British Open: 2022 draws, previews and where to watch

The 2022 British Open kicks off on Monday with Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Mark Selby being drawn at Milton Keynes.

The start of the 2022/23 season has been stagnant and this is only the third ranking event so far.

Aside from the eight World Mixed Doubles, there has been no action involving Main Tour players over the past month.

Rust could play a role, and this could open the door for lower-ranked, less-fancy competitors to compete in the Marshall Arena.

Prize・History・Format

The British Open was once a fixture on the main tour schedule, and was held annually from 1985 to 2004 at a variety of popular venues, including the Derby’s Assembly Room and the Plymouth Pavilion.

Most of the star names of the era, including Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Jimmy White, Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams, received prestigious awards.

The latter came off victorious on his return to last year’s tournament, beating Gary Wilson 6–4 in the final for £100,000.

The champion check will remain the same for 2022, and the British Open draw will again be randomized from round to round, although the format has been tweaked slightly.

There was a lot of anger in last year’s short matchup, with an early best-of-five match.

This time, a more traditional format is in operation, requiring 7 frames per roundup to the quarterfinals, increasing to a maximum of 9 frames.

The semi-finals are then contested over 11 frames, with the 19th frame title decider deciding who will land the silverware next Sunday.

2022 British Open Draw.

The FA Cup-style format lends itself to a number of intriguing draw possibilities as the round progresses at Milton Keynes.

Much of the first round has already taken place, with a preliminary stage held in Wigan in August.

The opening match for the top 16 seeds was played at the main venue, where world champion O’Sullivan’s first opponent was Alexander Ursenbacher.

Reigning champion Williams opens the defense against Andres Petrov, while last year’s defeated finalist Wilson takes action against Sean Murphy.

These include Mark Selby’s date with Ricky Walden and the winner’s match of last season’s ranking event between Joe Perry and Hossein Buffay.

Judd Trump’s draw against up-and-coming Chinese star Si Jiahui is another potential conspiracy match to watch.

The likes of Ding Junhui, David Gilbert, Ryan Day and Ng On Yee are already in the second round draw after passing the opening test last month.

Most of the top stars have qualified for the 2022 British Open draw, with Neil Robertson representing the only marquee name who decided to skip the tournament.

last 128

match Withstood:

Mark Allen vs Stuart Carrington
Alexander Asenbacher vs Ronnie O’Sullivan
Ricky Walden vs Mark Selby
Duane Jones vs Barry Hawkins
Sean Murphy vs Gary Wilson
Mark Davis vs Kylen Wilson
Joe Perry vs Hossein Vafay
Anthony McGill vs Wu Yize
Dominic Dale vs Jack Lisowski
Judd Trump vs Xi Jiahui
Yang Bingtao vs Oliver Brown
Bai Lang Ning vs Zhao Xintong
Andy Hicks vs John Higgins
Ray Peifan vs Stuart Bingham
Mark Williams vs Andres Petrov
Graeme Dott vs Luca Bresel

last 64

Jamie Jones vs Elliot Slesser
Zhao/Bai vs Bingham/Ray
Ding Junhui vs Bafai/Perry
Zhang Jiankang vs Jack Jones
David Gilbert vs Liu Haotian
Selby/Walden vs Mark Joyce
Jordan Brown vs Ng Onyi
Craig Steadman vs Ben Martens
Lisowski/Dale vs Mitchell Mann
Higgins/Hicks vs Yuan Shijun
Brecel/Dot vs McGill/Wu
David Grace vs Shu Xi
Dean Young vs Trump/Si
Lee Hung vs Allen/Carrington
Andy Lee vs Yang/Brown
Gerald Green vs Ryan Day
Lu Ning vs Zhou Yuelong
Ben Wollaston vs Williams/Petrov
Tian Peng Fei vs Jimmy Robertson
Robbie Williams vs Lucas Creckers
Anthony Hamilton vs Jamie Clarke
K. Wilson/Davis vs Hawkins/D. Jones
Noppon Senkam vs Fraser Patrick
Chen Ji Hwan vs Ross Muir
John Astley vs Jang Bingyu
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Matthew Stevens
Xiao Guodong vs Peter Lines
O’Sullivan/Asenbacher vs Joe O’Connor
Dylan Emery vs Cao Pi-Peng
Murphy/G. Wilson vs Zhang Anda
Zhao Jianbo vs Ian Barnes
Stephen Hallworth vs Hamad Mia

Where to watch the British Open

Audiences in the UK and Ireland can watch the daily live coverage on ITV Sport, while Eurosport broadcasts the event in the rest of Europe.

Featured photo credits: WST