English Open 2026 Snooker: Day 1 Results (September 7)
The 2026 English Open got underway on September 7 at the Brentwood Centre in England — the fifth ranking event of the 2026/27 season and the opening leg of the Home Nations Series. Players are competing for the Steve Davis Trophy and a total prize fund topped by a £100,000 winner’s share. Matches up to and including the last 16 are played to 4 frames, the quarter-finals and semi-finals to 6 frames, and the final to 9 frames across two sessions.
Defending champion Mark Allen has withdrawn from the tournament for personal reasons and will not defend the title he won last season in the final against Zhou Yuelong. Recent British Open champion Jak Jones also pulled out, with his second child due imminently. Both withdrawals were already reflected in the day-one draw.
Below is a full recap of the matches played on September 7.
English Open 2026 Day 1 Results
| Match | Score |
|---|---|
| Ding Junhui — Holt M. | 4-3 |
| Jiahui S. — Williams R. | 1-4 |
| Anda Zhang — Thirty J. | 4-1 |
| Carter A. — Page J. | 4-1 |
| Robertson N. — Zetao L. | 3-4 |
| Yuan S. — Ford T. | 4-2 |
| Robertson J. — Gong C. | 3-4 |
| Jones J. — Bingyu C. | walkover |
| Wakelin K. — Heathcote L. | 4-3 |
| Wilson K. — Baranowski M. | 4-1 |
| Allen M. — Craigie S. | walkover |
| Xintong C. — Lines O. | 2-4 |
| Slessor E. — Hugill E. | 3-4 |
| Zhou Yu — Moody S. | 4-3 |
| O’Connor J. — Nussle F. | 4-0 |
All completed matches were played to best-of-7 frames, in line with the round-of-64 format.
Key Match Highlights
Walkovers of the day. The standout feature of day one was a pair of technical results. Mark Allen, unable to attend the tournament for personal reasons, handed a walkover win to Sam Craigie. A similar scenario played out in the Jak Jones v Bingyu Chen tie: the reigning British Open champion withdrew from the event ahead of the birth of his second child, sending his opponent through without a ball struck.
Upset for Neil Robertson. One of the tour’s most decorated players, Neil Robertson, went down 3-4 to an opponent named Zetao — a painful early exit for the Australian at the very first stage of the tournament.
O’Connor’s dominant win. Joe O’Connor produced the day’s most emphatic result, whitewashing Nussle F. 4-0 without dropping a single frame.
Solid wins for the favourites. Ryan Williams (4-1), Ali Carter (4-1) and Kyren Wilson (4-1) all comfortably dispatched their opponents, confirming their status as the higher-rated players in those ties.
Tight battles and comebacks. Several matches went down to the wire at 4-3 — including Ding Junhui’s win over Holt and Wakelin’s victory over Heathcote — pointing to close, competitive snooker on the tournament’s opening day.
Tournament Overview
The 2026 English Open runs from September 7 to 13 in Brentwood and marks the 11th edition of the tournament since its inception in 2016. The event uses a tiered format: the top 32 seeded players enter later in the draw, while the opening rounds are contested between lower-seeded players and those who came through qualifying. Beyond the English Open title itself, the player who accumulates the most points across the entire Home Nations Series (English Open, Northern Ireland Open, Scottish Open, and Welsh Open) will earn an additional seasonal bonus of £150,000.
The tournament is being broadcast on TNT Sports, Eurosport, HBO Max, WST Play, and several other platforms. Subsequent rounds will follow over the coming days, with the results of the last 32 and beyond shaping the field for the tournament’s decisive stages through to the final on September 13.
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