The 2025 Xi'an Grand Prix (officially the 2025 Du Xiaoman Xi'an Grand Prix)[1] was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 7 to 13 October 2025 at the Qujiang Sports Complex in Xi'an, China. Qualifying took place from 1 to 3 September at the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England. The second consecutive edition of the tournament since its inaugural staging in 2024, it was the sixth ranking event of the 2025–26 snooker season, following the 2025 British Open and preceding the 2025 Northern Ireland Open. It was broadcast by local channels in China and elsewhere in Asia; by TNT Sports and Discovery+ in the United Kingdom and Ireland; by Eurosport, Discovery+, and HBO Max in mainland Europe; and by WST Play in all other territories. The winner received £177,000 from a total prize fund of £850,000.
Kyren Wilson was the defending champion, having defeated Judd Trump 10–8 in the 2024 final, but he lost 0–5 to Shaun Murphy in the fourth round. Mark Williams defeated Murphy 10–3 in the final to win his 27th ranking title. Aged 50 years and 206 days, he became the oldest winner of a ranking event, surpassing Ray Reardon, who had been 50 years and 14 days old when he won the 1982 Players Professional Tournament. Williams also became the first player to win professional titles in his teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s.
The tournament produced 118 century breaks, 25 during the qualifying round in Leicester and 93 at the main stage in Xi'an. Three maximum breaks were made at the event. During the Leicester qualifiers, Zhou Yuelong made the third maximum of his professional career in his 5–2 win over Julien Leclercq. During the held-over qualifiers in Xi'an, Trump made the ninth maximum of his career in his 5–2 win over Ng On-yee. Aaron Hill made the second maximum of his career in his 5–2 win over Huang Jiahao in the second round. These maximums were respectively the 8th, 12th, and 13th of the season and the 225th, 229th, and 230th in professional snooker history. Trump and Hill both made their maximums on 7 October, marking the fifth time in the sport's history that multiple 147s were made on the same day.
All matches up to and including the quarter‑finals were the best of nine frames . The semi‑finals were the best of 11 frames, and the final was the best of 19 frames, held over two sessions .[6][7]
Marco Fu won his qualifying match in Leicester but withdrew from the tournament's main stage after suffering a fractured elbow. His withdrawal meant that the defending champion Kyren Wilson received a bye to the last 32.[8]Scott Donaldson and Jamie Jones also withdrew from the main stage, as a result of which Mark Williams and Yuan Sijun also received byes to the last 32.[6][9][10]
Broadcasters
The qualifying round was broadcast in mainland China by the CBSA‑WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel, the CBSA‑WPBSA Academy Douyin, Huya Live and Migu[zh]. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Austria by Discovery+ and in other European territories by HBO Max. In all other territories, it was streamed by WST Play.[11]
In mainland China, the main stage was broadcast by the same broadcasters as the qualifying round, with the addition of coverage on CCTV5. It was broadcast by TNT Sports and Discovery+ in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In mainland Europe, it was broadcast by Eurosport, with coverage by Discovery+ in Germany, Italy, and Austria and HBO Max in other European territories. It was broadcast by Now TV in Hong Kong, by TrueSports in Thailand, and by Sportcast in Taiwan. In territories where no other coverage is available, it was streamed by WST Play.[12]
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this event is shown below:[9][13]
Winner: £177,000
Runner-up: £76,000
Semi-final: £34,500
Quarter-final: £22,350
Last 16: £14,000
Last 32: £9,400
Last 64: £5,350
Highest break: £5,000
Total: £850,000
Summary
Round one (qualifying)
Zhou Yuelong(pictured in 2016) made the third maximum break of his career during qualifying in Leicester.
In the qualifiers held in Leicester from 1 to 3 September, Zhou Yuelong made the third maximum break of his career in the fourth frame of his 5–2 victory over Julien Leclercq. It was the eighth maximum of the season and the 225th in professional snooker history.[14] Having missed the season's opening tournaments—including failing to appear for his 2025 Wuhan Open qualifying match—the 2023 World ChampionLuca Brecel made his first professional appearance since losing in the quarter-finals of the 2025 World Championship over four months earlier.[15] Facing Sunny Akani and playing with a new cue, Brecel scored just six points in the first two frames as he fell 0–2 behind. While trailing 1–40 in the third frame, he conceded the match, and Akani won 5–0 by default.[16][17][18] The world number 111 Liam Pullen took a 4–1 lead over four-time World Champion John Higgins and went on to win the match 5–3.[18]Stan Moody, who had recently reached his first ranking quarter-final at the 2025 Wuhan Open, recovered from 2–4 behind to defeat Amir Sarkhosh in a deciding frame .[18]Farakh Ajaib came from 54 points behind in his decider against Zhang Anda to win the match on the last black . Xu Yichen, who had recently turned professional, made four consecutive half-century breaks as he came from 1–4 behind to beat Jack Lisowski in a deciding frame.[18]
In the held-over qualifiers in Xi'an, Judd Trump made the ninth maximum break of his career, and his first since 2022, in the fifth frame of his 5–2 win over Ng On-yee. It was the 12th maximum of the season and the 229th in professional snooker history.[21][22]Ronnie O'Sullivan played his 1,000th match at a ranking event and made two centuries of 107 and 112 as he whitewashed Iulian Boiko. Following his first competitive match since the 2025 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, O'Sullivan said: "I haven't played for nearly two months so it felt a bit strange to play a serious game. I felt a bit rusty. My preparation on the practice table has been good, but practice and playing matches are very different." The defending champion and world number two Kyren Wilson made breaks of 52, 60, 103, and 76 as he defeated Haris Tahir 5–1. Wilson, who had not reached a semi-final since winning the 2025 Shanghai Masters, stated that he had spent less time practicing in previous weeks due to health issues affecting his wife. Ding Junhui defeated Sam Craigie 5–1 and Neil Robertson beat Leone Crowley by the same score. Gary Wilson produced back-to-back centuries of 123 and 144 as he whitewashed Zhang Xiao. The reigning World Champion Zhao Xintong defeated Wang Xinbo 5–2, but the world number 15 Chris Wakelin lost 3–5 to wildcard player Zhang Hao.[23][22][24]
Aaron Hill made the second maximum break of his career during his 5–2 win over Huang Jianbo, having made his first maximum 23 days earlier at the 2025 English Open. It was the 13th maximum break of the season and the 230th in professional snooker history. Trump and Hill both made their maximums on 7 October, marking the fifth time in the sport's history that multiple 147s were made on the same day.[21][22] The recent 2025 English Open runner-up Zhou made two centuries and three half-centuries as he beat Ryan Day 5–2. Louis Heathcote whitewashed Jackson Page, and Elliot Slessor made centuries of 132 and 117 as he defeated Ricky Walden 5–3. Jak Jones defeated Dylan Emery 5–1.[23][22]
Facing Matthew Stevens, the world number one and previous year's runner-up Trump took a 3–1 lead, but Stevens then won three frames in a row to move 4–3 ahead. Trump required snookers in frame eight, as he trailed by 38 points with only the colours remaining, but he secured penalty points from fouls on the blue and pink and went on to win the frame on a re-spotted black to tie the scores at 4–4. However, Trump failed to score in the decider and Stevens won the frame and match. Trump's loss meant that he had not reached a ranking quarter-final since the 2025 World Championship. O'Sullivan made a century of 128 and three further half-centuries as he defeated Yao Pengcheng 5–1. "I feel like I'm cueing as well as I have done since 2012," O'Sullivan said afterwards. "I played well between 2016 and 2019, but the last few years were pretty awful. I know I had some good wins but I was struggling with ball striking. At the moment I'm hitting the ball so pure and so clean."[25][26][27]
The reigning World Champion Zhao, who also had not reached a ranking quarter-final since the World Championship, lost 2–5 to the world number 56 Robert Milkins in a match that produced only two half-century breaks. Zhao took a 2–1 lead, but Milkins then won four consecutive frames to advance. "I was expecting Zhao to play better, but he struggled," Milkins said afterwards. "You just have to take it. I've lost a lot of deciders this season and it has put me in a bad position. I've really been struggling and everything is like a pint of blood at the moment." The 10th seed Mark Selby and the 11th seed Allen both lost in deciding frames to Mark Davis and Oliver Lines respectively. The world number 49 Moody advanced with a 5–3 victory over Ali Carter.[26][27]
Kyren Wilson made two centuries as he continued his title defence with a 5–2 victory over Yuan Sijun. "It's a great feeling defending the title and I want to make that last as long as possible," Wilson said afterwards. "I really enjoyed being here for the first time last year so I was looking forward to coming back. When you are excited and happy as a player, it brings out the best in you." O'Sullivan made a century of 134 as he whitewashed Maguire to reach the last 16 having lost just one frame. Maguire scored only 25 points in the match. "This game has a way of humbling you," O'Sullivan commented afterwards. "So far I'm very happy, but maybe next month I'll be saying this game is really hard. You have to enjoy it when it's good, and when it's not you have to get through those periods." Pullen made breaks of 103, 83, 96, 101, and 77 as he whitewashed Noppon Saengkham to reach the last-16 stage of a ranking event for the second time. Afterwards, Pullen called the victory "the best win of my career and the best I have played."
Lines recovered from 2–4 behind to defeat Slessor with a clearance of 58 in the deciding frame. "I kept telling myself I was going to do it, and that calmed me down," said Lines of his match-winning break. Milkins defeated Jimmy Robertson in a decider, making three centuries of 127, 113, and 121 in the match, including his 200th century in professional competition. The world number three Neil Robertson made century breaks of 126 and 103 but lost in a deciding frame to He Guoqiang. Facing Wu, Shaun Murphy made breaks of 140, 94, 138, and 78 and won the match in a decider. Gary Wilson made two centuries as he beat Mateusz Baranowski, also in a deciding frame. Hawkins defeated Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5–2, and Mark Williams beat Zhou by the same score. Hill defeated Davis 5–1, making breaks of 97, 131, 81, and 102, and Stuart Bingham advanced with a whitewash victory over Moody.[28][29]
Round four (last 16)
The defending champion Kyren Wilson(pictured in 2022) did not pot a ball against Shaun Murphy, who scored 533 points without reply.
Murphy whitewashed the defending champion and world number two Kyren Wilson, making breaks of 74, 141, 133, 84, and 84. Murphy scored 533 points without reply, 23 points short of O'Sullivan's all-time professional record of 556 unanswered points against Walden at the 2014 Masters and 14 points short of Bingham's ranking event record of 547 points without reply against Sam Baird at the 2016 China Open.[30][31] Wilson, who did not pot a ball during the encounter, received his only six points of the match when Murphy fouled the pink at the end of the last frame. "That's pretty much as good as I've ever played," said Murphy afterwards. "You play so many matches around the world throughout your life and every now and then it comes together. I knew I had to do it against [Wilson], he is a great champion." Gary Wilson also recorded a whitewash victory over He, making breaks of 84, 101, 117, and 89. Daniel Wells made four half-century breaks as he beat Milkins 5–2, while 20-year-old Pullen defeated Hill 5–1 to reach the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time in his career.[32][33][34]
O'Sullivan, a semi-finalist in the tournament the previous year, produced two century breaks of 135 and 100 as he established a 4–1 lead over Jak Jones, a former World Championship runner-up. Jones made a century of 140 to take frame six, but O'Sullivan secured a 5–2 victory with an 81 break in the seventh. Ding made centuries of 134 and 121 as he advanced to the quarter-finals with a 5–1 win over Lines. "Right now I'm not thinking as far ahead as winning the tournament. I don't want to overthink things and I also hope people don't put too much pressure on me," Ding said afterwards. Williams recovered from 3–4 behind to defeat Hawkins, making a century of 125 to win the deciding frame. Lyu Haotian progressed with a 5–3 win over Bingham.[33][34]
Quarter-finals
Daniel Wells(pictured in 2013) defeated Liam Pullen to reach the semi-finals of the tournament for a second consecutive year.
The quarter-final match between Williams and Lyu was tied at 2–2 at the mid-session interval. Williams made breaks of 68 and 70 as he took a 4–2 lead, but Lyu responded with breaks of 94 and 62 to tie the scores at 4–4. Williams won the 36-minute deciding frame to reach the 69th ranking semi-final of his professional career. "I didn't play great, but I stuck in there," Williams said afterwards. "He let me off the hook a little bit. He was the better player, but I managed to find a way to scrape over the line." Pullen and Wells were also tied at 2–2 at the mid-session interval, but Wells then took three frames in a row to win 5–2 and reach the semi-finals of the tournament for a second consecutive year. It was the fourth time Wells had reached a ranking semi-final. "I'm here to win," Wells said afterwards, noting that he had been working on the mental side of the game as well as his fitness levels. "If you told a 12-year-old me that I would play Mark Williams in the semi-final of a major tournament, it would have been a dream come true. But it is the reality now. I don't want to go home in the semi-final."[35][36]
Gary Wilson, runner-up at the 2025 Wuhan Open earlier in the season, faced O'Sullivan, whom he had beaten only once in their eight previous professional meetings. Wilson won the first three frames with breaks of 74, 101, and 79. O'Sullivan won frames four and five, but Wilson won frame six with a century break of 120 and then took the seventh for a 5–2 victory. "Against [O'Sullivan], you can tell he's trying to look at signs," Wilson commented afterwards. "Trying to tell if you feel good, or you feel bad. Whether you are taking your chances or you aren't. If you are bottling it. All of that goes through your head. He feeds off that. You need to try and block it out of your head." Facing Ding, Murphy made breaks of 77, 66, and 121 as he took a 4–1 lead. Ding won the next two frames, but Murphy took frame eight with a 94 break to secure a 5–3 victory.[37][36][38]
In the first best-of-11-frame semi-final, Williams faced Wells. The scores were tied at 2–2 at the mid-session interval. Wells won frame five on the last blue and pink, but Williams took the next to tie the scores again at 3–3. After six frames, the highest break of the match was just 42, but Williams then produced breaks of 129 and 53 as he moved 5–3 ahead. Wells required snookers in frame nine, as Williams led by 33 points with just the colours remaining, but Wells secured the penalty points he needed by laying snookers on the yellow . However, Williams then laid two snookers on the brown , and Wells conceded the frame after failing to escape from the second. Williams won the match 6–3. Defeat for Wells meant that he had contested four ranking semi-finals without reaching a final. "Most of my games this week have been the same, pretty poor," said Williams afterwards. "I scraped over the line again. I'm glad to win. Apart from the one century break, it was tough out there. I might have looked calm but you wouldn't want to know the names I was calling myself in my head."[39][40]
In the second semi-final, Murphy played Gary Wilson. Murphy won the first frame with a 91 break, but Wilson responded with breaks including 81 and a total clearance of 139 as he won three frames in a row to lead 3–1 at the mid-session interval. Murphy then made breaks including 81 and total clearances of 131 and 140 as he won four consecutive frames to lead 5–3. Wilson took frame nine with a 74 break, but Murphy made another total clearance of 141 in frame 10 to secure a 6–4 victory, his 13th consecutive win on the professional tour. In all, the match produced four breaks over 130 and four more breaks over 70. "This vein of form won't last forever but I am enjoying it," Murphy said afterwards. "I played well [at the 2025 English Open] in Brentwood, played well [at the 2025 British Open] in Cheltenham and I was delighted to lift the trophy. Here this week I've got another chance. But I have got one of the best of all time in my way and he will give me nothing." By reaching the final, Murphy ensured that he would re-enter the top 10 in the world rankings after the event and qualify for the 2025 Riyadh Season Snooker Championship in Saudi Arabia.[40][41]
Final
Mark Williams(pictured in 2025) defeated Shaun Murphy to win his 27th ranking title. Aged 50 years and 206 days, he became the oldest ranking event winner.
The final was played as the best of 19 frames, held over two sessions , between the world number 5 Williams and the world number 12 Murphy. Williams was contesting the 44th ranking final of his career, while Murphy competed in his 28th.[39][41] Murphy had won 10 of the previous 17 professional matches between the two players.[42] In the first session, Williams won the opening frame with a 75 break, recovered from 32 points behind to win the second with a break of 73, and made clearances of 56 and 68 in the next two frames to lead 4–0 at the mid-session interval. Murphy won frame five with a 69 break, but Williams took the sixth to restore a four-frame advantage at 5–1. Williams then made breaks of 59 and 55 to win frame seven and a century of 127 to win frame eight as he extended his lead to 7–1.[42]
When play resumed for the second session, Williams won the ninth frame with a century of 122. Murphy won the next two frames, making 93 break in the 11th. However, Williams took the 12th frame with a 65 break and went on to secure a 10–3 victory with breaks of 61 and 22. It was the 27th ranking title of his career and he advanced from 5th to 4th place in the world rankings after the event. "I played really well from the first frame to the last," said Williams afterwards. "I don't think I missed more than a couple of easy balls all day. I put pressure on [Murphy] and he missed a couple of times from 50 in front. I made some good clearances and kept the pressure on. I think I made more frame-winning breaks today than I did in the whole tournament." Defeat for Murphy meant that he had lost 15 of his 28 ranking finals, although he advanced from 12th to 9th in the world rankings as runner-up. "[Williams] was very tough and the better man on the day," Murphy said afterwards. "I missed a few shots and he punished me. His safety was good and his tactics were strong."[43][44]
At the age of 50 years and 206 days, Williams became the oldest player ever to win a ranking event, surpassing Ray Reardon, who had been 50 years and 14 days old when he won the 1982 Professional Players Tournament 43 years previously. Williams also became the first player to win professional titles in his teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. "It's unbelievable," he said. "I cannot honestly believe how I'm still winning tournaments. I'm not practicing enough to really compete in the latter stages of tournaments because I just can't do it these days. But here I am at the venue trying to play as much as I can, and you've got to scrape me off the table until that last ball is potted. I just seem to be scraping results and playing well in the final."[44][45]
Main draw
The draw for the tournament is shown below. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the top 32 seeded players, and players in bold denote match winners. An (a) indicates amateur players not on the World Snooker Tour.
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Mark Williams (WAL)
Shaun Murphy (ENG)
