The first day at the 2026 Northern Ireland Open brought quite a few surprising results. I don’t want to use the word “shock” because the general level on tour is much better than it was a few years back and these are short matches. Here are the reports shared by WST:
BetVictor Northern Ireland Open 2026 Day One Afternoon
Playing as defending champion for the first time in his career, Jack Lisowski battled to a 4-1 win over Huang Jiahao in the opening round of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open in Belfast.
Lisowski enjoyed his greatest moment on the baize a year ago when he beat Judd Trump 9-8 in a dramatic final at the Waterfront Hall, landing his first ranking title, and he admitted last week that returning to the scene would bring back emotional memories. He looked nervous at times against Huang, but did enough to reach the last 32 where he will meet Anthony McGill, a 4-1 winner in a Glasgow derby against Stephen Maguire. World number 18 Lisowski has reached just one quarter-final so far this season but hopes the Belfast atmosphere can inspire him again.
A break of 63 gave Lisowski the opening frame, then he took the second on the colours before adding the third with runs of 36 and 40. China’s Huang pulled one back with a break of 66 and had chances in the scrappy fifth frame, but eventually missed a tough blue to a top corner. Lisowski pulled off the shot of the match with a tremendous long blue, screwing back to pot the pink to a centre pocket before converting a tricky black.
“I have never been defending champion before so there was some expectation there, it was new to me,” said England’s 35-year-old Lisowski. “I wanted to keep the run here going. It’s nice to win that one and get into the tournament. It was really cool to be back out there, the Belfast crowd are so good and it’s an incredible arena, I just want to do as well as I can this week.”
Asked about the Alex Higgins-esque blue in the last frame, Lisowski added: “I caught it sweet, the white came back perfectly for the pink. it was a good combination of balls in the end to win. But I need to improve on that performance. The way I play, I am patchy and streaky. It can just click, but it can also be pretty bad for a while as it has been for the last few months. I practised with a lot of players last week trying to get my game sharp and ready to defend this title. Hopefully it’s going to be good enough, I’ll give it my best shot.“
Louis Heathcote made it two wins from two meetings against four-time World Champion Mark Selby with a 4-2 victory. World number 67 Heathcote beat the same opponent two years ago at the same venue on his way to the quarter-finals.
From 2-0 down today, Heathcote won four frames in a row with top breaks of 64 and 59 to win the Leicester derby and set up a fixture with Matthew Selt. “I’m delighted, it feels like a better win than the one two years ago because I really had to dig in from 2-0 down,” said 29-year-old Heathcote. “I played well and felt really comfortable. You get a chance at the main venue but then you’re up against a four time World Champion and you’re not used to the conditions, so I’m extremely proud of how I played. My safety, long game and scoring were all good.“
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh top scored with 101 in a 4-2 victory over Ireland’s Aaron Hill. Sam Craigie made a break of 82 in the deciding frame to beat Xiao Guodong 4-3, while exciting tour rookie Wang Xinbo enjoyed a 4-2 success against Si Jiahui. Selt came from 3-1 down to beat Hossein Vafaei 4-3, making breaks of 61 and 90 in the last two frames.
BetVictor Northern Ireland Open 2026 Day One Evening
Ricky Walden may be at risk of tour relegation this season but the three-time ranking event winner looked close to his best as he beat Neil Robertson 4-1 in the first round of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open.
It was a day of surprise results in Belfast as five of the world’s top 16 were eliminated: Robertson along with Shaun Murphy, Mark Selby, Ali Carter and Xiao Guodong.
Walden hasn’t reached the quarter-finals of a ranking event since this tournament in Belfast three years ago, and currently lies 56th on the projected end-of-season list, in danger of dropping out of the top 64. However he showed improved form with a run to the last 16 of the recent Shenzhen Open and took another step forward tonight with a fine display against Robertson, scoring his fourth consecutive win against the former World Champion.
He started the opening frame with a break of 45, then enjoyed a slice of good fortune when Robertson potted a red but inadvertently knocked the green in. Walden added 36 for 1-0 and went on to compile runs of 75 and 76 for 3-0. World number four Robertson pulled one back with a break of 80, but a scrappy fifth frame went Walden’s way.
“It’s a big win, playing on the TV table and against someone as good as Neil,” said Walden, a former Shanghai Masters, Wuxi Classic and International Championship winner. “I cued really nicely and had a bit of rub of the green early on when Neil knocked the green in. That was a turning point early on. I’m working hard in practice as always and everything is feeling good. I am working on a few different things to try to evolve my game, and just waiting for my run to come.”
Asked about his position in the rankings, he added: “I have made peace with that. You can look at the rankings, but if you are not playing well enough then you deserve to be where you are. I am just trying to enjoy each game, I am pretty chilled about it. I know what I can still do, other people maybe don’t see that because it’s tough when you are only in qualifying. I actually feel more relaxed playing on the TV table.“
Walden now meets Joe O’Connor, who compiled runs of 106 and 124 in an impressive 4-1 defeat of Matthew Stevens.
Murphy was beaten 4-2 by Liam Davies, who continued his fantastic start to the season with his 20th win of the campaign so far. The 20-year-old Welshman knocked in breaks of 62, 81, 90 and 104 to set up a match with Pang Junxu or Alfie Burden.
“I am delighted because I have been shattered all day, I only got back from China two days ago,” said Davies. “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen tonight, I was either going to miss everything or pot everything. Last year I think I would have crumbled under that pressure, but the more you get out there in front of the TV cameras the more you feel relaxed and then you can focus more.“
Carter’s perfect start to the BetVictor Home Nations Series ended as he was whitewashed 4-0 by China’s Xu Si. Carter won the BetVictor English Open in Brentwood last month, becoming the early front-runner for the series £150,000 bonus, but it’s an early departure this time for the Captain as Xu fired top runs of 56 and 70 in a one-sided victory.
Wu Yize and He Guoqiang have both withdrawn from the event, for medical reasons. As a result both Elliot Slessor and Scott Donaldson received a bye to the next round.
I don’t have much to add as the matches I watched are reported on by WST and also because as a snooker.org team member I have been on duty – at ungodly early hours – for the Women snooker events currently under way in Australia. As a result … I fell asleep in the sofa very early in the evening! 😁 Old people he! But I did see a bit of Ricky Walden in action. When at his best he’s a very top player but his career has been “plagued” with long episodes of disabling back pain. Ricky is extremely tall and as a result his stance at the table is a bit unusual and it puts some additional strain on his back.