Xian Grand Prix Snooker Betting Guide

Xian Grand Prix: Final Review

Kyren Wilson overcame Judd Trump 10-8 in a tight, edgy Final and in doing so won his seventh big event and his second event in China.

The first session of nine frames was nip and tuck with neither player able to build up a lead of more than one frame. Both players hit a century and the first session ended with Wilson holding a slender 5-4 advantage.

Trump came out strongly for the evening session winning three of the first four frames to hold the lead at 7-6 at the interval. The next two frames were shared to leave Trump with an 8-7 lead but then Wilson kicked into overdrive winning the next three frames to take the match 10-8, which was the only point either player held a two frame advantage. 

Winning the World Championship appears to have been a major confidence booster to Wilson and he gave off the impression of a player who expected to win, something that may have previously been lacking at times throughout his career. If he continues in this sort of form, many more big titles look sure to follow.

Xian Grand Prix: Final Preview

Final - Best of 19 frames

Kyren Wilson v Judd Trump

Head to Head Record (in matches of best of 7 or more)

• Trump 12 Wilson 8 (including two finals - 1-1)
• Trump has won the last four matches between the two players

Record in Finals

• Since 2020 Judd Trump has played in 21 Finals (won 14, lost 7)
• Since 2020 Kyren Wilson has played 7 Finals (won 2, lost 5)

Judd Trump is unbeaten so far in the 2024/25 season (Won four matches to win Shanghai Masters and has won six matches so far in Xian)

A terrific match to look forward to for the Xian Grand Prix where if Judd Trump were to win he would be winning his ninth big event in China. Trump is on a run of five consecutive wins in finals in China and has not lost a final there since being defeated by Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2017 Shanghai Masters. This will be Kyren Wilson's third final in China - he lost 10-3 to Ding Junhui in the International Championship in 2017 and defeated Trump 10-9 in the 2015 Shanghai Masters.

Judd Trump eased through 6-1 against Daniel Wells in the semi-final but continued this long run without making a century break which perhaps questions how well he has had to play to make the final here. On paper his route to the final looks flawless losing a total of only seven frames in his six matches but if the opposition have been overawed this week so far that seems unlikely to happen with Wilson who is, after all, the current World Champion.

Wilson withstood a Ronnie O'Sullivan fightback in his semi-final going from 5-1 up to 5-4 before closing out the match with a century. That winning break was very impressive considering O'Sullivan had got the match to 5-4 by way of a fluked respotted black and this sent the Xian crowd into raptures. The fact that the crowd were so in favour of Ronnie and that Wilson was seeing his lead slip away could have seen lesser players go on and lose that match but the World Champion was clinical in the final frame. 

Trump and Wilson have had something of a testy rivalry over the years but Wilson seems keen to play that down now and has acknowledged this week what a great player Trump is. 

I like Wilson's demeanour this week and was really impressed with his semi-final win so I'm surprised the bookmakers have made Trump so short to win the final. Wilson definitely looks value at anything around 6/4 or bigger.

Xian Grand Prix: Semi-Final Previews

Semi-Finals: Best of eleven frames

Kyren Wilson v Ronnie O'Sullivan

Head to Head record: 6-3 to O'Sullivan:

• O’Sullivan 5 Wilson 6 UK Championship 2021
• O’Sullivan 5 Wilson 3  World Grand Prix 2020
• O’Sullivan 18 Wilson 8 World Championship 2020
• O’Sullivan 5 Wilson 6 Welsh Open 2020
• O’Sullivan 6 Wilson 5 Shanghai Masters 2019
• O’Sullivan 10 Wilson 9 Champion of Champions 2018
• O’Sullivan 10 Wilson 6 Shanghai Masters 2018
• O’Sullivan 9 Wilson 2 English Open 2017
• O’Sullivan 3 Wilson 4 N I Open 2016
• Three previous matches over 11 frames - all three went to the final frame

• Five of the nine match-ups went to final frame (3-2 to Wilson)

Xian Grand Prix record:

O’Sullivan - Played 32 frames, won 25 with 3 centuries

Wilson - Played 37 frames, won 25 with 4 centuries

A fascinating encounter in prospect between the current World Champion and the man who is almost certainly the greatest player of all time. O’Sullivan has handed out a couple of heavy defeats to Wilson, most notably when overwhelming him 18-8 in the covid delayed 2020 World Final, but the majority of their matches have been close. 

Wilson survived a scare in Round four when coming back from 4-2 down to pip Jimmy Robertson 5-4. That match aside, the World Champion has looked very comfortable and made his way into the semi-final with a straightforward 5-1 defeat of Xu Si.

Matt Selt made O’Sullivan pull out all the stops in their quarter-final with ‘The Rocket’ edging through a tense encounter 5-4. O’Sullivan was far from his best in that match and that might just give the edge in tomorrow’s semi-final to Kyren Wilson.

Judd Trump v Daniel Wells

Head to Head record: 4-1 to Trump:

• Trump 2 Wells 4 Welsh Open 2023
• Trump 5 Wells 1 German Open 2020
• Trump 4 Wells 0 English Open 2019
• Trump 5 Wells 2 China Championship 2017
• Trump 4 Wells 1 Euro Tour 2 2015

Xian Grand Prix record:

Trump - Played 31 frames, won 25 with 0 centuries

Wells - Played 40 frames, won 25 with 0 centuries

The strangest stat for the Xian Grand Prix must surely be that Judd Trump has played 31 frames so far in the whole event but is yet to make a century. It would be difficult though to say Trump hasn’t played well given that he has only dropped six frames in five matches but perhaps the fact that he hasn’t been scoring at his devastating best will give Daniel Wells some hope in tomorrow’s second semi-final. 

Wells has got to the semi-final stage twice before but is yet to make it all the way to a final. (He lost 6-5 to Mark Allen in the 2018 Scottish Open and 4-1 to Anthony Hamilton in a Euro Tour event in 2010). Playing Judd Trump will feel like a major step-up on Wells’ recent form but this could be a bridge too far particularly as if he was to beat Trump he would have a chance of playing Ronnie O’Sullivan. 'The Rocket' was in his role as pundit for Eurosport at last year’s Welsh Open when he said this about Wells; "he is never going to be a tournament winner, he is just not good enough" and "he should just stay as a part-time player, irrelevant of how well he does". Wells responded by saying O’Sullivan’s comments were “damaging” and that he "should engage his brain a bit more and think about other people". Obviously he has the huge hurdle of Trump to overcome first but I just wonder if the prospect of possibly playing O’Sullivan in the final and all the press coverage that would go with that will be too distracting for Wells. The Welshman can take positivity from the fact that he beat Trump the last time they played but Trump has won comfortably on the other four occasions they have met. 

It would be great to see Wells make the final here but I suspect it will be a comfortable victory for Trump.

Semi-Final Results 

Kyren Wilson 6 Ronnie O'Sullivan 4 

Judd Trump 6 Daniel Wells 1

Quarter Finals Draw and Preview

Four of the eight Round Four matches went down to final frame deciders but with some heavy favourites in the quarter-finals, the bookmakers feel the match-ups may not be quite so close today.

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Matt Selt (7am UK time)

Surprisingly, these two veteran players from Essex have only played each other twice in regular tournaments with O'Sullivan coming out a comfortable winner on both occasions - 6-0 in the UK Championship of 2014 and 4-2 in the Scottish Open in 2016. O'Sullivan has only dropped three frames in his four matches here in Xian and the bookies make him a strong favourite to overcome Selt and make his way into another semi-final. Selt has scrapped his way to this stage by virtue of a couple of final frame deciders and the fact that the man from Romford has only hit three breaks over 50 in the twenty-five frames he has played here indicates that he likes to keep frames tight. He could frustrate O'Sullivan if he makes the frames scrappy so this match could be closer than it at first appears. 

Kyren Wilson v Xu Si (7am UK time)

Xu Si's nerves must be in shreds after completing three consecutive 5-4 victories to make it to the quarter-final. He came back from 4-2 down in the last round to pip Mark Williams and had previously beaten another former World Champion in Stuart Bingham in round two. He now faces the current World Champion, Kyren Wilson, who also came from 4-2 down to overhaul Jimmy Robertson in the last round. This pair have played three times previously with 4-0, 4-1 and 5-1 victories for Wilson but Xu is maturing as a player and he can definitely give the World Champion a close match this time around.

Judd Trump v David Gilbert (12.30 UK time)

Trump leads the head to head here 8-5 but the last four meetings have been shared. Gilbert held off a Mark Selby fightback in the last round, winning a final frame decider after being 4-2 up. Gilbert has been revitalised since making the World Championship semi-final last season and is yet to be defeated so far in the 2024/25 season. Judd Trump has been dominating his opponents so far here dropping just four frames in his four matches but, surprisingly, is yet to make a century break. The bookies continue to underestimate Gilbert's strong current form and he could shock the tournament favourite.

Daniel Wells v Barry Hawkins (12.30 UK time)

Daniel Wells reached his fourth career quarter-final with a 5-1 victory over Dominic Dale and now faces European Open Champion, Barry Hawkins. 'The Hawk' swooped to defeat current World Number One, Mark Allen, 5-3 in the previous round but that was a scrappy match and Wells will be buoyed by the fact that he has defeated Hawkins the last two times they have played. This could be close unless Hawkins improves from yesterday's performance.

Quarter-finals Best of nine frames

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Matt Selt 5-4

Kyren Wilson v Xu Si 5-1

Judd Trump v David Gilbert 5-2

Daniel Wells v Barry Hawkins 5-3

Round Four Draw and Preview

Round Four sees two old rivals squaring up once again when Ronnie O'Sullivan plays Hossein Vafaei. The two players have played six times before with the score 4-2 in favour of the seven-times World Champion. Vafaei did win their last meeting (5-4 in the World Open) and also is one of the few players to record a whitewash against The Rocket when beating him 5-0 in a qualifying round for the German Masters in 2022. Vafaei was unhappy with the way O'Sullivan played with little interest in that match and resorted to smashing the reds at the break off to try and get the game finished. A war of words then broke out with Vafaei saying O'Sullivan "should retire" and that "he is a nice person when he is asleep". The Iranian player also accused O'Sullivan of making excuses when he gets beat. O'Sullivan responded by saying that when people criticise him it "fires me up' and he subsequently beat Vafaei 4-1, 13-2 and 6-2 in their next three meetings. It will be interesting to see how Thursday's match pans out give the history between the two players but a comfortable victory for O'Sullivan looks the play.

Another mouthwatering match-up in Round Four is the repeat of this year's World Championship quarter-final when Judd Trump lost 13-9 to the unfancied outsider, Jak Jones. Jones went on to lose to Kyren Wilson in the World Final and Trump will surely want to play better than he did when the pair last met. Trump has dropped just one frame in his two matches so far in Xian whereas Jones survived a final-frame decider against Trump's good friend, Jack Lisowski. 9/1 about a 5-0 victory for Trump looks like attractive odds.

A rejuvenated David Gilbert is unbeaten so far this season despite having to play with the very painful nerve condition, sciatica. Gilbert has comfortably dispatched Jordan Brown and Gary Wilson in Xian and now lines up against four-time World Champion, Mark Selby. Selby has been questioning his future in snooker but made it to the semi-final in Shanghai and showed all his famous tenacity when winning a gruelling final frame battle in Round Three here over Pang Junxu. Nevertheless, if Gilbert is not too distracted by his medical problems he could be a value bet to overcome Selby.

World number one, Mark Allen, faces Barry Hawkins and will clearly remember the last time the two faced off against each other when Hawkins won 6-0 in the 2023 Masters. The head to head in meaningful matches between the two players is 7-5 to Allen but the games are usually close so we can hopefully expect another good match tomorrow. A hard match to call but perhaps Allen to come out on top in a close game.

Round Four: Best of nine frames

Kyren Wilson v Jimmy Robertson 5-4

Mark Williams v Xu Si 4-5

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Hossein Vafaei 5-0

Gong Chenzhi v Matt Selt 4-5

Judd Trump v Jak Jones 5-1

David Gilbert v Mark Selby 5-4

Dominic Dale v Daniel Wells 1-5

Barry Hawkins v Mark Allen 5-3

Xian Grand Prix: Outright Preview

The inaugural Xian Grand Prix will take place at the Qujiang E-sports Centre in the North Central area of China between the 19th and 25th of August.

This new ranking event is worth £177,000 to the winner with a total prize fund of £850,000.

All matches will be over nine frames, up to and including the quarter-finals. The semi-finals will be played over eleven frames and the final will be played over two sessions and nineteen frames.

Ronnie O'Sullivan is the bookmakers' favourite to win his fifth major title in China since 2015:

Judd Trump is challenging O'Sullivan for favouritism having won four of the last big events played in China. In 2024, Trump has won both events played played in China; the World Open and the Shanghai Masters.

Twenty-three time ranking event winner, Neil Robertson, is looking to bounce back from a poor season last year which has seen him drop to number twenty-seven in the world. The Australian Triple Crown winner is without an event win since 2022 but has looked sharp in the early part of the season and is yet to lose in his six matches so far in this campaign. 

World number one Mark Allen admitted to feeling a bit rusty after losing a marathon five-hour opening match to his season when going down 6-5 to Pang Junxu in the Shanghai Masters. Allen has stated he is determined to hang on to his position at the top of the World Rankings so we should expect a much improved performance form the Northern Irishman here in Xian. 12/1 looks a fair price.

Four-time World Champion Mark Selby has a great previous record in China with six big tournament wins since 2015 but the man from Leicester has been unhappy with his recent form which saw him lose in the first round of last season's World Championship to Joe O'Connor and another recent defeat in qualifying for Wuhan Open. Retirement has been mentioned but after crunch talks with his wife Selby has decided to pursue a more selective approach to his season this time around. He did make the semi-final in the Shanghai Masters in July but with his form so inconsistent he makes very limited appeal at odds of around 12/1 for victory in this event.

Current World Champion Kyren Wilson is up to number three in the world but new World Champions often struggle with the expectation and limelight that comes with that title. Wilson has played in one big event this season so far and suffered a 6-0 defeat in Shanghai so hard to know how he will perform this time around but 18/1 looks a fair price about Wilson bouncing back to form.

Home favourite Ding Junhui is back in the top eight in the world thanks to making two big finals (World Open and UK Championship) but it is nearly five years since he lifted a trophy. Quotes of 20/1 will appeal to only Ding's biggest fans.

Xian Grand Prix: Draw and Results (up to and including Round Three)

The qualifying round for the Xian Grand Prix took place at the Mattoli Arena in Leicester between the 25th and 27th of July.

There were three high-ranking players who did not make it through qualifying:

• Robert Milkins (lost 5-3 to Dean Young)
• Ali Carter (lost 5-4 to  Daniel Wells)
• Luca Brecel (failed to turn up for his match)

Nine qualifying matches were held over to the main venue:

Best of nine frames:

Kyren Wilson v Haris Tahir 5-2

Stuart Bingham v Zhou Jinhao 5-1

Ding Junhui v Alfie Burden 4-5

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Wang Yuchen 5-0

Zhang Anda v Oliver Lines 5-1

Graeme Dott v Ma Shaojun 5-2

Mark Selby v Wang Xinbo 5-3

Jamie Clarke v Cao Jin 5-0

Mark Allen v Liu Hongyu  5-2

Second Round Draw

Best of nine frames:

Kyren Wilson v He Guoqiang 5-2

Anthony McGill v Ricky Walden 3-5

John Higgins v Sunny Akani 4-5

Dean Young v Jimmy Robertson 4-5

Elliot Slessor v Chris Wakelin 2-5

Mark Davis v Mark Williams 2-5

Jamie Jones v Stuart Bingham 3-5

Xu Si v Alfie Burden 5-4

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Bulcsu Revesz 5-2

Neil Robertson v Yuan Sijun 2-5

Zhang Anda v Graeme Dott 2-5

Hossein Vafaei v Dylan Emery 5-3

Amir Sarkhosh v Si Jiahui 3-5

Gong Chenzhi v Tom Ford 5-1

Matt Selt v Joe O'Connor 5-4

Zak Surety v Hammad Miah 3-5

Judd Trump v Ma Hailong 5-0

Lyu Haotian v Artemijs Zizins 5-2

Jak Jones v Tian Pengfei 5-3

Jack Lisowski v Joe Perry 5-2

Jordan Brown v David Gilbert 2-5

Ben Mertens v Gary Wilson 1-5

Paul Deaville v Pang Junxu 0-5

Mark Selby v Aaron Hill 5-0

Shaun Murphy v Jamie  Clarke 5-0

Noppon Saengkham v Dominic Dale 3-5

Daniel Wells v Julien Leclercq 5-3

Zhou Yuelong v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 2-5

Matthew Stevens v Ryan Day 2-5

Barry Hawkins w/o Scott Donaldson

Xiao Guodong v Stephen Maguire 5-1

David Lilley v Mark Allen 1-5

Round Three: Best of nine frames

Kyren Wilson v Ricky Walden 5-3

Sunny Akani v Jimmy Robertson 3-5

Chris Wakelin v Mark Williams 2-5

Stuart Bingham v Xu Si 4-5

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Yuan Sijun 5-1

Graeme Dott v Hossein Vafaei w/o

Si Jiahui v Gong Chenzhi 3-5

Matt Selt v Hammad Miah 5-2

Judd Trump v Lyu Haotian 5-1

Jak Jones v Jack Lisowski 5-4

David Gilbert v Gary Wilson 5-3

Pang Junxu v Mark Selby 4-5

Shaun Murphy v Dominic Dale 2-5

Daniel Wells v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-4

Ryan Day v Barry Hawkins 3-5

Xiao Guodong v Mark Allen 2-5

Round Four: Best of nine frames

Kyren Wilson v Jimmy Robertson

Mark Williams v Xu Si

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Hossein Vafaei

Gong Chenzhi v Matt Selt

Judd Trump v Jak Jones

David Gilbert v Mark Selby

Dominic Dale v Daniel Wells

Barry Hawkins v Mark Allen