Welsh Open: Wilson to defend title as O'Sullivan set for return
The 2025 Welsh Open begins on Monday, 10 February, with seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan set to return to action.O'Sullivan, a four-time Welsh Open winner, did not take part in the German Masters, Masters and Championship League, and makes his return against Wales' Jamie Clarke in Tuesday's first-round match.'The Rocket' is joined in the bottom half of the draw by Kyren Williams, Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy, among others, while defending champion Gary Wilson starts his title defence against India's Ishpreet Singh Chadha.Three-time world champion Williams is one of 10 Welsh players in the 64-player competition, with each hoping to become the first Welshman to win the competition since 1999.'The Welsh Potting Machine' won his second Welsh Open title that year, beating Stephen Hendry 9-8 in the final, though the Scotsman got revenge four years later.Amateurs Florian Nuessle, Joshua Cooper and Dylan Emery feature in the first round at Venue Cymru, Llandudno, having won their respective qualifying round games.First round games take place on 10-11 February, with the final on Sunday, 16 February.
Schedule
First Round:Si Jaihui (12) v Jamie JonesMark Selby (5) v Haydon PinheyNeil Robertson (17) v Mark DavisMark Williams (6) v Florian NuesslePang Junxu (24) v Dominic DaleZhou Yuelong (29) v Yuan SijunStuart Bingham (21) v Robbie WilliamsJackson Page (32) v Jimmy RobertsonGary Wilson (1) v Ishpreet Singh ChadhaStephen Maguire (27) v Xu SiRobert Milkins (20) v Wang YuchenElliot Slessor (28) v Liam DavisJohn Higgins (13) v Graeme DottMark Allen (4) v Stan MoodyZhang Anda (9) v Ross MuirTom Ford (16) v Andrew HigginsonShaun Murphy (7) v Ma HailongBarry Hawkins (11) v Sanderson LamRyan Day (26) v Ben MertensWu Yize (22) v Scott DonaldsonLyu Haotian (31) v Joe O'ConnorRonnie O'Sullivan (3) v Jamie ClarkeKyren Wilson (2) v Marco FuMatthew Selt (30) v Ricky WaldenDavid Gilbert (18) v Jordan BrownJak Jones (15) v Matthew StevensChris Wakelin (14) v Michael HoltHossein Vafaei (23) v Fan ZhengyiNoppon Saengkham (25) v Dylan EmeryLuca Brecel (8) v Stuart CarringtonJack Lisowski (19) v Joshua CooperAli Carter (10) v Rory Thor
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