Draw Made for 2025 JenningsBet British Seniors Open
The draw has been made for the 2025 JenningsBet British Seniors Snooker Open which will take place at Vaillant Live in Derby on 26-28 December.
A star-studded line-up features former world champions Ken Doherty and Stuart Bingham, four-time World Seniors Championship winner Jimmy White and reigning Crucible champion Alfie Burden joined by Matthew Stevens, Dominic Dale, Joe Perry and Anthony Hamilton.
The Draw
Quarter-Finals (Friday 26 December)
Alfie Burden (1) vs. Dominic Dale
Ken Doherty (4) vs. Jimmy White
Matthew Stevens (3) vs. Anthony Hamilton
Stuart Bingham (2) vs. Joe Perry
Semi-Finals (Saturday 27 December)
Burden/Dale vs. Doherty/White
Stevens/Hamilton vs. Bingham/Perry
Final (Sunday 28 December)
Winner of SF1 vs. Winner of SF2
The top half of the draw features arguably the tie of the round as 1997 world champion Ken ‘The Darling of Dublin’ Doherty meets four-times World Seniors champion Jimmy ‘The Whirlwind’ White in a repeat of the 2020 World Seniors Championship final.
Reigning World Seniors champion Alfie Burden, the top seed, meets two-time ranking event winner Dominic Dale in the opening round while former UK and Masters champion Matthew Stevens takes on ‘The Sheriff of Pottingham’ Anthony Hamilton.
Stuart Bingham, the 2015 world champion and JenningsBet’s tournament favourite, makes his World Seniors Snooker Tour debut against ‘The Gentleman’ Joe Perry.
Format
The format for the event is as follows:
Quarter-Finals: Best of 7 Frames
Semi-Finals: Best of 9 Frames
Final: Best of 13 Frames
In an exciting and unique twist, should any match in the event go the distance then the deciding frame will be replaced by a respotted black.
Seniors of Derby Day Announced
World Seniors Snooker (WSS) is proud to once again be teaming up with Age UK for a ‘Seniors of Derby Day’ which will take place on Saturday 27 December.
People who are living alone and vulnerable will be invited to the snooker to meet some of the legends and watch the action live as well as receiving specialist advice on how the city can offer them support.
The initiative is being supported but local businesses who are sponsoring 50 tickets under an ‘Event Angels’ Scheme.
WSS Chairman Jason Francis said: “Research carried out in 2016 shows that over half-a-million people can go five or six days a week without seeing another person. It is clear that, since the COVID pandemic, that number will be a lot higher and so we are proud to be using our events to highlight this important issue.”
Most of the players in the draw still are or were recently on the main tour on merit. This should guarantee a very high standard of play.
I expect the winner to come from the bottom half of the draw, and Stuart Bingham is my pick for the title.
A “super-seniors” event featuring 19 players was also held at the same venue over the week-end. It was won by Andy Milliard who beat Andrew Norman by 2-0 in the final.
Steadman Seals Crucible Return with European Glory
Craig Steadman defeated Mark Joyce 5-3 in the final of the EBSA European Seniors Snooker Championship in Golem, Albania.
Glory in Golem saw the 43-year-old Englishman successfully defend his title and earn a return to the iconic Crucible Theatre for the 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship.
A field of 78 players embarked on the Grand Blue Fafa Resort for the individual Seniors event, organised by the European Billiards & Snooker Association (EBSA), and Steadman made a strong start to his title defence with a clean sweep of victories over Shane Gorman, Olivier Pechenart and Olsi Hysa.
The Englishman, who faced Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Crucible Theatre during his professional career, then overcame Marcin Nitschke (4-1), Kevin Hanssens (4-2) and Gary Thomson (4-2) to set up a semi-final meeting with Wales’ Philip Williams.
Steadman started strongly with visits of 63 and 65, but Williams hit back to restore parity at 2-2 with a break of 60.
Two scrappier frames followed but it was the Englishman who was able to take them and join fellow countryman Joyce in the title match.
Joyce had beaten former world number eight Darren Morgan in the semi-finals and showed excellent scoring form in the final as he made breaks of 110 and 117.
It was Steadman, however, who took home the title after taking the opener with a break of 83 and then never falling behind as he went on to secure a 5-3 victory.
The WPBSA World Seniors Tour 