Break Stats -- 2025 China Open (9-Ball), September 2025

[AtLarge]

Here are some aggregate break statistics from the 2025 China Open (9-Ball) event played September 10-14 in Shanghai, China with free streaming on wpalive.tv. Wojciech Szewczyk won the event, defeating Dang Jinhu in the final match. The commentator was Mark White.

This was a 64-player event, with a double-elimination stage of 8 groups of 8 players sending 4 players from each group to the Last 32 single-elimination stage. Races were to 9 in the double-elimination stage and to 11 in single elimination.

Conditions -- The conditions for the streamed matches I watched included:

• Rasson Mr-Sung Accura 9-foot table with 4" corner pockets;​

• gray Andy cloth;​

• Aramith Tournament balls with a red-spots cue ball;​

• racking template;​

• referee racks with the 9-ball on the foot spot;​

• alternate breaks from anywhere behind the head string;​

• 3-point break rule in effect -- the break is illegal, and non-breaker has an option to shoot, unless at least 3 object balls cross the head string or are pocketed;​

• jump cues allowed;​

• foul on all balls;​

• 35-second shot clock (60 seconds after the break) with one 25-second extension per player per rack; and​

• lag for first break.​

These stats are for all of the single-elimination matches played on Table 1 (with commentary) -- 126 games in 7 matches. In the order played, these matches were as follows:

Friday, Sept. 12

Max Lechner defeated Zhenqi Xue 11-6 (Last 32)​

Daniel Maciol d. Alex Kazakis 11-8 (Last 32)​

Dang Jinhu d. Alex Pagulayan 11-6 (Last 16)​

Dang d. Stefan Kasper 11-10 (Quarterfinal)​

Sat., Sept. 13

Dang d. Fedor Gorst 11-7 (Semifinal)​

Wojciech Szewczyk d. Daniel Maciol 11-7 (Semifinal)​

Sun., Sept. 14

Szewczyk d. Dang 11-5 (Final)​

Overall results

■ Successful breaks (broke legally, made at least one ball, and did not foul) -- 76% (47 of 62) for match winners, 70% (45 of 64) for match losers, and 73% (92 of 126) in total​

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■ Breaker won the game -- 63% (39 of 62) for match winners, 41% (26 of 64) for match losers, and 52% (65 of 126) in total​

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■ Break-and-run games on all breaks -- 31% (19 of 62) for match winners, 16% (10 of 64) for match losers, and 23% (29 of 126) in total​

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■ Break-and-run games on successful breaks -- 40% (19 of 47) for match winners, 22% (10 of 45) for match losers, and 32% (29 of 92) in total​

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■ Illegal breaks -- 11% (7 of 62) for match winners, 11% (7 of 64) for match losers, and 11% (14 of 126) in total​

Here's a breakdown of the 126 breaks (for match winners and losers combined).

Legal, made at least one ball, and no foul:​

Breaker won the game: 56 (44% of the 126 games)​

Breaker lost the game: 36 (29%)​

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Illegal, made at least one ball, and no foul;​

Breaker won the game: 0 (0%)​

Breaker lost the game: 10 (8%)​

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Fouled:​

Breaker won the game: 0 (0%)​

Breaker lost the game: 1 (1%)​

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Legal, dry, and no foul:​

Breaker won the game: 5 (4%)​

Breaker lost the game: 14 (11%)​

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Illegal, dry, and no foul:​

Breaker won the game: 4 (3%)​

Breaker lost the game: 0 (0%)​

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Therefore, whereas the breaker won 52% of all games (65 of 126),​

He won 61% (56 of 92) of the games in which the break was successful (broke legally, made at least one ball, and did not foul).​

He won 26% (9 of 34) of the games in which the break was unsuccessful (illegal, fouled, or dry).​

Break-and-run games -- The 29 break-and-run games represented 23% of all 126 games, 45% of the 65 games won by the breaker, and 32% of the 92 games in which the break was successful (made a ball, legal, no foul).

With alternating breaks, B&R "packages" of the normal type are not possible. But we can still look at the breaks of a given player and see how many he ran on his own successive breaks, and we can call these "alternate-break packages." The 29 break-and-run games consisted of 5 alternate-break 2-packs (two by Dang and one each by Lechner, Maciol, and Szewczyk) and 19 singles.

9-balls on the break -- None

 

[AtLarge]

Miscellany from the data for the 2025 China Open 9-Ball event
[This relates only to the 7 matches streamed on Table 1 in the single-elimination stage, not to all matches in the event.]

■ The most balls made on a single break was 4, done just once, by Dang in a B&R.

■ The average number of balls made on the break was 1.3 (this includes illegal, dry, and fouled breaks). On successful breaks (legal, made at least one ball, and did not foul), the average was 1.7, and the distribution was 45% 1 ball, 43% 2 balls, and 12% 3 or 4 balls.

■ Number of innings:

• 41% (52 of 126) of the games ended in one inning – 61 games on the breaker's first inning (B&Rs) and 36 games on the non-breaker's first inning.​

• 19% (24 of 126) of the games ended in the second inning.​

• 40% (50 of 126) of the games went beyond the non-breaker's second visit to the table. The game with the most visits to the table ended on the breaker's 8th visit.​

■ 31% (39 of 126) of the games were run out by the player who was at the table following the break. These run-outs were:

• By the breaker after successful breaks (B&R games) – 32% (29 of 92)​

• By the non-breaker after wet but illegal breaks -- 50% (5 of 10)​

• By the non-breaker after fouls on the break – 100% (1 of 1)​

• By the non-breaker after dry breaks – 17% (4 of 23)​

■ The player who made the first ball after the break:

• Won the game in that same inning 55% of the time (69 of 126)​

• Won the game in a later inning 17% of the time (22 of 126)​

• Lost the game 28% of the time (35 of 126)​

■ The match loser won an average of 7.0 games in the 7 races to 11. One match went to hill/hill; the most lopsided was the final match at 11-5.

■ The average elapsed time for these 7 races to 11 was 124 minutes, averaging 6.9 minutes per game. The elapsed time was measured from the first break until the winning ball was made, so it includes time for racking (except for Game 1) and timeouts. Time for the lag and racking the first game was not included, because the players left the arena after the lag and then came back a few minutes later with an introduction. Racking for the first game occurred while the players were out of the arena.

■ The match that was longest in elapsed time, at 155 minutes, was Dang d. Kasper 11-10. The match highest in average minutes per game, at 7.7, was Maciol d. Kazakis 11-8.

■ The match that was shortest in elapsed time, at 93 minutes, and lowest in average minutes per game, at 5.5, was Dang d. Pagulayan 11-6.

■ Breaking fouls numbered just 1 in the 126 games, other fouls averaged 1 for every 7.9 games, and missed shots about 1 for every 1.6 games.

■ One or more safeties were played in about 50% of all games and in 65% of games that were not B&Rs.