World Championship 2025: Top 16 finalised as Ronnie O'Sullivan seeding boosted by Mark Williams exit at Tour event

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The top 16 seeds for the World Championship have been finalised with a quarter of the final positions for the 49th Crucible settled after day two of the Tour Championship in Manchester. Last season's runner-up Jak Jones will be the 16th seed with Masters champion Shaun Murphy 15th. World champion Kyren Wilson was already assured of top spot with world No. 1 Judd Trump in second.

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The final seeding list for the 49th World Championship later this month has been finalised after Xiao Guodong defeated Wu Yize 10-8 in the first round of the Tour Championship.

World No. 22 Wu needed to reach the final of the season's penultimate ranking event in Manchester to reach the top 16, but an exit in the first round to his compatriot means the English and Scottish Open finalist must now negotiate two qualifying rounds in Sheffield to reach the Crucible.

With Wu out of the running, last season's world finalist Jak Jones, who lost 18-14 to Kyren Wilson, has been confirmed as 16th seed with Masters champion Shaun Murphy secure as 15th seed despite his 10-1 drubbing by Barry Hawkins at the Tour event.

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World champion Wilson was always going to be top seed as defending champion with runaway world No. 1 Judd Trump guaranteed to be second seed.

Mark Selby is in line to be third seed after his 10-6 win over Si Jiahui in the first round of the Tour Championship on Tuesday night.

Selby's fellow four-time world champion John Higgins would need to claim the Tour title to have a chance of dislodging Selby from third spot, and requires a run to the final to overtake Ronnie O'Sullivan as fourth seed at the Crucible.

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O'Sullivan's standing was boosted by 2016 Crucible runner-up Ding Junhui's 10-3 win over Mark Williams, who needed a victory to move above the seven-time world champion into fourth spot.

The Welshman, who is playing with contact lenses for the first time, will be seeded fifth unless Higgins reaches the final or Neil Robertson claims the Tour Championship trophy and £150,000 first prize.

"I will stick with them [the contact lenses]," said the three-time world champion Williams. "But whoever qualifies for the World Championship will be praying they draw me in the first round.

"But Ding was very good, he outplayed me."

Xiao is seeded 14th, but could move as high as 11th if he follows up his Wuhan Open triumph with a second ranking title success of the season on Sunday night.

O'Sullivan has not played a ranking event since losing 6-4 to Hawkins in the first round of the UK Championship in York in November, and has yet to reveal if he will chase a record eighth title in Sheffield this year.

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Depending on the timing of any O'Sullivan announcement, world No. 17 Gary Wilson could yet earn the 16th seeded spot for the last-32 draw - unless the final two qualifying rounds are already underway, which would give O'Sullivan's prospective opponent at the Crucible a bye to the round 16.

All matches are the best-of-19 frames in World Championship qualifying, staged between April 7-16 at the English Institute of Sport, before the last 32 compete at the Crucible between April 19-May 5, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.