World Snooker Championship hands Ronnie O’Sullivan clash with bitter rival

The draw for the 2025 World Snooker Championship has been made as the top 16 discover which qualifier they will meet in round one at the Crucible.

The gruelling qualifying stage came to an end on Wednesday night at the English Institute of Sport, which is not far from the Crucible in Sheffield, but feels a million miles away.

The qualifiers will mostly go in as underdogs against elite players, but come in with victories under their belts and some confidence in their game.

They will also be buoyed by the performance of Jak Jones last year, who came through qualifying and made it all the way to the final, beating Judd Trump on his way.

Kyren Wilson beat Jones in that Crucible final 12 months ago and he gets his title defence underway on Saturday morning in the tournament’s opening session.

The Warrior will also be the first player to complete his first round game, with his second session on Saturday evening.

Seven-time champion Ronnie O’Sullivan is expected to play, with his campaign beginning on Tuesday afternoon against Ali Carter, while world number one Judd Trump plays his first session on Tuesday evening.

Four-time champion Mark Selby was in studio with the BBC during the draw and spoke out on the blockbuster O’Sullivan vs Carter tie.

‘I don’t think neither of them will be happy with that draw,’ he said. ‘It’s great that Ronnie is in the competition, we’ve not seen him since January, I wanted him to play and it seems like he is playing, which is fantastic for the game.

‘Carter’s probably one of the toughest qualifiers to get drawn against. He’s played Ronnie in the World final, played in the Masters final, so that’s a horrible draw.’

There are three debutants in the draw and all have been handed very tough tests.

Lei Peifan takes on defending champion Wilson, Daniel Wells faces former champ Shaun Murphy and Zak Surety plays Chinese superstar Ding Junhui.

Last year’s runner-up, Jones, has a tricky test in one of the stars of qualifying Zhao Xintong, who is back from a ban from the sport and looking in fine form.

Judgement Day results

Tuesday April 15

Gary Wilson 9-10 Daniel Wells
Zhou Yuelong 10-5 Yuan Sijun
Ricky Walden 3-10 Zak Surety
Ross Muir 4-10 Ben Woollaston
Elliot Slessor 8-10 Zhao Xintong
Ryan Day 10-5 Sunny Akani
Martin O’Donnell 2-10 Chris Wakelin
David Gilbert 10-9 Aaron Hill

Wednesday April 16

Fan Zhengyi 10-3 Michael Holt
Hossein Vafaei 10-4 Wang Yuchen
Ali Carter 10-5 He Guoqiang
Pang Junxu 10-6 Jamie Jones
Lei Peifan 10-9 Gao Yang
Joe O’Connor 10-7 Jackson Page
Wu Yize 10-9 Matthew Stevens
Matt Selt 10-9 Jimmy Robertson