World Open Snooker 2025 Predictions: Four tips for glory in China

Next up on the snooker calendar is the World Open, which is the final event of the season from China. As always we have our snooker expert Dean Strand (@DSSnookerTips) on hand, with his comprehensive preview and World Open Snooker 2025 Predictions.

This is the 14th ranking event of the season and is the sixth straight year the competition has been held in Yushan, China.

The World Open in its current guise is entering its 11th edition of this event, with Judd Trump winning the most recent, beating Ding Junhui 10-4 in the final last year.

This is the final event before the players series begins, making this the last chance for a lot of the players to earn ranking points before the World Championship, with only the top 32 on the one-year list involved in the rest of the tournaments.

Five players have already withdrawn from this event, with Ronnie O’Sullivan, Luca Brecel, Ricky Walden, Chris Totten and Jak Jones all pulling out, so the opponents of the latter four will receive byes into the last 32 stage.

1 pt - Joe O’Connor to win Quarter 1 @ 11/1

Tournament favourite Judd Trump leads the betting in Quarter 1 and it would certainly be no surprise to see him lift another trophy, but there are some very good players in this section and 11/10 still looks too short for me.

He rarely plays his best snooker at the start of the event. Even when lifting this trophy last year, he had scrappy wins over Fan Zhengyi and David Lilley before finding his form in the quarter finals.

If he is to lose early then one man I think has the ability to stop him is his potential second round opponent Joe O’Connor.

O’Connor has been playing some very good snooker in 2025 -  in the Championship League he had four high quality matches against Trump, winning one 3-1 and losing in a couple of deciders and he also lost narrowly 6-4 when the two met in China earlier this season.

Last week in the Welsh Open, he had convincing 4-0 wins in his opening two matches, beat the World Champion Kyren Wilson in a decider and won his last 16 match against Matthew Stevens 4-1, before losing out to Carter in the Quarters.

He needs to win four matches to win the quarter but he’s clear favourite to beat Alfie Burden in the first round and if he can make it past Trump he’ll be favourite again against any of his potential last 16 opponents.

1 pt - Ryan Day to win Quarter 2 @ 8/1

Ryan Day is the player who’s benefited most from the withdrawals, as Ricky Walden withdrawing means Day will receive a bye through to the last 32 stage.

On top of that, his last 32 match would have likely been against Ronnie O’Sullivan but he will now face either Louis Heathcote, Daniel Womersley or Stuart Carrington, making Day the favourite to progress to the last 16.

Things get tougher there with a potential clash against Barry Hawkins but this won’t be a match he’ll fear, leading the head to head against “The Hawk” 13-9, including a 10-8 win in the first round of the World Championship next season.

He hasn’t had the best season but he’s a four-time ranking event winner and if he can gather a bit of momentum in the earlier rounds now that he an easier draw, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him have a bit of a run here this week.

1 pt - Tom Ford to win Quarter 3 @ 9/1

0.5 pts Tom Ford each-way (1/2 - 2 Places) @ 50/1

Ford has been in decent form since winning the Shootout in December. In the three events since then, he’s had two last 16 exits and a quarter final with a couple of good wins over Neil Robertson.

He has a good record in China too, last season he reached the quarter finals in Wuhan and the final of the International Championship, beating Selby and Hawkins along the way.

He has a decent draw this week; Mark Williams failing to qualify means the only top 16 player he can meet before the quarter final is an out of form Gary Wilson, who has been struggling all season.

1 pt - Pang Junxu to win Quarter 4 @ 10/1

0.5 pts Pang Junxu each-way (1/2 - 2 Places) @ 40/1

In quarter 4, I’m sticking with a player I’ve been backing a lot this season and that is Pang Junxu.

He’s been consistently playing well all season, it’s generally been taking very good performances to stop him, the majority of his defeats coming in deciding frames and he reached the semi finals of the Northern Ireland Open earlier this season, narrowly missing out on a place in the final with a defeat to Kyren Wilson.

Pang faces McGill first and that won’t be an easy match but I’d still make him slight favourite and if he can make it through that one, his last 32 match has got considerably easier following Luca Brecel's withdrawal.

His last 16 match won’t be the most difficult either, with an out of form Zhang Anda the highest ranked potential opponent there.

10/1 for the quarter and an each way bet on 40/1 outright both look good value to me here.

Check out the rest of our Snooker Betting Tips over at Betfred Insights.