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Snooker World Championship 2026
clive
Posts: 20,298
World Snooker Championship first-round draw
All first-round matches are best of 19 frames. Seeds are in brackets.
Zhao Xintong (China, 1) v Liam Highfield (England)Ding Junhui (China, 16) v David Gilbert (England)Xiao Guodong (China, 9) v Zhou Yuelong (China)Shaun Murphy (England, 8) v Fan Zhengyi (China)John Higgins (Scotland, 5) v Ali Carter (England)Ronnie O'Sullivan (England, 12) v He Guoqiang (China)Chris Wakelin (England, 13) v Liam Pullen (England)Neil Robertson (Australia, 4) v Pang Junxu (China)Kyren Wilson (England, 3) v Stan Moody (England)Mark Allen (Northern Ireland, 14) v Zhang Anda (China)Barry Hawkins (England, 11) v Matthew Stevens (Wales)Mark Williams (Wales, 6) v Antoni Kowalski (Poland)Mark Selby (England, 7) v Jak Jones (Wales)Wu Yize (China, 10) v Lei Peifan (China)Si Jiahui (China, 15) v Hossein Vafaei (Iran)Judd Trump (England, 2) v Gary Wilson (England)
The first-round matches will be played between Saturday, 18 April and Thursday, 23 April.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/articles/cnv8pzvr1jpo
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Comments
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Cheers Clive, i did listen earlier and there are a lot of good draws. Watching judgement day, shows how good a standard it is today with Zhang Anda getting 5 centuries, Jak Jones 4 etc. so there could be some tricky ones for the seeds.
the 3 youngsters done brilliant to qualify but on paper are the nicer draws, so don't expect any of them to make it through: Pullen, Moody, Antoni Kowalski. All 3 i would add have really grown as players and impressed me a lot in the qualifiers.
Ronnie to face Higgins / Carter is a pretty tough 2nd round, i do feel its probably his last chance, recently he hit some good form before losing to an inspired Un nooh, although Xintong , reigning champ is the man to beat (crucible curse anyone?
I was going to go to judgement day this year but had so much on and can't even think of my next snooker trip, but maybe next year £12 for a whole day full of drama and top snooker, great value imo.
Hard one to call all round , but lets hope its a good one!0 -
Jack Lisowski 's elimination was a surprise imo1
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Would love Robertson to win it again.
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Higgins vs Carter should be a good one. Followed by Ronnie beating the winner.It's years since I've been to the World Snooker. Really must go again some time.0
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Bullrun didn’t make it this year. He was in the semis a couple of years ago.Insane consistency from Higgins, Williams and O’Sullivan
Cant wait for the pundits to start talking about where Ronnie’s head is at this year.
very tough to call the eventual winner. Selby might be worth a punt, but Zhao is the one to beat. He destroyed Higgins the other week in the Tour Championship2 -
My final four are
Zhao
Higgins
Allen
Trump1 -
just done this prediction thing... Registration - Crucible Contest 2026 - Event Prediction
Ronnie or Xintong wins for me, i think Murphy beats Xintong, however if he doesn't he wins the whole thing. Ronnie v Trump final, slight bias probably... but think if anyone beats Xintong it might be Smurph1 -
First round (best of 19 frames)
Saturday, 18 April
10:00
Zhao Xintong (1) v Liam Highfield
Mark Allen (14) v Zhang Anda
14:30
Xiao Guodong (9) v Zhou Yuelong
Mark Williams (6) v Antoni Kowalski
19:00
Zhao Xintong (1) v Liam Highfield *
Barry Hawkins (11) v Matthew Stevens
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Am I the only person that finds the MC, Rob Walker really annoying??!!3
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This lad Moody is a bit good isn't he? Wilson's going to have to use all his nous to get through this round.0
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Saw Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry in Sheffield this Saturday. They had two police men with big guns near them. Seemed over the top to me!
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Needs to work on his shot selection though...Bournemouth Addick said:This lad Moody is a bit good isn't he? Wilson's going to have to use all his nous to get through this round.1 -
Yeah. It was a shame. His inexperience meant he kept trying to pot his way out of trouble when (often quite easy) safety shots were the right option.Bournemouth Addick said:
Needs to work on his shot selection though...Bournemouth Addick said:This lad Moody is a bit good isn't he? Wilson's going to have to use all his nous to get through this round.He must feel like he threw that away. Is he really did have KW on the ropes.1 -
AK-147s?Athletico Charlton said:Saw Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry in Sheffield this Saturday. They had two police men with big guns near them. Seemed over the top to me!6 -
All seeds have progressed so far, which is almost unheard off.
Moody, played a blinder the first sessions, however got found out and his head went once he missed a few sloppy ones and was making poor shot choices, shame as he was brilliant and even Kyren needed a couple visits each time so wasn't quite on it but ultimately got through, cant see him beating Allen in the next on that performance.
Xintong, got away with one too, someone less nervy would have punished him and for a period was the first time i've seen Xintong get affected by the pressure. But still who's not to say that might be the only time still.
Ding looked brilliant, felt he was going to lose with a tough draw and poor form but he played as well as i've seen in years.
I didn't watch much of the tie of the round, Higgins v Carter mainly as would watch the other side. Higgins is going to be a toughie for Ronnie, assuming he gets through (starts today 2.30pm ,finishes tomorrow 2.30pm)
One of my other faves Wu Yize is flying 8-1 against his fellow countryman, on paper i thought it would be a close one as Lei is normally decent and had a good result last year (beating Kyren), tough part of the draw though with Hawkins/Selby/ Trump1 -
Shaky start for Trump but with a blinder of a break it all turned around for him against Gary Wilson to make it 5 - 4 to him at the break.
Ronnie playing now. Poor red missed by him immediately but he got back in again and won the first frame against He Guoqiang, who is wearing a hand/wrist glove protector which I would of thought would give him possibly a slight advantage? Don't know if there's any rules about that...1 -
Well He's glove doesn't seem to be helping. the young Chinese lad looking very nervous on his debut. 5 down at the moment to O'Sullivan0
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Shaun Murphy got away with that one a bit1
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Yep Murphy got away with one there, a good match which looked like going either way the last few frames. In the last Fan was a whisker away but a really good finish/ break from Murphy that didn't look on, only 40 odd but still in the context what a break.
Ronnie, played ok but to be honest you cant really take anything from it as He Guogiang gave him enough chances early on and didn't really test him. The big one potentially next Higgins, well see how his game is at.
Trump did well, could have been 5-2 down, went in 5-4, a bit of fortune and good finishes/ G Wilsons head went a bit and Trump dominated last night to run out 10-5 and looked in good knick towards the end.
A long way to go yet but the seeds have all won so far, which is rare. Will it continue?1
