The opening day of the World Championship sees five matches getting underway across the three sessions of play inside the Crucible Theatre on a day where we will see the defending champion getting his title defence underway as is tradition in this tournament.
That match involving Kyren Wilson will be the only one of the five on show over the course of the day which will conclude with the others all having their second session taking place on Sunday. We should be in for a decent day here.
Kyren Wilson vs Lei Peifan (Saturday 10am & Saturday 7pm)
The opening match of the tournament on table one sees Kyren Wilson getting his title defence underway. Much will be made of the Crucible Curse and he’ll be out to dampen that talk when he goes up against the Scottish Open winner Lei Peifan.
Peifan is a tournament winner which should elevate him in terms of stature but he is also a debutant in this arena and we have seen many players falter in their first appearance in this venue so from that point of view this one is probably all about Wilson. To be fair to Peifan it usually is all about the defending champion on the opening day of this event but quite often the champion comes in here off the back of a bit of a troubled season which isn’t the case with Wilson. He has probably had one of the best campaigns that a world champion has ever had so it would be a surprise were he to lose this. You would think only nerves would get the better of him here, especially as Peifan didn’t exactly fly through qualifying. I’ll leave this one alone.
Xiao Guodong vs Matthew Selt (Saturday 10am & Sunday 10am)
While the defending champion is getting his title defence underway on table one, the Wuhan Open winner will be beginning his campaign on table two when Xiao Guodong goes up against Matt Selt for a place in the second round.
This is a match for the early risers as both sessions of it take place in the opening two mornings of the competition. Guodong has had his best season as a professional by quite some distance and is here as a seed for the first time whereas Selt had to battle through qualifying and while he will be battle hardened he probably needs to find something to come through here, unless the Chinese player stumbles after not being here for seven years. Selt is more than capable of putting up a decent account of himself in this match but this one is all about Guodong for me. With this finishing on Sunday we can afford to take a look at the opening session and see how the state of play sits after that.
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Neil Robertson vs Chris Wakelin (Saturday 2.30pm & Sunday 7pm)
Moving into the afternoon and the match to get underway over on table one is the one between the English Open and World Grand Prix champion Neil Robertson and the International Championship finalist Chris Wakelin in what should be a cracking contest.
Robertson missed out on this tournament a year ago and he will be eager to do a bit of damage on his return to the event but Wakelin is a competent challenger who doesn’t really fear anyone and who has played well at this venue in the past and will fancy his chances of what would be considered an upset if we go by the rankings. Bookmakers have Wakelin a 3/1 shot which is probably a big price because Robertson has an ordinary record in this tournament in recent times and there is no guarantee he’ll offer up his best. He has famously said the venue is too small for him in the two-table setup which isn’t ideal. I’m going to watch the opening session and see how the match begins from a Robertson point of view but I couldn’t put those desperate for a bet off Wakelin as a value punt.
Mark Williams vs Wu Yize (Saturday 2.30pm & Sunday 2.30pm)
Over on table two in the afternoon session we have another former winner of this tournament on show when Mark Williams begins a quest for a fourth world title when he takes on the Chinese sensation Wu Yize.
All eyes will be on Williams’ eyes in this match because he has been suffering a bit with them in the last month or so and his performances have deteriorated as a result of that. We know he’ll give this all he has got but you would have to think that he is vulnerable to a Wu Yize who is a much better player than the one who took a bit of a hiding at the hands of Neil Robertson on his only previous appearance here two years ago. Wu Yize has been to two finals this season and although he didn’t handle the pressure too well in either, he is considered an outsider here which will help and I would probably have him as a favourite here, especially given that he did hold his nerve really well against Matthew Stevens in the final qualifying round. I’m not sure Williams can beat Wu Yize without a long game so the Chinese player looks the bet to me but I’ll watch the first session just to be sure.
Barry Hawkins vs Hossein Vafaei (Saturday 7pm & Sunday 7pm)
While the defending champion Kyren Wilson is concluding his first round match over on table one, one of the more intriguing opening round games will get underway on table two when the former finalist Barry Hawkins meets Hossein Vafaei in a potentially high quality encounter.
Hawkins has been playing really well in 2025 having made the German Masters final before a really strong showing at the Tour Championship where only John Higgins at his best denied him in the last four whereas Vafaei warmed up for the main event with two qualifying wins in which he made seven centuries in the 20 frames that he won so that tells us that he has been putting in plenty of work and that he is in decent form. I wouldn’t be at all surprised were this to be a really close match but I do expect plenty of big breaks and some really good snooker to watch. Vafaei is clearly scoring well at the minute and six of those seven centuries that he made in qualifying were 108 or more so the line on his highest break in this match at 107.5 looks like it is one which can be attacked. The Iranian has covered this line in all three first round matches he has played at this venue and looks good for another big break given his recent scoring form.
Tips
Back H.Vafaei – Over 107.5 break for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Coral
