Who qualified for the 2026 English Open? Cast set for Brentwood

The 2026 English Open - the opening Home Nations Series event of the top tier snooker season - will take place at the Brentwood Centre between September 7th to 13th.

Using a tiered system for its draw format, the opening two rounds were played as qualifiers across Saturday and Sunday at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester. This process produced 32 players who all go through to the main venue, televised stages where they will join the top 32 seeds in the round of 64.

A plethora of young talents made the grade, including Austria’s number one Florian Nuessle who racked up breaks of 70, 62, and 98 in an impressive 4-0 win over Noppon Saengkham at the final hurdle.

The 24-year-old endured a tricky rookie season, but things appear to be on the up having also qualified for the Wuhan Open a few weeks ago.

Latvia’s Artemijs Zizins can make travel plans for Brentwood after seeing off Martin O’Donnell 4-2 in round two. It was a pleasing few days for the 20-year-old after getting through to the next phase of the British Open too.

Someone else who also achieved the British Open/English Open qualification double is teenager Stan Moody. The 19-year-old emerged from a highlight encounter with David Grace that went down to the very last ball.

Former UK Championship semi-finalist Grace began in style with efforts of 118 and 100 to go 2-0 up. Moody then strung together three consecutive frames (breaks of 75, 82) before Grace forced the contest all the way with his third century of the tie - a 106. In the deciding frame, from behind, Moody compiled a brilliant clearance under pressure to win by the barest of margins.

Another encounter that went down to the final black ball was Louis Heathcote’s 4-3 victory over Ishpreet Singh Chadha. A few hours later on the same table number one, Ricky Walden - who thrice came back from a frame down during the tie - ousted fellow three-time ranking event winner Marco Fu on the colours.

During the same early afternoon session, another Hong Kong cueman narrowly missed out on a spot in front of the television cameras as Ka Wai Cheung watched recent maximum break man Chang Bingyu recover from 3-1 down to record a 4-3 comeback triumph.

Two Polish players have stayed on course in the £550,400 world ranking tournament: Mateusz Baranowski and Antoni Kowalski.

A Q School graduate in 2025, Baranowski top scored with a 109 in a 4-2 win against Jamie Jones, meanwhile Kowalski - a Crucible qualifier back in the spring - pipped former world champion Luca Brecel, 4-3, crafting a 73 in the final frame.

Jackson Page continues his very impressive start to the 2026/27 top-flight term. The 24-year-old scored runs of 81, 104, 75 and 76 to defeat Phil O’Kane 4-1 and progress in the English Open; he has now qualified for the main venue stages of all five competitions this season, so far.

Page’s Welsh compatriots Jamie Clarke and Liam Davies also enjoyed perfect weeks at the Mattioli in qualifying for the Shenzhen, British, and English Opens. Clarke and Davies edged Ryan Day and Liu Hongyu, respectively, in deciding frames to keep on track for The Steve Davis Trophy.

Another recent 147 break-maker on the World Snooker Tour, Liam Highfield was once again posting high scores, but his efforts of 113 and 106 weren't enough to get past Robbie Williams who advanced by the odd frame.

The Republic of Ireland will also be represented in the 'main draw' in a few weeks' time as world number 41 Aaron Hill negotiated Anton Kazakov, 4-1. At last year's English Open, Hill constructed his maiden maximum in professional competition on his way to the quarter-finals.

Former Welsh Open champion Jordan Brown is in a battle to keep his tour card beyond this campaign, and he earned himself some much-needed ranking points after seeing off Craig Steadman, 4-2.

Seven Chinese players came through the second round including rookies Luo Zetao (139 break v Scott Donaldson) and Wang Xinbo. Gao Yang staged the comeback of the day, turning a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 win against fellow countryman Jiang Jun.