Overview
- Jonny Clayton advanced to the third round by walkover after Dom Taylor failed a drugs test and was removed from the tournament, leaving seven matches on the Day 10 slate.
- Saturday’s order of play features Ryan Searle vs Brendan Dolan, Andreas Harrysson vs Motomu Sakai, Dirk van Duijvenbode vs James Hurrell, and Dave Chisnall vs Ricardo Pietreczko in the afternoon.
- The evening session lists Michael Smith vs Niels Zonneveld, Chris Dobey vs Andrew Gilding, and Stephen Bunting vs India’s Nitin Kumar.
- This year’s event uses an expanded 128-player draw at Alexandra Palace, with international breakthroughs including first-round wins by Nitin Kumar and Japan’s Motomu Sakai, though none of the five female entrants progressed.
- After Saturday’s play, the championship pauses for Christmas and resumes December 27–30 for rounds three and four, with the quarter-finals to final set for January 1–3; defending champion Luke Littler is slated to play David Davies on Sunday.