World Champion Zhao claims maiden Masters match win to stay on course for historic Career Triple Crown

The 28-year-old Chinese cueman - who made history last May when he became the first Asian world professional snooker champion - was making his second Masters appearance.

His debut in the sport’s most prestigious invitational event came in 2022 - just weeks after his breakthrough UK Championship triumph - where he lost 6-2 to John Higgins in round one.

The following year Zhao was banned from the circuit for his role in the match-fixing scandal (although he wasn’t found to have fixed matches himself) that rocked the sport during that season, and wasn’t allowed back to competition until September 2024.

Since then, he reclaimed his professional tour card through the Q Tour, and won nine matches - four in qualifying before the Crucible stages - to secure snooker’s blue riband prize.

Number 16 seed Wilson - who like his opponent was also seeking his first match success at the Masters - got his third career outing in the event off to a fine start as a break of 76 helped him secure the opening frame.

However, runs of 50, 51 and 54 assisted Zhao to a 3-1 mid-session interval lead, and on resumption he extended his profit to three frames after an effort of 72.

Wilson kept in touch with frame six, but Zhao took a close seventh frame before wrapping up victory in the next having earlier compiled a break of 67.

Zhao is the first world champion, and top eight seed in this year’s competition to book a ticket for the last eight.

Following the successes of Wu Yize and Xiao Guodong - both of whom were making their Masters bows - on Sunday, three Chinese players are already into the quarter-finals, with Si Jiahui and Ding Junhui still to feature.

Before this year’s edition, Ding and Yan Bingtao - both former winners of this crown - were the only players from mainland China to have appeared in a Masters quarter-final. Within a couple of days, Wu, Xiao, and Zhao have pushed that tally up to five.

With the UK and World Championship accolades on his CV, Zhao would complete a Career Triple Crown should he lift The Paul Hunter Trophy on Sunday night.

He would become the 12th player in professional snooker history to complete the feat, and the first from Asia.

Next up for Zhao in the £1 million-plus extravaganza is a meeting with either John Higgins or Barry Hawkins who share the baize on Tuesday night.

Allen dismisses under-par Williams to progress

During the afternoon session in London, Mark Allen defeated Mark Williams 6-2 to reach the last eight of the tournament for the 11th time in his career.

In a meeting between former Masters champions and ranking event winners this season, Allen deposited the opening frame along with a 67 before 50-year-old Williams levelled, and then nudged in front.

However, Northern Irishman Allen - who has been overcoming food poisoning - strung together five consecutive frames with the help of runs of 54, 60, 125 and 70.

Two-time Masters champion Williams - who became the oldest cueist to play in the event since Cliff Wilson in 1989 with his outing today - failed to record a single half-century break, and replied to a post on X saying “I think that is probably the worst I ever played as a pro tbh”.

Later this week, 2018 champion Allen is set to continue his latest title tilt against either world number one Judd Trump or Ding Junhui who meet on Wednesday afternoon.

All four matches in this year’s tournament, so far, have finished 6-2.

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