Champion of Champions 2025 | Day One Preview and Order of Play
Trump and Murphy feature on the opening day in Leicester (Credit: PA Images)
Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy headline the action as the 2025 Champion of Champions gets under way in Leicester on Monday.
The popular invitational event commences at the Mattioli Arena, where former champions Trump and Murphy are joined in Group Two by Lei Peifan and Women’s World champion Bai Yulu.
Trump continues his record of having appeared at every staging of this tournament since it returned to the calendar in 2013, qualifying courtesy of his UK Championship triumph last December.
The Ace lifted the Champion of Champions trophy in 2021, while his previous 12 appearances have also yielded four runs to the final – most recently two years ago.
Yet, the world number one is still eyeing his first silverware of 2025, having been runner-up to good friend Jack Lisowski in the Northern Ireland Open final just over a fortnight ago.
First up for him will be Bai, who is back for her second appearance at this event, having met eventual winner Mark Williams in the group semi-finals 12 months ago.
The 22-year-old will not be intimated either. She already has three wins to her name on the World Snooker Tour this season, and compiled a break of 145 against Wang Xinzhong at the International Championship last week.
Meanwhile, Murphy looks to record only his second victory in seven matches at the Champion of Champions when he faces Lei.
The Magician was champion of this event in Coventry eight years ago, and has only failed to appear on one previous occasion (2022).
Murphy is in fine form, too, having won the British Open in September and reached the final of the following event at the Xi’an Grand Prix.
His opponent Lei will make his Champion of Champions bow, which he sealed following that remarkable triumph at the Scottish Open last December.
The Chinese defeated Murphy in a deciding frame along the way, also taking down Stuart Bingham and Mark Allen during what remains his only run beyond the last 16 of any ranking event.
The action breaks off at 1pm GMT on Monday with the two group semi-finals, which will be contested over the best of seven frames. The two winners then return at 7pm for a best-of-11 group final at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
WATCH THE 2025 CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS LIVE HERE
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