World Grand Prix Snooker 2025 | Quarter-Finals Preview and Order of Play

Jonathan Davies in World Grand Prix 7 March 2025

Left arrow

Record-breaking Higgins into World Grand Prix quarters after Wilson win

Right arrow

Bingham topples Trump as Robertson fightback stuns Murphy

Trump and Vafaei collide in Hong Kong on Friday (PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo)

Judd Trump resumes his quest for a record-breaking fourth World Grand Prix title against Hossein Vafaei in the quarter-finals on Friday.

The world number one headlines a stellar last-eight line-up at the Kai Tak Arena in Hong Kong, featuring six former World champions.

Trump – a runner-up in each of the last two years – returns to action having received a bye in the second round, after opponent Jack Lisowski was forced to withdraw from the tournament for personal reasons.

It will be the 100th ranking quarter-final of his career with the Ace aiming to build on his 4-2 opening-round win over Gary Wilson, in which he made breaks of 142 and 95.

Now a resident in Hong Kong, Trump looks to remain on course to land his fourth silverware of the season on what is effectively home soil.

Standing in his way in the last eight is Vafaei – a player who only received a late call-up following the withdrawal of Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Despite struggling with a spinal injury, the Iranian has certainly capitalised on his unexpected opportunity, coming through deciding frames against Si Jiahui and Xu Si to reach his first quarter-final of the season.

Like Trump, Mark Selby is also set to appear in his 100th ranking quarter-final, with the Jester taking on Stuart Bingham in a battle of the former World champions.

The winner of this season’s British Open, Championship League and Welsh Open, Selby has beaten Jackson Page and Jimmy Robertson so far this week. Meanwhile, Bingham has recorded a pair of 4-2 wins over Mark Williams and Wu Yize – recovering from 2-0 down against the latter – to seal his first appearance in the last eight of any event this term.

A good omen for Selby is the fact he has gone on to win the respective tournament following his last three victories over Bingham in ranking events; doing so at the 2021 World Championship, 2020 European Masters and 2016 International Championship.

Elsewhere, another showdown between two former Crucible kings pits John Higgins against Shaun Murphy, with the players meeting for the third time this season.

Higgins is appearing in a record-breaking 147th ranking quarter-final. After edging out Ali Carter 4-3 in round one, the Wizard hit breaks of 143, 100, 92 and 74 on the way to a 4-2 victory over reigning World champion Kyren Wilson.

Murphy, who lifted this trophy in 2016, has beaten Ben Woollaston and Barry Hawkins to stay on course for a second title, and the Magician was a 4-0 winner when he met Higgins in last year’s World Grand Prix.

The round’s other tie sees Neil Robertson play Xiao Guodong, with both players appearing in their seventh quarter-finals of the season.

English Open champion Robertson, who won this title in 2020, has only dropped a single frame in beating Yuan Sijun and David Gilbert. Meanwhile, Wuhan Open winner Xiao has come through two deciders against Jak Jones and Lei Peifan, hitting five centuries along the way.

Interestingly, too, the Chinese has prevailed in both previous World Grand Prix meetings between the players, in 2019 and 2023.

Play gets under way at 5am GMT on Friday with all matches contested over the best of nine frames at the Kai Tak Arena in Hong Kong.

WATCH ALL WORLD GRAND PRIX MATCHES STREAMED LIVE HERE

18+ | T&Cs Apply | Geo restrictions may apply | Be Gamble Aware