Category: Snooker

• WST president Barry Hearn says ‘sentiment’ played a part

• 500 seats to be added to the theatre in £45m refit

Barry Hearn concedes he has let his heart rule his head for the first time in his career after striking a remarkable new long-term deal to keep snooker’s world championship at the Crucible Theatre – before hinting that his son Eddie was among those who were against the decision.

The tournament has been played at the 980-seat venue in Sheffield since 1977, and it will remain there until at least 2045 with an option to extend to 2050 after World Snooker Tour and Sheffield city council agreed a contract to ensure snooker’s most prestigious event will stay at its ­spiritual home.

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• O’Sullivan snookered Ryan Day at start of first frame

• Seven-time world champion won 5-0 to reach semi-finals

Ronnie O’Sullivan has made the highest break in professional snooker by hitting a 153 at the World Open in Yushan, China.

The 50-year-old achieved the feat after leaving Ryan Day in a snooker to begin the opening frame of their quarter-final and the Welshman’s failed escape attempt gave O’Sullivan a free ball.

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Virgo, who won the UK Championship in 1979, enjoyed a long playing career but was best known for his TV work

The much-loved snooker player and commentator John Virgo has died at the age of 79, World Snooker has announced.

Virgo, who won the UK Championship in 1979, enjoyed a successful playing career but was best known for his broadcasting.

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• World No 2 defeats ‘legend and idol’ 10-6 in final

• ‘I’m trying not to cry because it means so much’

Kyren Wilson collected his first Masters title to thwart John Higgins’s hopes of making more history after a cagey final replete with uncharacteristic errors from both players.

Higgins was seeking a third Masters title at Alexandra Palace – 20 years after he last lifted the trophy – and, at 50, the Scot had become the oldest player to reach the final of a triple crown event.

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• Higgins wins three consecutive frames in 6-5 victory

• Kyren Wilson seals 6-5 win on Wu Yize with century

John Higgins reeled off three straight frames as he came from behind to earn a 6-5 semi-final victory over Judd Trump in the Masters at Alexandra Palace.

Things were looking ominous for the Scot early on as Trump ensured he took a three-frame lead with a neat break of 60, which ended with Higgins conceding. Higgins gave Trump something to think about before the mid-session interval by clawing it back to 3-2, including a century break, but breaks of 70 and 57 by the world No 1 helped him move to within a frame of victory at 5-3.

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• Englishman sees out victory in final frame

• Wu wipes the floor with Xiao in 6-0 rout

Kyren Wilson edged into the semi-finals of the Masters after fending off a Neil Robertson comeback to win 6-5.

Wilson had taken a three-frame lead, hitting two century breaks along the way, and took a 4-1 advantage before Robertson fought back, winning four straight frames and recording breaks of 110 and 107 to lead 5-4.

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• Scot recovers to deny Zhao Xintong 6-5 in the last eight

• Judd Trump beats Mark Allen 6-2 to set up Higgins clash

John Higgins benefited from an outrageous fluke as he came from 5-3 down to beat world champion Zhao Xintong 6-5 on the final ball and reach the semi-finals of the Masters at Alexandra Palace.

Higgins made a horrible mess of a plant, only for one of the reds to fly into the opposite pocket and the cue ball to somehow land on the black, en route to squaring the match at 5-5. The 50-year-old Scot then took a tight decider, clearing the table from the final red to move one step closer to a third Masters title.

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• Trump defeats Ding Junhui, Robertson sinks Wakelin

• All eight first-round games ended in same scoreline

The world No 1 Judd Trump made three centuries as he saw off Ding Junhui 6-2 to move into the quarter-finals of the Masters, before Neil Robertson defeated Chris Wakelin by the same score – meaning that all eight first-round matches at London’s Alexandra Palace finished 6-2.

After edging a lengthy first frame, Trump – who was not able to lift any silverware in 2025 – crafted a fine break of 116 which was followed with a break of 69 to open up an early 3-0 lead.

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• Wilson defeats Si Jiahui, Higgins sees off Barry Hawkins

• All six matches at Alexandra Palace have ended 6-2

Kyren Wilson, the 2024 world champion, defeated Si Jiahui in impressive fashion to reach the Masters quarter-finals with the 6-2 result continuing a curious statistic: every match at Alexandra Palace this week had finished with the same scoreline. That record extended in the evening session as John Higgins saw off Barry Hawkins, 6-2, to reach the last eight.

After edging the first frame following a run of snookers, Wilson – yet to win a tournament this season having broken his cue at the start of the campaign – looked set to build a maximum in the next, but just missed the 11th red into the bottom corner pocket as he moved 2-0 ahead.

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• Allen wins five frames in a row against Mark Williams

• Zhao Xintong cruises to 6-2 win over Gary Wilson

Mark Allen shrugged off a bout of food poisoning to beat Mark Williams 6-2, winning five successive frames, and book a quarter-final with Judd Trump or Ding Junhui, who play on Wednesday.

Speaking to the BBC, Allen, the 2018 champion, said: “I prepare properly for these events, but I couldn’t prepare for this at all as I’ve been lying in bed all week with food poisoning. I just thought: ‘Go out there and give my best.’ I wouldn’t have had much left if it had got much closer.”

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• Murphy beaten 6-2 by China’s Wu Yize

• UK champion Mark Selby also knocked out

Defending champion Shaun Murphy is out of the Masters after a shock 6-2 loss to China’s Wu Yize on the opening day of this year’s tournament at Alexandra Palace.

Wu, the world number 13, dominated from the outset and won the opening three frames, recording a superb break of 137 in the second.

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• Eight-time champion withdraws two days before event

• O’Sullivan also pulled out 12 months ago

Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of the Masters two days before the tournament starts on medical grounds.

O’Sullivan claimed a record-extending eighth win at the tournament in 2024 but opted against defending his crown 12 months ago, giving the same reason as he has for his latest withdrawal.

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