Historic opening day for Chinese snooker at the Masters as reigning champion Murphy exits

Chinese duo Wu and Xiao - who were both making their debuts in professional snooker’s most prestigious invitational event - advance to the last eight of the £1 million-plus tournament at the Alexandra Palace in London, where they will face each other.

Reigning champ Murphy struggles and is shown exit door by Wu

In the curtain-raising contest of the 52nd annual Masters, Wu took the first frame against title holder Murphy before doubling his advantage with an effort of 137, and then moving 3-0 ahead.

One of this season's star performers, Murphy - who claimed his second Masters crown here last year - took frames four and six to stay in touch, but Wu (56 break - frame seven) resisted any comeback from an opponent who was more than 20 years older than him.

An out-of-sorts Murphy’s highest break of the tie was just 43.

At 22-years-old, Wu is the youngest player in this year's field. Marked for success by pundits in recent years, Wu made his big career breakthrough a few months ago on home soil when he defeated John Higgins in the final to win the 2025 International Championship - his maiden ranking event crown.

Man-in-form Selby dismissed by Xiao in another surprise result

During the evening session in North London, Xiao also got off to a fantastic start. The world number 11 settled in nicely with a run of 95 in the opening frame before registering further efforts of 62, 76 and 77 in building a dream 4-0 mid-session interval lead.

On resumption, three-time Masters champion Selby got on the board with an effort of 101, and a break of 76 in frame six helped him reduce his arrears to two.

Now gaining strong momentum, Selby was in the balls in the seventh frame but missed a blue of its spot to allow Xiao to the table and punish with a break of 118 before wrapping up victory in the next.

Selby was arguably the most in-form player in the world coming into this tournament having won the Champion of Champions and then the UK Championship within the past couple of months. However, his uninspiring recent record at the Masters continues - he hasn’t been past the quarter-finals since his last final appearance in 2014.

Having first turned professional in 2007, making his Masters debut would have been a very proud moment for Xiao who has taken his career to new levels over the past 18 months.

Xiao won his maiden ranking title at the Wuhan Open in his home country in October 2024, a title he successfully defended a few months ago this season following a thrilling 10-9 win over Gary Wilson in the final.

Both Wu and Xiao have created history for Chinese snooker - there are the third and fourth cueists from mainland China to reach the last eight of the Masters (following in the footsteps of Ding Junhui and Yan Bingtao) - and it is the first time that two Chinese players will appear in the quarter-finals within the same year.

They will meet on either Thursday or Friday in the capital city for a spot in Saturday’s semi-finals.

On Monday in the capital city round one action continues as Mark Williams plays Mark Allen in the afternoon session, and in the evening it’s reigning world champion Zhao Xintong meeting Gary Wilson.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 Masters, visit here.