Jak Jones wins biggest career title at the British Open

The Welshman upset the odds to defeat four-time World Champion Mark Selby, 10-6, in Sunday’s final at The Centaur in Cheltenham to lift The Clive Everton Trophy and collect a payday of £100,000.

It is the second ranking event title of Jones’ career, and it comes less than two months since his first at the Championship League in mid-July. However, with that tournament being played behind-closed-doors and carrying a considerably lighter prize fund, his latest accolade is substantially more notable.

A surprise World Championship finalist in 2024 as a qualifier - where he lost 18-14 to Kyren Wilson - Jones subsequently broke into the world’s top 16, but over the next two seasons was unable to build on that success, and began the televised stages of the this competition as the world number 31.

Jones had to qualify for this week’s main venue stages last month in Leicester where he ousted Matthew Selt, 4-3.

His journey in Cheltenham nearly didn’t begin at all, though, as he was sent an email from the organisers with the wrong start time, and was only made aware the night before by fellow professional Phil O’Kane who alerted him to differing information he found on the World Snooker Tour website.

Having had to travel pretty much there and then so he’d be in time for his morning start, it didn’t affect Jones on the baize as he made century breaks in his opening two frames during a 4-0 win over last year’s runner-up Anthony McGill.

He then defeated last week's Wuhan Open winner Chang Bingyu, and Latvian youngster Artemijs Zizins before pipping the Republic of Ireland's number one cueist Aaron Hill, 5-4.

In the semi-finals, Jones overcame recently dethroned world number one Judd Trump, 6-3.

What happened in the 2026 British Open snooker final?

Going into the final, Jones faced an in-form opponent who was appearing in his third British Open final within the space of four years, and had won last month's China Open.

Jones knew he also had to overturn a pretty dreadful head-to-head record against Selby; their most recent meeting was a one-sided 10-2 victory for Selby at the Crucible earlier this year.

The afternoon session at The Centaur went back and forth between the two finalists, as Jones went ahead four times, only for Selby to restore parity on each occasion.

After a protracted opening frame that went the way of Jones with the aid of a 64 break, the session was pretty much a free-flowing affair, with Selby levelling up after a 139 in frame two.

• Totally Snookered’s 2026 British Open final live blog here

The biggest frame of the afternoon felt as if it came in frame seven when Jones produced a stunning counter clearance of 64 to the final pink after his opponent had made 60. However, Selby recovered with a 70 to make it all-square at 4-4.

Returning a few hours later, the match pattern continued as Jones went 5-4 up, only for Selby to respond with a 100.

Jones edged back in front - for the sixth time - with frame 11, and then finally managed to find some breathing space when he pinched the twelfth by clearing from green to black after Selby had missed a fairly routine red whilst on 66.

Known for his trademark comebacks, Selby threatened a turnaround by chalking up the first frame after the mid-session interval for 7-6, but runs of 53 and 62 in the next two put Jones on the cusp of glory at 9-6 up.

In the biggest frame of his life, the 33-year-old got on the board first with six reds and six blacks, but after playing a positive shot by going into the reds and not landing nicely, he missed and let his opponent in.

Selby got back into contention with a 47 before failing on a black, and the frame was decided on the colours, with Jones clearing from green to pink to become the 46th multiple-time ranking event winner in professional snooker history.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 British Open snooker, visit our tournament information centre here.