Higgins, Carter book World Open 2025 places with wins in qualifiers, Robertson withdraws

John Higgins booked his place in next year’s World Open with a 5-4 win over Wang Yuchen.

Qualification for the tournament is taking place from December 20 to 22 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, with a host of big names featuring.

Several matches have been held over until the main event, including those featuring defending champion Judd Trump, world champion Kyren Wilson, Ding Junhui and Zhang Anda (the two highest‑ranked Chinese players), four Chinese wildcards, and Ronnie O’Sullivan.

A final-frame battle saw Higgins book his ticket to China in February, as he was made to work extremely hard for the win by Wang.

Higgins hit breaks of 66 and 80 as he clinched the opening two frames before his opponent took the third.

Higgins, with a pair of 50 breaks, secured two more frames before Wang took the seventh and eighth frames.

The 49-year-old was able to put the Chinese player to the sword in the final frame with a break of 76 to secure his place at the tournament.

Elsewhere in matches played on Saturday, Jamie Jones beat Liam Pullen and Noppon Saengkham proved too good for Dean Young.

Ali Carter beat Joshua Thomond 5-4, with Antoni Kowalski and Ben Woollaston also winning their afternoon qualifiers.

The evening session saw Neil Robertson withdraw from his match against Michael Holt, resulting in a walkover for Holt.

Jack Lisowski overcame Belgian Julien Leclercq in the evening as well to ensure his place at the tournament with a 5-3 victory.

Lisowki came from 3-2 behind to win the final three frames, thenfinall two he took with centuries.

Welshman Jak Jones flawlessly beat Allan Taylor without dropping a frame to punch his ticket for a competition he has only qualified for twice in his career.

Saturday, December 21
10:00

• John Higgins 5-4 Wang Yuchen
• Ryan Day 5-2 Marco Fu
• Noppon Saengkham 5-1 Dean Young
• Jamie Jones 5-3 Liam Pullen
• Zhou Yuelong 5-1 Ma Hailong
• He Guoqiang 5-0 Huang Jiahao
• Tian Pengfei 5-1 Yulu Bai

• Ali Carter 5-4 Joshua Thomond
• Ishpreet Singh Chadha 5-4 Dominic Dale
• Antoni Kowalski 5-1 Paul Deaville
• Ben Woollaston 5-2 Simon Blackwell
• Robert Milkins 5-2 Farakh Ajaib
• Anthony McGill 5-0 Reanne Evans
• Lei Peifan 5-4 Anthony Hamilton

• Michael Holt 5-0 Neil Robertson (Robertson withdrawn)
• Jak Jones 5-0 Allan Taylor
• Daniel Wells 3-2 Ross Muir
• Jack Lisowski 5-3 Julien Leclercq
• Martin O’Donnell 1-3 Bulcsu Revesc
• Robbie Williams 4-3 Ian Burns
• Ricky Walden 5-0 Hatem Yassen