The 2026 World Open (officially the 2026 Likang Roasted Eel – Junma Cup World Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 16 to 22 March 2026 at the Yushan Sport Centre in Yushan, China. Qualifiers took place from 10 to 12 February at the Barnsley Metrodome in Barnsley, England. The 11th edition of the tournament since it was rebranded as the World Open in 2010, it was the 16th ranking event of the 2025–26 snooker season, following the 2026 Welsh Open and preceding the 2026 Tour Championship. The tournament was broadcast by TNT Sports and Discovery+ in the United Kingdom and Ireland, by Eurosport in mainland Europe, by local channels in Asia and Africa, and by WST Play in all other territories. The winner received £175,000 from a total prize fund of £825,000.
John Higgins was the defending champion, having defeated Joe O'Connor 10–6 in the 2025 final. He played the record-extending 2,000th match of his professional career in the last 64 but lost 4–5 to Stan Moody. After beating the world number one Judd Trump 6–4 in the semi-finals, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 10–7 in the final to win his first World Open title and the second ranking title of his career. Un-Nooh became the second Thai player, after James Wattana, to win a full-format ranking tournament.
The tournament produced 119 century breaks, 32 at the qualifiers in Barnsley and 87 at the main stage in Yushan. O'Sullivan made the highest break in professional snooker history, a of 153, during his quarter-final victory over Ryan Day. It was the second break exceeding 147 in professional competition, following the 148 made by Jamie Burnett in the qualifying rounds of the 2004 UK Championship. Un-Nooh compiled a maximum break, the seventh of his professional career, in the penultimate frame of the final. It was the record-extending 23rd maximum of the season.
Overview The World Open originated as the Professional Players Tournament, of which Ray Reardon won the inaugural 1982 edition, defeating Jimmy White 10–5 in the final. Staged mostly as the Grand Prix from 1984 to 2009 (except 2001 to 2003, when it was held as the LG Cup), the tournament was played in England until 2004, after which it moved to Scotland. It was rebranded as the World Open in 2010. The tournament was not held in 2011, and the following year it moved to Haikou, China. The 2015 edition was cancelled after the contract with the promoter was not renewed, and in 2016 the tournament moved to Yushan. It was not held from 2020 to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but returned to the calendar for the 2024 edition.
The 2026 edition of the tournament—its 11th staging since it became the World Open in 2010—took place from 16 to 22 March at the Yushan Sport Centre in Yushan, China. Qualifiers took place from 10 to 12 February at the Barnsley Metrodome in Barnsley, England. It was the 16th ranking event of the 2025–26 snooker season, following the 2026 Welsh Open and preceding the 2026 Tour Championship. John Higgins was the defending champion, having defeated Joe O'Connor 10–6 in the 2025 final.
Format All matches were played as the best of 9 up to and including the quarter-finals. The semi-finals were the best of 11 frames and the final was a best-of-19-frame match played over two .
Neil Robertson withdrew before the qualifiers in Barnsley. Chris Totten withdrew before the held-over qualifiers in Yushan. Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins, Stephen Maguire, David Gilbert, Chris Wakelin, Jak Jones, Umut Dikme, and Ishpreet Singh Chadha all won their qualifying matches but withdrew prior to the main stage.
Broadcasters The qualifying matches played in Barnsley were broadcast in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Austria by Discovery+ and in other European territories by HBO Max. They were broadcast in mainland China by the CBSA‑WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel, the CBSA‑WPBSA Academy Douyin, Huya Live, and . In all other territories (including Ireland) they were streamed by WST Play.
The main stage was broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland by TNT Sports and Discovery+. It was broadcast in mainland Europe by Eurosport, with streaming coverage on Discovery+ in Germany, Italy, and Austria and on HBO Max in other European territories. It was broadcast in mainland China by the same broadcasters as the qualifying matches; in Hong Kong by Now TV; in Malaysia and Brunei by Astro SuperSport; in Taiwan by Sportcast; in Thailand by True Sports; in Singapore by StarHub TV; in the Philippines by TAP Sports; and in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya by SportyTV. In territories where no other coverage was available, it was streamed by WST Play.
Prize fund The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below:
Winner: £175,000 Runner-up: £75,000 Semi-final: £33,000 Quarter-final: £22,000 Last 16: £14,000 Last 32: £9,000 Last 64: £5,000 Highest break: £5,000
Total: £825,000
Summary Qualifying
Neil Robertson, the fifth seed, withdrew from the qualifying matches played in Barnsley and was replaced by amateur player Umut Dikme, who beat Oliver Brown in a . Mark Allen, who had claimed consecutive World Open titles in 2012 and 2013, made century breaks of 124 and 108 as he defeated Louis Heathcote 5–2. Shaun Murphy trailed Chatchapong Nasa 1–2 but recovered to win 5–3, and Stephen Maguire produced a century of 140 as he beat Sanderson Lam 5–1. Stuart Bingham advanced with a whitewash win over Ng On-yee, while He Guoqiang made a century of 104 to win the deciding frame against Amir Sarkhosh. Antoni Kowalski won the first four against Liu Hongyu, but Liu also won four consecutive frames, tying the scores at 4–4. Kowalski made a 90 to win the decider.
Kyren Wilson, the world number two, made breaks including 89 and 64 as he whitewashed Alexander Ursenbacher in 68 minutes, and Mark Williams also whitewashed Kreishh Gurbaxani, making breaks including 67, 95, 95, and 57. Michael Holt lost the first two frames against Ken Doherty but made breaks including 88 and 89 as he won five consecutive frames for a 5–2 victory. Ali Carter beat Jimmy White by the same score. Daniel Wells recovered from 2–4 behind to defeat Robbie McGuigan, making an 86 break in the deciding frame. Scott Donaldson produced a 141 break against Xu Yichen, but Xu won the match in a decider. Luca Brecel defeated Mateusz Baranowski, also in a deciding frame.
Marco Fu made breaks including 86, 91, and 116 as he defeated the 2017 champion Ding Junhui 5–2. The result put Ding, who had not qualified for the 2026 Players Championship or 2026 Tour Championship and had not entered the 2026 Welsh Open, at risk of losing his top-16 ranking before the 2026 World Championship. Another top-16 Chinese player, Si Jiahui, also exited after a 3–5 defeat to Zhao Hanyang. From 3–4 behind, Stan Moody recovered to beat Jiang Jun on the final of a deciding frame. Haydon Pinhey made a 137 break in his match against Mark Selby, but Selby went on to win in a deciding frame. Jack Lisowski advanced with a 5–2 victory over Gong Chenzhi, winning his first match at a ranking event since early in November 2025. Wu Yize produced a 131 break as he won four consecutive frames to defeat Liam Pullen by the same score. Robert Milkins, Jamie Jones, and Mark Davis all lost their qualifying matches, putting them in danger of relegation from the tour at the end of the season. The previous year's runner-up Joe O'Connor lost 3–5 to Liu Wenwei.
Main stage
Held-over qualifying matches In the held-over qualifiers played in Yushan, the world number one Judd Trump advanced with a 5–1 win over amateur player Mark Lloyd, who replaced Chris Totten. In the fifth frame of his match against Ross Muir, Ronnie O'Sullivan came close to making a maximum break, but he went the 15th black, ending the break on 113. He completed a 5–1 victory with his second century of the match, a 114. "I got here a week early just to do some practising on my own," O'Sullivan said afterwards. "I've been working really hard on my game. I know I haven't played a lot of tournaments, but I've been working because my game has been in such a bad place. It isn't like I've had my feet up while everyone has been playing. I've decided I really need to attack this now. I have one last throw of the dice really. The last three years have been awful in terms of confidence. I'm trying to work on that now and see if I can get back to delivering the cue freely." O'Sullivan added that he would devote two years to restoring his game, with the goal of prolonging his playing career.
The defending champion John Higgins trailed Liam Highfield 2–3 but won three consecutive frames for a 5–3 victory. Higgins said afterwards: "[Highfield] was just playing flawless. His , everything was flawless. He just ran out of in the sixth frame and that allowed me to get into it and make a . I managed to get over the line." The reigning World Champion Zhao Xintong made two century breaks as he whitewashed his wildcard opponent Han Fuyuan. Teenage wildcard Wang Xinbo made a century of 141 as he whitewashed Mitchell Mann in a prequalifying match. Ricky Walden defeated Wang in the qualifying round, making two centuries as he secured a 5–2 win.
Last 64
Selby, Barry Hawkins, Maguire, David Gilbert, Chris Wakelin, Jak Jones, Dikme, and Ishpreet Singh Chadha all withdrew prior to the main stage, and so their respective opponents (Holt, Ian Burns, Xu Si, Matthew Selt, Artemijs Žižins, Brecel, Xu Yichen, and O'Sullivan) received walkovers to the last 32. David Lilley made successive breaks of 79, 85, 66, and 90 as he took a 4–1 lead over Shaun Murphy, but Murphy won the last four frames for a 5–4 victory. Stuart Bingham produced breaks of 131, 89, and 108 as he beat Anthony McGill by the same scoreline. Zhao Hanyang made breaks of 59, 100, 92, 51, and 68 against Robbie Williams, but Williams won 5–4, despite losing the first three frames and not making a break in the match.
Stan Moody made breaks of 84, 52, 84, and 82 as he took a 4–1 lead over the defending champion Higgins, who was playing in the record-extending 2,000th professional match of his career. Higgins then won three consecutive frames, making a century of 135 in frame seven, as he tied the scores at 4–4. Higgins had the first chance in the decider but scored just 15 , and Moody secured the frame and match with a break of 65. "When he got in first in the last frame I just thought it was game over," said 19-year-old Moody afterwards. "[Higgins] is a class act. I knew if I let him back in he would come back, so I'm glad I managed to hold my nerve in the decider." He added: "I watched [Higgins] growing up and learning the game. To beat him in an important match out in China, and to do it with a lot of breaks as well, is a good feeling."
Kyren Wilson made a highest break of 115 in a 5–2 victory over Lyu Haotian, and Trump made two centuries of 116 and 101 during his 5–1 win over Florian Nüßle. Afterwards, Trump spoke about having to leave his home in Dubai due to the 2026 Iran war and described how he had prepared for the tournament in Thailand. "I had to leave so we went to Bangkok," he said. "It is a bit up in the air at the moment. I don't think I can go back there right now in case I get stuck. I am looking for somewhere to live. It is just day by day. My brother was stuck in Dubai for a bit, which wasn't ideal, but thankfully he has got out now. I hope things turn around. I managed to practice in Thailand and dedicate myself as usual." Zhao Xintong made breaks of 95, 92, 93, 139, and 129 against Long Zehuang, winning the match in a deciding frame. Gary Wilson trailed Aaron Hill 3–4 but took frame eight on a and went on to win the decider. Mark Williams advanced with a 5–2 victory over Walden.
Last 32