The 2023 Wuhan Open (officially the 2023 Panda Club Wuhan Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 9 to 15 October 2023 at the Wuhan Gymnasium in Wuhan, China. The fifth ranking event of the 2023–24 season, it followed the 2023 English Open and preceded the 2023 Northern Ireland Open. The inaugural edition of the Wuhan Open, it was the second professional snooker tournament (following the invitational 2023 Shanghai Masters) and the first ranking event held in mainland China since the 2019 World Open, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was broadcast domestically in China by CCTV-5 and in Europe (including the UK) by Eurosport and Discovery+. It was available from Matchroom Sport in all other territories. The winner received £140,000 from a total prize fund of £700,000.
Qualifiers took place from 1 to 5 September at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England. Qualifying matches featuring the top two players in the world rankings (Ronnie O'Sullivan and Luca Brecel), the two highest ranked Chinese players (Ding Junhui and Zhou Yuelong), and four Chinese wildcards were held over to be played in Wuhan. The reigning world champion Brecel withdrew in advance of the tournament's main stage, as did Mark Williams, Graeme Dott, and David Gilbert.
Judd Trump won the tournament, defeating Ali Carter 10–7 in the final to secure the 25th ranking title of his career, which put him level with Williams in joint fifth place on the all-time list. Having claimed the English Open title the previous week, Trump won back-to-back ranking events for the fourth time in his career. He became the third player in snooker history to win back-to-back ranking tournaments in different countries, after Stephen Hendry in 1990 and Williams in 2002.
The qualifiers in Leicester produced 32 centuries and the main stage in Wuhan produced 69 centuries. The highest break prize was shared by Aaron Hill, who made a 145 break in his qualifying match against Joe Perry, and Carter, who made a 145 in his last-64 match against Jamie Clarke.
Format
The tournament, the inaugural edition of the Wuhan Open, took place from 9 to 15 October 2023 at the Wuhan Gymnasium in Wuhan, China. It was the fifth ranking event of the 2023–24 season, following the 2023 English Open and preceding the 2023 Northern Ireland Open. it was the second professional snooker tournament, following the invitational 2023 Shanghai Masters, and the first ranking event held in mainland China since the 2019 World Open, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
All matches up to and including the quarter-finals were best of nine frames. The semi-finals were best of 11 frames, and the final was best of 19 frames.
The event was broadcast domestically in China by CCTV-5, Migu, Youku, and Huya Live and in Europe (including the UK) by Eurosport and Discovery+. It was available from Matchroom Sport in all other territories.
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this event is shown below:
Winner: £140,000
Runner-up: £63,000
Semi-final: £30,000
Quarter-final: £16,000
Last 16: £12,000
Last 32: £8,000
Last 64: £4,500
Highest break: £5,000
Total: £700,000
Summary
Qualifying round
Qualifying for the event took place from 1 to 5 September at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England.
He Guoqiang trailed by 62 points in the deciding frame against eighth seed Kyren Wilson, but made a 64 clearance to win 5–4. The 24th seed Joe Perry was whitewashed 0–5 by Aaron Hill, who made a 145 break in the fifth frame, the joint highest of the tournament. The 19th seed Anthony McGill lost 4–5 to Ishpreet Singh Chadha, who won the deciding frame on the final black ball. Other top 32 seeds who lost out during qualifying were Shaun Murphy(7), Hossein Vafaei(17), Gary Wilson(18), Ricky Walden(20), Jimmy Robertson(28), and Fan Zhengyi(31) who were beaten by Ben Mertens, Marco Fu, Ashley Carty, Ian Burns, Rod Lawler, and Stuart Carrington respectively.
Neil Robertson made his 900th century break in professional competition (a 137) in his match against fellow Australian Ryan Thomerson. He became the fourth player in professional snooker history (after Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins, and Judd Trump) to reach the 900-century milestone.
Early rounds
The reigning world champion Luca Brecel withdrew prior to the main stage in Wuhan, as did tenth seed Mark Williams, Graeme Dott, and David Gilbert. Gilbert was replaced in the draw by Daniel Womersley. Due to time and visa constraints, the other players' opponents received walkovers.