The 2026 World Grand Prix started in earnest today, with four matches. All the players involved have earned their spot by playing well in the first part of the season which means that they are playing fairly well and only two tables in operation in the early rounds, it’s easy to follow the action. It’s quality and it’s enjoyable.

Given how all those players have earned their spot most matches are “competitive” and there is no real “shock”. Jet-lag though may be a factor in some matches, especially in the early rounds.

Anyway … here is what happened today as reported by WST

Afternoon Session (morning in Europe)

World Grand Prix 2026 Day One – First Session Round-Up

China’s Xiao Guodong enjoyed an impressive 5-2 win over Kyren Wilson in the opening session of the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong, a result which means that the Masters champion will not be in the field for this month’s Players Championship.

Within the past two seasons, Xiao has established himself as an elite performer, winning the Wuhan Open back to back. He showed his quality again on his Masters debut last month when he beat Mark Selby in the first round, and today the 36-year-old collected another scalp with victory over world number two Wilson. 

Despite winning the Masters – snooker’s biggest invitation event – Wilson has struggled in ranking events this season and currently lies 18th on the one-year list. Only the top 16 on that list graduate to the Players Championship in Telford, so he will not get the chance to defend the title he won last year by beating Judd Trump 10-9 in the final.

In the spectacular Kai Tak Arena, Xiao took a 2-1 lead today with breaks of 87 and 86, sandwiching an 83 from Wilson in frame two. Xiao then came from 56-0 down to snatch the fourth frame before adding the fifth on the colours for 4-1. Wilson pulled one back but his opponent sealed the result in the next with runs of 36 and 48.

“It was very hard because Kyren is a top player, I had to keep my concentration as there were a lot of close frames,” said world number ten Xiao, who now meets Ronnie O’Sullivan or Joe O’Connor. “Everything is comfortable for us here – the food, the hotel, the competition, it’s a perfect tournament. I would like to play Ronnie next because he is my favourite player and my idol. But Joe O’Connor is also doing well. Whoever I play, I just keep my focus and try to enjoy it.”

Zhou Yuelong was another Chinese winner, beating Stephen Maguire 5-2 with a top break of 116, and he strengthens his position in the race to Telford as he is currently 16th. 

Elliot Slessor came from 2-0 down to beat Stuart Bingham 5-2, while UK Champion Selby was in blistering form in a 5-0 whitewash of Aaron Hill, compiling runs of 60, 100, 82, 94 and 76.

Evening session (afternoon in Europe)

World Grand Prix 2026 Day One – Evening Session Round Up

Having been tipped by Ronnie O’Sullivan as a future world number one, Wu Yize continued to build his reputation on the opening day of the World Grand Prix as he came from 3-1 down to beat Anthony McGill by 5-3.  

Wu has broken through at the top level this season, winning his first ranking title at the International Championship in November, then reaching the semi-finals of the Masters on his debut last month. 

All-time greatest O’Sullivan, speaking on the eve of this week’s tournament in Hong Kong, said: “I think Wu Yize is going to be world number one, I’d give him three years, he’s definitely going to be World Champion very soon, he’s a phenomenal player. A lot of people liken him to Paul Hunter but I think he’s more like a modern day Steve Davis.

“He’s more dynamic, more cue power, more aggressive, more scoring power but his positional play for me is on the level of Davis. I practised with him for two or three days in Hong Kong not long ago and it’s not until you practise with someone that you can really appreciate how good they are. After day two I thought ‘this kid is really special’. I’d just love to go and see him fulfil his potential as a professional. I expect him to do a lot of great things in snooker.“

From 3-1 down at the interval today, China’s 22-year-old Wu made breaks of 65 and 77 to recover to 3-3. In frame seven he potted 14 reds with blacks and had his sights on a maximum, before narrowly missing a double on the 15th red on 112. He soon wrapped up the result with an 81 in frame eight and now meets Chang Bingyu in the last 16.

Scottish Open runner-up Chang, another rising star from China, edged out Jack Lisowski 5-4. From 3-1 down, Chang recovered to 3-3, then shared the next two before winning a tense decider by clearing from the last red. 

Zhang Anda scored a 5-2 defeat of Mark Williams, compiling runs of 57, 124, 76 and 75. Barry Hawkins enjoyed a 5-3 success against Ding Junhui with a top break of 141, the highest of the event so far. 

Hawkins said: “Any time you beat Ding here with the support he gets is good for confidence. I was all over the place for the first four frames, cueing terribly, I was lucky to be 2-2 rather than 3-1 down. After the interval I was more aggressive and cued a lot better. I have been up and down all season, I want to be consistently getting to the later stages. It only takes one good week, a run here would be perfect timing to set me up for the rest of the season.“

I’m a big fan of Wu Yize. I liked him and the way he plays right from the first time I got to see him at the table. That said, it never came into my mind to compare Wu Yize to Steve Davis, but then, I never got the chance to watch a young Steve Davis play, whilst Ronnie literally “studied” snooker as a youngster watching the Nugget and analysing his game. He would notice, and understand, things that a numpty like me never would, that’s for sure! I just hope that such praise won’t put undue pressure on the young Wu.

All the detailed results are on snooker.org of course

As mentioned on snooker.org but bizarrely missing from the above report, Wu Yize missed the last red on a maximum attempt in frame 7. It wasn’t easy.

A player I also like but rarely fails to disappoint is Jack Lisowski … and he did it again today, He was 3-1 up on Chang Bingyu at the MSI but eventually lost in a deciding frame.😞

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