The Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters got underway on Friday, with the field whittled down to just 32 players remaining on Tuesday, when the top 16 in the world join the action.
The tiered draw format in Jeddah means the lowest ranked players start in round one and are joined by those higher up the rankings as the event progresses, much like the World Championship.
Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, Zhao Xintong, Ronnie O’Sullivan and the rest of the top 16 begin their campaigns on Tuesday, but there has already been plenty of drama before the biggest names arrive.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh has fired in a maximum, knocking in the fifth 147 of his career in a 4-0 win over Jordan Brown on Sunday.
Youngsters have also shone, with wins for the tour’s youngest professional, 14-year-old Michal Szubarczyk and 16-year-old Lan Yuhao, among others.
The crowds in Jeddah have been poor so far, to the point of being non-existent in most matches, but with the biggest names yet to arrive, tournament organisers will hope and expect this to change.
The winner on Saturday walks away with £500,000, so the tension and drama is only going to ramp up from here on in.
When is the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters?
The event runs from August 8-16 at the Green Halls in Jeddah.
It is an unusual run from a Friday to a Saturday in Saudi Arabia.
How to watch the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters
In the UK the tournament will be shown on TNT Sports and Discovery+.
For how to watch the event elsewhere, click here.
Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters prize money
Winner: £500,000
Runner-up: £200,000
Semi-final: £100,000
Quarter-final: £50,000
Last 16: £30,000
Last 32: £20,000
Last 48: £11,000
Last 80: £7,000
Last 112: £4,000
Last 144: £2,000
147 break: £50,000
Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters schedule
Monday August 11
Round Four
11am
Ben Woollaston vs Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson vs Aaron Hill
Long Zehuang vs Pang Junxu
Stan Moody vs Yuan Sijun
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Jak Jones
Noppon Saengkham vs Oliver Lines
Stuart Bingham vs Sam Craigie
Elliot Slessor vs Lan Yuhao
5.30pm
Steven Hallworth vs Zhou Yuelong
Chang Bingyu vs David Gilbert
Stephen Maguire vs Anthony McGill
Hossein Vafaei vs Martin O’Donnell
Louis Heathcote vs Iulian Boiko
Sanderson Lam vs Joe O’Connor
Wu Yize vs Matthew Stevens
Jamie Jones vs Farakh Ajaib
Tuesday August 12
Round Five
11am
Neil Robertson vs Woollaston/Lisowski
Zhang Anda vs Bingham/Craigie
Mark Selby vs Long/Pang
Judd Trump vs Sanegkham/Lines
Mark Williams vs Moody/Yuan
Ali Carter vs Wilson/Hill
John Higgins vs Slessor/Lan
Shaun Murphy vs Un-Nooh/Jak Jones
5.30pm
Ding Junhui vs Maguire/McGill
Mark Allen vs Chang/Gilbert
Zhao Xintong vs Hallworth/Zhou
Kyren Wilson vs Heathcote/Boiko
Chris Wakelin vs Jamie Jones/Ajaib
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Lam/O’Connor
Si Jiahui vs Wu/Stevens
Barry Hawkins vs Vafaei/O’Donnell
Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters results
Round One
Florian Nuessle 3-4 Dylan Emery
Liam Pullen 4-1 Ahmed Aseeri
Robbie McGuigan 1-4 Gao Yang
Kreishh Gurbaxani 2-4 Reanne Evans
Ross Muir 4-0 Abdulraouf Saigh
Sahil Nayyar 4-1 Habib Subah
Huang Jiahao 4-1 Abdullah AlShammari
Steven Hallworth 4-0 Omar Alajlani
Zhao Hanyang 4-0 Musab Sayegh
Jiang Jun 2-4 Hesham Abdelaziz
Leone Crowley 4-2 Ziyad Alqabbani
Jonas Luz 4-3 Musaad Almisfir
Mateusz Baranowski 1-4 Lan Yuhao
Michal Szubarczyk 4-2 Ryan Davies
Sam Craigie 4-2 Xu Yichen
Liam Highfield 4-0 Mohammed Al Joker
Iulian Boiko 4-2 Liu Wenwei
Ian Burns 2-4 David Grace
Chang Bingyu 4-3 Marco Fu
Ken Doherty 4-1 Jimmy White
Chatchapong Nasa 4-0 Fahad Alghamdi
Mink Nutcharut 1-4 Umut Dikme
Mitchell Mann 1-4 Ashley Hugill
Connor Benzey 4-0 Adeel Aqdus
Farakh Ajaib 4-0 Saud Albaker
Louis Heathcote 4-0 Ayman Alamri
Liam Graham 4-0 Asif Mukhtar
Yao Pengcheng 3-4 Alexander Ursenbacher
Oliver Brown 4-2 Patrick Whelan
Fergal Quinn 4-2 Mahmoud El Hareedy
Hatem Yassen 4-3 On Yee Ng
Mohamed Shehab 4-2 Abdullah Alotayyani
Round Two
Mark Davis 0-4 Sam Craigie
Ben Mertens 4-3 Ross Muir
Stan Moody 4-3 Liam Highfield
Bulcsu Revesz 3-4 Michal Szubarczyk
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 1-4 Lan Yuhao
Antoni Kowalski 4-2 Hesham Abdelaziz
Jordan Brown 4-1 Sahil Nayyar
Cheung Ka Wai 1-4 Huang Jiahao
Chris Totten 0-4 Gao Yang
Aaron Hill 4-1 Leone Crowley
Oliver Lines 4-1 Liam Pullen
Gong Chenzhi 4-2 Dylan Emery
Long Zehuang 4-3 Zhao Hanyang
Amir Sarkhosh 4-0 Jonas Luz
Liam Davies 2-4 Reanne Evans
Michael Holt 3-4 Steven Hallworth
Duane Jones 4-0 Liam Graham
Allan Taylor 4-3 Mohamed Shehab
Haris Tahir 0-4 Farakh Ajaib
Anthony McGill 4-1 Oliver Brown
Liu Hongyu 4-1 Alexander Ursenbacher
Julien Leclercq 4-1 Umit Dikme
David Lilley 3-4 Chatchapong Nasa
Jamie Jones 4-2 Fergal Quinn
Sunny Akani 0-4 Louis Heathcote
Artemijs Zizins 4-3 Ken Doherty
Sanderson Lam 4-0 Connor Benzey
Zak Surety 1-4 Iulian Boiko
Scott Donaldson 3-4 Chang Bingyu
Wang Yuchen 4-0 Hatem Yassen
Haydon Pinhey 0-4 Ashley Hugill
Matthew Stevens 4-1 David Grace
Round Three
Rob Milkins 3-4 Aaron Hill
Xu Si 0-4 Long Zehuang
Gary Wilson 4-3 Gao Yang
Jimmy Robertson 3-4 Steven Hallworth
Pang Junxu 4-2 Amir Sarkhosh
Noppon Saengkham 4-3 Gong Chenzhi
Matt Selt 3-4 Oliver Lines
Jack Lisowski 4-0 Reanne Evans
Lyu Haotian 0-4 Lan Yuhao
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-0 Jordan Brown
He Guoqiang 1-4 Sam Craigie
Ryan Day 2-4 Stan Moody
Elliot Slessor 4-1 Ben Mertens
Yuan Sijun 4-1 Antoni Kowalski
Jak Jones 4-1 Huang Jiahao
Stuart Bingham 4-1 Michal Szubarczyk
Jackson Page 2-4 Iulian Boiko
Daniel Wells 3-4 Chang Bingyu
David Gilbert 4-2 Artemijs Zizins
Lei Peifan 0-4 Louis Heathcote
Robbie Williams 1-4 Matthew Stevens
Wu Yize 4-1 Ashley Hugill
Ben Woollaston 4-1 Chatchapong Nasa
Hossein Vafaei 4-1 Julien Leclercq
Tom Ford 2-4 Farakh Ajaib
Stephen Maguire 4-3 Allan Taylor
Ricky Walden 2-4 Anthony McGill
Fan Zhengyi 3-4 Jamie Jones
Joe O’Connor 4-3 Wang Yuchen
Martin O’Donnell 4-3 Liu Hongyu
Zhou Yuelong 4-1 Duane Jones