The 2026 Players Championship started yesterday in Telford, without Ronnie. His withdrawal from the event has angered quite a few “fans” but me, I’m not angry, instead I’m puzzled, and even slightly worried, because this is an event that carries a lot of money and ranking points even for the first round losers. So, why pass on the opportunity unless you have serious reasons? Anyway…
John Higgins thrashed Australia’s Neil Robertson 6-1 to make the 155th ranking quarter-final of his career at the Sportsbet.io Players Championship in Telford.
Nobody has ever appeared in more quarter-finals than Higgins. This week marks the 456th ranking tournament in snooker history, meaning that Higgins has reached at least the quarter-finals in a more than a third of them.
The Wizard of Wishaw only just earned a place to compete this week, edging into the 16th seeding position after Ronnie O’Sullivan elected not to enter. It set up a blockbuster tie with Sportsbet.io One Year List leader Robertson.
Last year saw Scotland’s Higgins storm to glory by winning the Tour Championship, but with only the top 12 performers of the season earning a place, he has work to do in order to secure qualification.
An imperious showing from Higgins today saw him fire home breaks of 70, 84 and 133 en route to a comprehensive triumph. Next up this week the 50-year-old will play either Chris Wakelin or Xiao Guodong. Before that Higgins steps into the broadcasting world, working on 5’s coverage this week as a pundit and commentator.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow how I feel about the broadcasting. It is something to fill my days up. I’m at that stage of my life where I’m just looking at four walls when I’m at a tournament. It will be something to try and if I like it great. Nothing ventured and nothing gained,” said 33-time ranking event winner Higgins.
“It will probably be more nerve wracking. When I’m commentating on a game people back home might be saying what is he talking about! We will wait and see tomorrow.
“It would be good to qualify for the Tour Championship, but if I do qualify and do well there I could be adding 70 to 80 frames into the tank going into the World Championship. Someone like myself, maybe doesn’t have the energy for that. If I don’t qualify then who knows, it could end up helping me be a bit fresher.“
On the other table, two-time Players Champion Mark Allen scored a fine 6-3 win over China’s in-form Wu Yize.
The Northern Irishman most recently lifted the title here in Telford back in 2024, when he scored a marathon 10-8 win over Zhang Anda in the final.
Breaks of 51, 78, 73 and 93 helped him to victory this afternoon. He awaits the winner between Mark Selby and Jack Lisowski in the last eight.
Mark Selby scored a 6-3 victory against Jack Lisowski to book a quarter-final showdown with Mark Allen at the Sportsbet.io Players Championship in Telford.
The Leicester cueman is in tremendous form having defended his Championship League title last week. He also claimed a momentous third UK Championship crown before Christmas, beating world number one Judd Trump in the final. Selby is hoping to use that form as a platform to capture a first ever Players Championship title this week.
Selby and Lisowski have historically had a tight head-to-head record, with the latter having won their previous two meetings. Victory for Selby moves him 8-7 up in meetings between the pair.
A tight opening two frames this evening both went the way of four-time World Champion Selby, before a break of 84 moved him 3-0 in front. Lisowski responded in the fourth with a run of 63 to head into the mid-session 3-1 behind.
Selby edged further in front when play resumed, but breaks of 56 and 70 from Lisowski helped keep him in contention at 4-3. A stunning total clearance of 136 stopped the rot for Selby in the eighth and he took the ninth to get over the line and book his meeting with Allen.
“It is tough playing Jack as you know he is going to be very attacking. If you leave a red sticking out he is going to go for it. Depending on what kind of mood he is in, he can pot anything on the table and blow you away. Luckily for me he wasn’t in that frame of mind,” said 42-year-old Selby.
“To be consistent I don’t think you can have that kind of game. I think you need an all-round game. To play that way you need to be playing well and nobody does that every single day. I feel you need a back up game as well but at the same time if you tell Jack to tighten up he wouldn’t be as dangerous. I wish I had the guts to go for some of the balls he does.
“I feel like my game is in good shape. I’m really happy with my season so far, I played well in York and won the Champion of Champions as well. I’ve been consistent since then. I can’t complain with how things are going.”
On the other table, Scottish Open champion Chris Wakelin scored a fine 6-2 win over current back-to-back Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong.
Former Shoot Out winner Wakelin’s victory at the Scottish Open in Edinburgh was a significant one, his first ever triumph in a full format event. In what was a fragmented encounter today, Wakelin showed his top form to get over the line.
With the 33-year-old leading 4-2, he crafted two brilliant breaks of 104 and 101 to get over the line and book a quarter-final meeting with four-time World Champion John Higgins.
John Higgins played well, Neil Robertson was disappointingly poor … basically that summarises that match. As a result, John stays in Telford and will be commentating. It should be interesting… provided you understand what he is saying 🙄. I suppose that most Brits are able to cope with John’s heavy Scottish accent but for non-native English speakers, like me, it’s a serious challenge1. I didn’t watch the other table, but there too the outcome disappointed me.
In the evening came more disappointment for me, but no surprises, Jack Lisowski being … Jack Lisowski.
Both Chinese players involved lost and I can’t help to wonder if, maybe, the fact that yesterday was the Chinese New Year was a factor. Indeed we entered the year of the Fire Horse. It’s an important celebration for them.
Nobody would organise a ranking tournament on Christmas day, or New Years day would they? Of course WST can’t take into account all the celebrations that may be important to some individual player given how many different nationalities are represented, but there are so many Chinese players on the tour nowadays that I feel that, really, this is something they should take into consideration at least when as important as this one.
10 thoughts on “The 2026 Players Championship – Day 1”
Of course, there are people who work weekends in any country. But the majority don’t, and the schedule should try to accommodate the most. However, holding the World Championship final on a Monday sends a very clear message: “snooker is run by the British, for the British”. It’s also the case that events in Europe (i.e. the German Masters) have to start their evening sessions at 8pm, even if that means many locals might be missing the last S-Bahn when a match runs after midnight, such as a best-of-11 semi-final.
Roughly 4M people watched the World Championship final in the UK, around 2% of the global viewing fugure.
I would be surprised if the number of days were so restricted, but then there goes his Eurosport contract too, no? Or has it gone already? But the Players is not a “lesser event” there was a time when he had busted his backside off trying to get in. Btw Trump is playing the Players and everything in the UK and his tax avoiding immigration scheme is the same.
I don’t know if their situation is the same, and when I write I don’t know, it means exactly that: I don’t know. As for the Eurosport contract, it’s probably over. When was the last time he was on Eurosport? I can’t remember, but it’s been a while, or am I wrong?
Obviously we don’t know, it is just an assumption that there cannot be so many different residency/tax rules. You might be right about Eurosport, I haven’t seen any since it’s been hijacked TNT.
I don’t know the details, but my understanding is that there is a strict limit on the number of days that Ronnie can spend in the UK these days because of tax/immigration purposes, and he is making sure to “save” enough of those days for the World Championship. He doesn’t want to “spend” them on lesser events like the Players Championship.
This is partly why, for example, he seems to be spending (much) more time in Ireland than he used to, since Ireland presumably isn’t subject to this limitation.
Indeed Mark, I have read something like that too but, not being familiar with the tax/immigration rules either in the UK or Dubai, I’m not sure about what restrictions (if any) his move to Dubai brings. He and Judd Trump also have (had?) residency in Hong Kong and that din’t seem to bring any kind of restrictions but, of course, historically Hong Kong has strong bond with the UK and a very cosmopolitan, multicultural population.
I suspect holding the World’s final on the May bank holiday is due to BBC and it is a shame that corporations have so much influence on timing sport events. But professional players should focus on their matches and if they prefer to celebrate, it’s better if they don’t show up. But maybe their opponents were just really better, after all there is no rule that the Chinese players should win all there matches and if they don’t, there must be a reason outside the sport.
Btw I don’t think anyone is really angry with Ronnie, rather most wrote him off as a professional player. His refusal to play in the UK is quite ridiculous, especially when he is touting such wonderful countries as Saudi Arabia.
WST, as ‘World Snooker Tour’ can’t take into account regional or denominational holidays, such as Chinese New Year or UK Bank Holidays. In other words the decision to hold the most important day of the snooker calendar on a Monday is a disgrace really. But what they should be doing is to allow a system where players can pick and choose what events they enter without penalty, in terms of ranking.
One of the problems these Players’ Series events have is that if a player turns up to an event, they get £15,000 prize-money even if they lose their first match. So a player who isn’t wanting to prioritise the event or put in practice at this time of year, might still turn up and take the money. It’s just another anomaly in a system riddled with constraints and inconsistencies.
A number of the top players were actually playing exhibitions at Christmas – even someone like Kyren Wilson who you’d think was very family-focused. The New Year may be more important to Chinese players, as they are all from one-child families, and very rarely get to see their families in any case.
I have said this several times too Lewis. As a fan from mainland Europe I had to miss the afternoon session of the final day of the World Championship or take a day off from work, which, BTW, is not always possible depending on your job.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Of course, there are people who work weekends in any country. But the majority don’t, and the schedule should try to accommodate the most. However, holding the World Championship final on a Monday sends a very clear message: “snooker is run by the British, for the British”. It’s also the case that events in Europe (i.e. the German Masters) have to start their evening sessions at 8pm, even if that means many locals might be missing the last S-Bahn when a match runs after midnight, such as a best-of-11 semi-final.
Roughly 4M people watched the World Championship final in the UK, around 2% of the global viewing fugure.
I would be surprised if the number of days were so restricted, but then there goes his Eurosport contract too, no? Or has it gone already? But the Players is not a “lesser event” there was a time when he had busted his backside off trying to get in. Btw Trump is playing the Players and everything in the UK and his tax avoiding immigration scheme is the same.
I don’t know if their situation is the same, and when I write I don’t know, it means exactly that: I don’t know. As for the Eurosport contract, it’s probably over. When was the last time he was on Eurosport? I can’t remember, but it’s been a while, or am I wrong?
Obviously we don’t know, it is just an assumption that there cannot be so many different residency/tax rules. You might be right about Eurosport, I haven’t seen any since it’s been hijacked TNT.
I don’t know the details, but my understanding is that there is a strict limit on the number of days that Ronnie can spend in the UK these days because of tax/immigration purposes, and he is making sure to “save” enough of those days for the World Championship. He doesn’t want to “spend” them on lesser events like the Players Championship.
This is partly why, for example, he seems to be spending (much) more time in Ireland than he used to, since Ireland presumably isn’t subject to this limitation.
Indeed Mark, I have read something like that too but, not being familiar with the tax/immigration rules either in the UK or Dubai, I’m not sure about what restrictions (if any) his move to Dubai brings. He and Judd Trump also have (had?) residency in Hong Kong and that din’t seem to bring any kind of restrictions but, of course, historically Hong Kong has strong bond with the UK and a very cosmopolitan, multicultural population.
I suspect holding the World’s final on the May bank holiday is due to BBC and it is a shame that corporations have so much influence on timing sport events. But professional players should focus on their matches and if they prefer to celebrate, it’s better if they don’t show up. But maybe their opponents were just really better, after all there is no rule that the Chinese players should win all there matches and if they don’t, there must be a reason outside the sport.
Btw I don’t think anyone is really angry with Ronnie, rather most wrote him off as a professional player. His refusal to play in the UK is quite ridiculous, especially when he is touting such wonderful countries as Saudi Arabia.
WST, as ‘World Snooker Tour’ can’t take into account regional or denominational holidays, such as Chinese New Year or UK Bank Holidays. In other words the decision to hold the most important day of the snooker calendar on a Monday is a disgrace really. But what they should be doing is to allow a system where players can pick and choose what events they enter without penalty, in terms of ranking.
One of the problems these Players’ Series events have is that if a player turns up to an event, they get £15,000 prize-money even if they lose their first match. So a player who isn’t wanting to prioritise the event or put in practice at this time of year, might still turn up and take the money. It’s just another anomaly in a system riddled with constraints and inconsistencies.
A number of the top players were actually playing exhibitions at Christmas – even someone like Kyren Wilson who you’d think was very family-focused. The New Year may be more important to Chinese players, as they are all from one-child families, and very rarely get to see their families in any case.
I have said this several times too Lewis. As a fan from mainland Europe I had to miss the afternoon session of the final day of the World Championship or take a day off from work, which, BTW, is not always possible depending on your job.
It’s the same I’m the UK though, just because it’s bank holiday, doesn’t mean you have the day off. It depends on your job