John Higgins has climbed five place to eighth place in the the Johnstone's Paint World Rankings with victory at the Weide Cup World Open in China.
The legendary Scot landed his first ranking title in five years by beating Joe O'Connor 10-6 in the final on Saturday. The £175,000 top prize sees Higgins jump from 13th into the top eight. O'Connor banked his biggest ever pay day of £75,000 and he's up eight places to 31st. Zak Surety reached his first ranking event semi-final and he climbs 16 places to 73rd.
On the Johnstone's Paint One-Year list, Higgins leaps 12 places to third with a season-tally of £313,750, behind only Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson and he now looks set to qualify for the Sportsbet.io Players Championship in Telford and Sportsbet.io Tour Championship in Manchester.
Only the top 16 - as it stands at the end of next week's World Grand Prix in Hong Kong - will earn a place in Telford. Ali Carter's run to the semi-finals in Yushan lifted him from 18th to 16th with £143,800. O'Connor is 17th but can't climb any higher as he failed to qualify for Hong Kong. Jack Lisowski is 18th, trailing Carter by £13,200.
With a top prize of £180,000 on offer in Hong Kong, every player in the field has a chance to climb into the top 16 and earn a place in Telford. Follow a blog on our website throughout next week for live updates on that race.
2025 World Grand Prix prize money
Winner: £180,000
Runner-up: £80,000
Semi-finals: £35,000
Quarter-finals: £20,000
Last 16: £15,000
Last 32: £10,000
High break: £10,000
Total: £700,000
There are just three ranking events left in the race to the Crucible, with the top 16 at the end of the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship to earn an automatic place in Sheffield.
Carter is up to 16th, leading Tom Ford by £7,350 but Ford is 23rd on the one-year list so will need a deep run in Hong Kong to qualify for Telford, otherwise he won't be able to add to his tally. Former Crucible kings Neil Robertson and Shaun Murphy are 18th and 19th respectively, both needing to make up ground over the next three events otherwise they will be heading for the World Championship qualifiers.
Trump made five centuries in China to bring his total for the season to 79. He needs 21 more over the next four tournaments to bring his tally into three figures. The first player to make 100 centuries this season will earn a £100,000 bonus.