preview, and schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>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.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There is a nice mix of proven winners and aspiring champions with the eight remaining contenders for glory on course to land the \u00a3100,000 top prize.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s take a look at the four upcoming quarter-finals in the 2025 Northern Ireland Open draw.<\/p>\n<p>Kyren Wilson vs Jack Lisowski<\/p>\n<p>Top seed Kyren Wilson is three victories away from becoming the third Northern Ireland Open winner to successfully defend the title.<\/p>\n<p>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 <a href=\"https:\/\/snookerhq.com\/2025\/08\/03\/kyren-wilson-secures-shanghai-masters-triumph\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">win the Shanghai Masters<\/a> at the start of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Since then their career trajectories have been markedly different with Wilson arguably overachieving and Lisowski definitely underachieving up until this point.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson boasts a narrowly superior head-to-head record (9-7), but he has won his last seven ties with Lisowski in all competitions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px\"><strong>When is it?<\/strong> Friday, not before 2pm UTC+1 (BST)<\/p>\n<p>Tom Ford vs Zhou Yuelong<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Zhou benefited from Ali Carter\u2019s late withdrawal from the tournament, the Captain forced to pull out due to personal reasons.<\/p>\n<p>Tom Ford will be the Chinese cueist\u2019s next opponent after the Snooker Shoot Out champion extended his stay with a 4-2 triumph over Yuan Sijun.<\/p>\n<p>Ford has been gradually slipping down the rankings of late and his provisional end-of-season standing is just inside the world\u2019s top 32, so his improved displays this week are timely.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, they have never encountered each other in a best-of-nine match in a ranking event before.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px\"><strong>When is it?<\/strong> Friday, 7pm UTC+1 (BST)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"Judd Trump is the favourite in the Northern Ireland Open draw\" class=\"wp-image-70303\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/judd-trump-2023-nio-wst.webp.webp\"\/>Judd Trump won the Northern Ireland Open in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2023. Photo credit: WST<\/p>\n<p>Judd Trump vs John Higgins<\/p>\n<p>A repeat of two World Championship finals pits marquee names Judd Trump and John Higgins against each other.<\/p>\n<p>The Northern Ireland Open is one of Trump\u2019s favourite events, underlined by his appearance in five finals from which he emerged victoriously on four occasions.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Higgins, meanwhile, will have seen Mark Williams\u2019 triumph at the recent Xi\u2019an Grand Prix as motivation to suggest that sustained success into his fifties is not only possible, but a likely reality.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px\"><strong>When is it?<\/strong> Friday, 12pm UTC+1 (BST)<\/p>\n<p>Mark Allen vs Jordan Brown<\/p>\n<p>The crowd is in for an absolute treat with the fourth and most intriguing affair in the quarter-finals of this year\u2019s Northern Ireland Open.<\/p>\n<p>The atmosphere inside the Waterfront Hall is going to be electric as Antrim boys Mark Allen and Jordan Brown take to the baize.<\/p>\n<p>Allen, of course, is used to all this as a two-time former champion, but it\u2019s new territory for Brown on home soil after recording standout victories over Zhao Xintong and Shaun Murphy.<\/p>\n<p>Brown began this season with concerns surrounding his tour survival, but the guaranteed \u00a39,000 sum for reaching the last eight will go a long way to safeguarding his status as a professional.<\/p>\n<p>For Allen, the further he goes in this tournament, the more likely it is that he\u2019ll end up bagging the Home Nations Series bonus having already taken the <a href=\"https:\/\/snookerhq.com\/2025\/09\/22\/exhausted-english-open-champion-mark-allen-is-happy-to-win-ugly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">top prize in September\u2019s English Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px\"><strong>When is it?<\/strong> Friday, 7pm UTC+1 (BST)<\/p>\n<p>2025 Northern Ireland Open Draw<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" style=\"font-size:15px\"><strong>Round of 32 (bo7)<br \/><\/strong><br \/>Kyren Wilson 4-1 Ryan Day<br \/>Wu Yize 2-4 He Guoqiang<br \/>Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-1 Mark Davis<br \/>Jack Lisowski 4-2 Mark Selby<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" style=\"font-size:15px\">Long Zehuang 2-4 Yuan Sijun<br \/>Chris Wakelin 1-4 Tom Ford<br \/>Jimmy Robertson 3-4 Ali Carter<br \/>Zhou Yuelong 4-2 David Grace<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" style=\"font-size:15px\">Judd Trump 4-2 Jackson Page<br \/>Gary Wilson 4-2 Martin O\u2019Donnell<br \/>Stephen Maguire 0-4 Si Jiahui<br \/>Pang Junxu 3-4 John Higgins<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" style=\"font-size:15px\">Barry Hawkins 3-4 Aaron Hill<br \/>Mark Allen 4-3 Ben Woollaston<br \/>Elliot Slessor 2-4 Shaun Murphy<br \/>Ashley Hugill 0-4 Jordan Brown<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" style=\"font-size:15px\"><strong>Round of 16 (bo7)<br \/><\/strong><br \/>Kyren Wilson 4-2 He Guoqiang<br \/>Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 2-4 Jack Lisowski<br \/>Yuan Sijun 2-4 Tom Ford<br \/>Zhou Yuelong w\/o Ali Carter<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" style=\"font-size:15px\">Judd Trump 4-1 Gary Wilson<br \/>Si Jiahui 1-4 John Higgins<br \/>Aaron Hill 1-4 Mark Allen<br \/>Shaun Murphy 2-4 Jordan Brown<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" style=\"font-size:15px\"><strong>Quarter-Finals (bo9)<br \/><\/strong><br \/>Kyren Wilson vs Jack Lisowski<br \/>(Friday, not before 2pm)<br \/>Tom Ford vs Zhou Yuelong<br \/>(Friday, 7pm)<br \/>Judd Trump vs John Higgins<br \/>(Friday, 12pm)<br \/>Mark Allen vs Jordan Brown<br \/>(Friday, 7pm)<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.snooker.org\/res\/index.asp?event=2183\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click here for the updated draw and results<\/a> (snooker.org)<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><strong>Featured photo credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?fbid=1373850170762967&amp;set=pb.100044139921206.-2207520000&amp;type=3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WST<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Next up on the agenda for the 2025 Northern Ireland Open are the quarter-finals, which will take place&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[93257,170177,25950,140275,22041,20143,23767,1144,140276,66017,16,15,170178],"class_list":{"0":"post-524104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-home-nations","9":"tag-jack-lisowksi","10":"tag-john-higgins","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-tom-ford","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-zhou-yuelong"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115427790300210669","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524104","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=524104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}