Updated world snooker rankings after the 2026 English Open

In his home county of Essex, Carter won six of the last seven frames during the evening session at the Brentwood Centre to defeat Mark Williams, 9-6, in Sunday's final.

Lifting The Steve Davis Trophy for the first time, the success represents the seventh ranking crown of Carter’s career.

The 47-year-old Englishman pocketed £100,000 for his efforts which elevates him nine places in the updated world rankings from 25th to 16th - inside the sport’s elite bracket.

There is over £44,000 between himself and 17th-placed Jack Lisowski, meaning Carter is in a good position for automatic qualification for the UK Championship, and an invite to the Masters, with both those Triple Crown events taking place later this season.

As well as a spot at the Champion of Champions in November, Carter looks very likely to qualify for at least the first two Players Series tournaments in the second half of the term.

Zhao Xintong stays top, movement in top five

At this latest rankings revision, points earned from the 2024 British Open were removed, leading to several changes within the top five.

Recently installed as the world number one for the first time in his career, Zhao Xintong remains at the head of the global standings and leads second-placed Judd Trump by over £150,000.

Trump - the player who Zhao replaced at the summit last month - has risen one place from third to second. Neil Robertson (from fourth to third) and reigning World Champion Wu Yize (from fifth to fourth) have also been promoted by a spot.

Mark Selby has dropped three spots from second to fifth as he had £100,000 from his total to defend due to winning the 2024 British Open title.

English Open runner-up Mark Williams (eighth) and Kyren Wilson (ninth) have swapped places. There are no other positional movements inside the top 16, with Lisowski (who was 16th) ousted out by Carter’s Brentwood glory.

The race for the top 16 will heat up over the next several weeks, with Ding Junhui - who has £175,000 to defend from his 2024 International Championship success - projected to fall several places. That could open the door for someone else to get inside.

Chang Bingyu - who claimed his maiden ranking title at the Wuhan Open only a few weeks ago - is up to a career-high position of 20th, and with no prize money to defend this season (he’s only on the second year of a two-year tour card), he might grab a top 16 berth sometime soon.

There aren’t too many notable changes within the top 64 of the updated rankings.

Welsh youngster Liam Davies reached his first ranking event quarter-final at the recent English Open; a run that came off the back of last 16 and last 32 finishes at the Wuhan and British Opens respectively. Only on the first year of his latest card, Davies is already up to 82nd with £33,200 to his name.

Next up on the World Snooker Tour is a triple-header of qualifying action with the Northern Ireland Open, International Championship, and Scottish Open preliminaries taking place at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester between September 13-23.

The next trophy lift on snooker’s top-flight will be at the 2026 Shenzhen Open (September 28-October 4).