Davies Stuns World Champion Wu Yize to Reach First Ranking Quarter-Final at English Open

The Dream Run Continues

Liam Davies is living every young snooker player's fantasy right now. The 20-year-old Welshman knocked out reigning world champion Wu Yize on Thursday at the English Open in Brentwood, booking his place in the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the very first time. It is a result that would have seemed almost unthinkable just a few months ago when Davies was grinding through Q School wondering whether he had a future on the main tour at all.

Davies produced a genuinely impressive performance to see off the Crucible champion, highlighted by a classy 105 break in the second frame. For a player seeded outside the top 100 in this Home Nations Series event, to have come through the qualifiers and now reach the last eight — beating a world champion along the way — is the kind of story that makes snooker worth following. Speaking to World Snooker Tour after the match, Davies was refreshingly honest about just how surreal the whole experience feels: "It's kind of like a dream. You're waiting to wake up all the time, but it's great and it's such a good feeling."

From Q School to the Quarter-Finals

Context matters here. Davies only regained his tour card in May after graduating from Q School — that brutal proving ground where careers are made and broken in equal measure. He admitted the pressure of that process weighs heavily on young players: "You put so much pressure on yourself to win and keep your tour card. But when you fall off and get back on, it feels like that's just gone." That psychological reset appears to have been genuinely transformative. Davies arrived at the 2026 English Open already carrying some eye-catching scalps — wins over Ding Junhui, Barry Hawkins, and Gary Wilson had already signalled that this was a player hitting his stride early in the 2026/27 season. Adding Wu Yize to that list is something else entirely.

What stands out is the composure. Beating a world champion at any stage of a ranking event demands nerve, but doing it in your first appearance at this level of a tournament, having come through qualifying, speaks to a mentality that goes well beyond his years. Davies is right that Q School teaches you things about yourself that comfortable tour membership simply cannot — and whatever lessons he absorbed, they appear to be paying dividends immediately.

The Quarter-Final: Davies vs. Mark Williams

If Davies thought beating the world champion was a tough ask, his next assignment is hardly a gentle step down in difficulty. Standing between him and a first ranking semi-final is Mark Williams — three-time world champion, Welsh snooker legend, and a man chasing his 28th ranking title. Williams eased through his last-16 match, dismissing Barry Hawkins 4-1 to set up this all-Welsh clash. It is a wonderful storyline: the grizzled veteran against the bright-eyed newcomer, both flying the Welsh flag in Essex.

Williams remains a formidable operator at this level, and bookmakers will almost certainly have him as the clear favourite to progress. Davies, for all the romance of his run, is stepping into genuinely uncharted waters here. The experience gap between the two is enormous — Williams has won major titles across three decades of professional snooker, while Davies is still getting used to competing on these stages week in, week out. However, form is form, and a player who has already beaten Wu Yize this week is not someone you can entirely dismiss.

Elsewhere in the draw, the bottom half throws up another mouth-watering tie, with former world champions Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy set to meet in what looks like the standout quarter-final of the round.

The Bigger Picture

Whatever happens against Williams, Liam Davies has already made this English Open one to remember. A run from the qualifiers to the last eight, with wins over a world champion and several established tour players, will do his ranking considerable good and — perhaps more importantly — his confidence immeasurable good. He put it perfectly himself: "It feels like you are doing your family and friends proud." At 20 years old, having clawed his way back onto the tour through Q School just months ago, Davies is producing the kind of performances that suggest this will be far from his last deep run in a ranking event.

Please gamble responsibly. Visit BeGambleAware.org or call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133. Only bet what you can afford to lose.