International Championship Qualifiers: Higgins, Williams and Murphy Advance as Carter Suffers Shock Defeat
Big Names Navigate Leicester Qualifying, But Carter Falls at the First
The International Championship qualifying round concluded on Saturday at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester, with a mixture of comfortable progressions and notable upsets shaping the field ahead of the tournament's venue stages in Nanjing, scheduled to run from 31 October to 7 November. John Higgins, Mark Williams, and Shaun Murphy — three former world champions with a combined 11 Crucible titles between them — all came through their matches, though not without varying degrees of difficulty.
Higgins, Williams and Murphy Book Their Places
Higgins, who reached the final of the 2025 edition of this event, produced the most commanding performance of the three, dismantling Craig Steadman 6-2 to advance with few alarms. The Scotsman's consistency in ranking event qualifiers has been a hallmark of his longevity at the top of the game, and Saturday's result did little to suggest that is changing. Williams and Murphy were made to work harder, each recording 6-4 victories — the Welshman overcoming Andrew Higginson, while Murphy dispatched Zhao Hanyang to confirm his place in the draw.
The International Championship remains one of only a handful of ranking events on the professional calendar that operates on a flat draw format, meaning every player — regardless of ranking — enters at the round-of-128 stage. That said, a select group of players were afforded the luxury of bypassing the Leicester qualifiers altogether, with their matches held over to the venue stage in Nanjing. Chinese trio Wu Yize, Zhao Xintong, and Ding Junhui all fall into that category, as does world number one Judd Trump, who will enter proceedings in China without having to negotiate the qualifying cubicles at the Mattioli Arena.
Carter's Shock Exit Raises UK Championship Concerns
The headline upset of the qualifying round was unquestionably the elimination of Ali Carter. The Essex potter arrived in Leicester on the back of his triumph at last week's English Open — a result that had understandably lifted confidence and expectations — but was brought sharply back to earth by a 6-2 defeat at the hands of Anton Kazakov. Carter's early exit carries implications beyond this tournament alone: his ambitions of securing automatic qualification for the UK Championship at the Barbican Centre could now be affected, with ranking points from events such as this proving crucial in the race for those coveted spots.
Xiao Guodong represented the highest-seeded casualty of the round, the Chinese player falling 6-4 to Dylan Emery in what will be regarded as one of the more significant results of the day. Jack Lisowski and David Gilbert also exited, both beaten in tight encounters — Lisowski losing to Ashley Carty and Gilbert going down to Wang Xinbo. For Lisowski in particular, who has been searching for consistent form, it is another early setback in a ranking event.
Wilson Survives Scare; Robertson and Selby Impress
Among those to come through without defeat, the margins varied considerably. Neil Robertson, Barry Hawkins, and Chris Wakelin all recorded whitewash victories, the kind of clinical performances that conserve energy and momentum heading into the later rounds. Kyren Wilson was far less comfortable, however, edging past Leone Crowley 6-5 in what must have been an uncomfortable afternoon for the 2024 World Champion. Wilson will be relieved to have avoided an upset, but the manner of the victory will offer little reassurance ahead of Nanjing.
Mark Selby, whose form in recent weeks has drawn considerable attention, continued his resurgent run with a 6-1 demolition of Luo Zetao — a scoreline that speaks to the kind of dominant, relentless snooker that made him a three-time world champion. If Selby maintains this level into the venue stages, he will represent a genuine threat to the leading seeds in China.
Further Results: Other Familiar Faces Progress
Chang Bingyu, Stuart Bingham, Luca Brecel, Marco Fu, and Jimmy White also advanced through the qualifying round. White's progression — reported separately as a particularly dramatic affair — adds a welcome storyline to the tournament's build-up, with the 62-year-old veteran continuing to demonstrate that he retains the competitive instinct, if not always the consistency, to compete at ranking level. Brecel, the 2023 World Champion, will be expected to go deep in Nanjing once the main draw gets underway.
With qualifying now concluded and the full draw beginning to take shape ahead of the Nanjing venue stages, the International Championship looks set to deliver a compelling fortnight of snooker. All results from the qualifying round, per data available via CueTracker and snooker.org, are published in full below.
