Day Three of the 2026 Halo World Snooker Championship saw two former World Champions make their way into the Second Round after negotiating extremely difficult matches. Four-time winner John Higgins, who, despite a lack of silverware, has enjoyed a fairly successful season in reaching the finals of the International Championship, the Masters and the Players Championship, overcame former Crucible double runner-up Ali Carter 10-7, while 2024 champion Kyren Wilson overcame a wonderful debut performance from 19-year-old Stan Moody to triumph by the same score and set up a second round meeting with Mark Allen.
Wilson's victory was particularly remarkable considering the extraordinary manner in which Moody, who had qualified for the Crucible for the first time after having discharged himself from hospital after recovering from tonsillitis, had started the match, playing some excellent snooker which delighted the crowd and drew much praise from legendary six-time world champion Steve Davis, who was commentating on the morning session for the BBC. The evening session saw Wilson turn the match completely around, turning a 6-3 defecit into a 10-7 victory, a win which banishes the memory of his exit at the same stage of the championship, when, as the defending champion, he lost in the deciding frame to Lei Peifan.
John Higgins will be pleased also at the way he managed to turn a defecit around into a victory. After having surged into a 4-0 lead in the first half of his opening session on Sunday afternoon, he would have been feeling utterly deflated after seeing Ali Carter mount an extraordinary comeback to lead 5-4 going into the start of Monday afternoon's concluding session. Higgins however started the concluding session well, taking three of the opening four frames to head into the mid-session interval 7-6 in front, before extending his lead to 9-6 and, despite Carter reducing the defecit to 9-7, the Wizard of Wishaw got over the line and possibly facing a blockbuster second round clash with fellow Class of 92 veteran Ronnie O'Sullivan (should the 'Rocket' overcome He Guqiang).
There is another extremely tasty-looking second round clash featuring two of the giants of Chinese snooker when defending champion Zhao Xintong takes on Ding Junhui, who for many years had been tipped to become the first Chinese winner of the World Championship. Ding progressed courtesy of a comfortable 10-5 victory over qualifer David Gilbert, during which Ding became only the eighth player to achieve a century of centuries at the World Championship, he will, however, have his work cut off against his fellow countryman Xintong, who is highly fancied to retain his title.
Another Chinese player almost certain to book his place into the last sixteen of snooker's premier event is the highly talented Wu Yize, who will resume his concluding session against Lei Peifan on Tuesday afternoon taking a commanding 8-1 lead. Meanwhile, 2005 champion Shaun Murphy found his opening session against Fan Zhengyi something of a struggle and will take a narrow 5-4 lead into Tuesday night's session.
Tuesday will also see two of the giants of the game begin their campaign for glory in Sheffield, with world number one Judd Trump facing a rather tricky opening match against double Scottish Open champion Gary Wilson, while Ronnie O'Sullivan, looking to claim his eighth world crown and thus overtake Stephen Hendry as the most successful Crucible champion, starts his world championship against qualifer He Guqiang. Meanwhile, following in the footsteps of Stan Moody, 20-year-old Liam Pullen will make his Crucible debut as he takes on Chris Wakelin.
ORDER OF PLAY
TUESDAY 21st APRIL 2026
10AM
Chris Wakelin v Liam Pullen
Judd Trump v Gary Wilson
2.30PM
Ronnie O'Sullivan v He Guqiang
Wu Yize (8) v (1) Lei Peifan - Play to Finish
7PM
Shaun Murphy (5) v (4) Fan Zhengyi - Play to Finish
Judd Trump v Gary Wilson - Play to Finish
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