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Wuhan Open Snooker Preview, Dates & Predictions 2023

Following on from the English Open, the 2023 Wuhan Open swings into action this week. This is an exciting tournament hosted in China. While it is the fifth ranking event of the season, it will be the inaugural edition of snooker’s Wuhan Open.

The 2023 Wuhan Open comes from the Wuhan Gymnasium in Wuhan, China and it is the first ranking tournament to be played in the country since 2019. The recent Shanghai Masters was an invitational event.

The tournament starts on October 9th with the remaining qualification matches and plays through to the Final on the 15th.

While we don’t have a reigning champion to look at, there are all the familiar faces at the head of the snooker betting market. After an early exit at the recent English Open, Ronnie O’Sullivan is back in action this week and running as the pre-tournament favourite.

Judd Trump, Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Mark Selby and Jack Lisowski are also in the leading pack of contenders.

Important Dates

Here are the important dates that you need to mark in your sporting diary so that you don’t miss a single stroke of action at the Wuhan Open.

  • October 9th – Held Over Qualifying
  • October 10-14th – 1st, 2nd, 3rd, QF and SF
  • October 15th – Final

Wuhan Open Prize Money

This is a big-ranking tournament on the Snooker World Tour. The total prize pot for the Wuhan Open is at £700,000 which is more than the recent English Open. The winner of the 2023 Wuhan Open will collect £140,000.

All players entered into the 2023 Wuhan Open snooker main draw will claim prize money. There is also a £5,000 bonus for the tournament’s Highest Break to be earned.

  • Winner: £140,000
  • Runner-up: £63,000
  • Semi-final: £30,000
  • Quarter-final: £16,000
  • Last 16: £12,000
  • Last 32: £8,000
  • Last 64: £4,500
  • Highest break: £5,000
  • Total: £700,000

Players And Wuhan Open Draw

Back in early September in Leicester, UK the first portion of the Wuhan Open qualifying took place. There was a shock in that Kyren Wilson was dumped out early, along with Shaun Murphy and others like Gary Wilson and Anthony McGill.

The top eight players in the World Rankings at the cut-off point, all play their qualification matches on October 9th, the opening day of the tournament. While that’s a qualifying round, it signifies the opening day of the tournament and some First Round matches will also be played.

It’s always an exciting round as well, with the potential of some of the biggest players in the world slipping out. Ronnie O’Sullivan is involved in taking on Ken Doherty. Players who have already made the draw include Judd Trump, Neil Robertson and Mark Selby. Luca Brecel has a walkover in his qualifier, so books a spot in the main draw.

Once all the qualifying matches are complete, the first round will be set with 64 players competing in matches of the Best of 9 Frames. The Last 32, Last 16 and Quarter-finals are also contested over the Best of 9. The Semi-finals move up to the Best of 11. The Final of the Wuhan Open is a more demanding affair as it’s a Best of 19 Frames fixture.

There is a structured bracket for the Wuhan Open draw. So you can use that for snooker predictions by plotting the potential routes to the final of leading players like Mark Selby and Luca Brecel.

World Snooker Tour 2023 Season Finals

  • Championship League – Shaun Murphy 3-0 Mark Williams
  • European Masters – Barry Hawkins 9-6 Judd Trump
  • Shanghai Masters (non-ranking) – Ronnie O’Sullivan 11-9 Luca Brecel
  • British Open – Mark Williams 10-7 Mark Selby
  • English Open – Judd Trump 9-7 Zhang Anda
  • Wuhan Open – TBD

Mark Selby

Where to watch the 2023 Wuhan Open Snooker

UK viewers can catch the 2023 British Open snooker on Eurosport and Discovery. The Matchroom live-streaming subscription service will also carry streams for other territories.


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About the author

Lee Jackson

Lee has been a freelance sports writer for over a decade and is a massive sports fan, following Chelsea in the Premier League and Gloucester in Premiership Rugby. Few sports events get him more excited than Ashes cricket, however.

Lee has followed darts since the good old days of Eric Bristow and John Lowe producing highlight moments at the World Championships on dark winter nights.