Title holder Wilson eliminates O'Sullivan on day of big breaks at the Shanghai Masters

Reigning Shanghai Masters champion Kyren Wilson kept his title defence on course as he took the final three frames in defeating Ronnie O’Sullivan, 6-4.

Wilson - who eliminated his opponent from this event last year at the quarter-finals stage - racked up runs of 113 and 91 in establishing a 3-1 mid-session interval.

Record five-time Shanghai Masters champion O’Sullivan - a 6-1 winner in the first round on Monday - responded in virtuoso fashion on resumption, compiling breaks of 100, 111 and 131 in consecutive frames to turn the tables and lead 4-3.

However, former world champion Wilson then produced a golden burst of his own, notching up efforts of 89, 79 and 97 to score his fourth win over ‘The Rocket’ in their last five ‘big stage’ meetings.

Elsewhere during a very entertaining evening session, world number one Judd Trump got his new World Snooker Tour season off with a victory as he saw off Barry Hawkins, 6-4.

Current Welsh Open champion Hawkins laid out his stall early on with a 102 in the opening frame before back-to-back frames either side of the mid-session interval put him halfway there at 3-2 up.

However, Trump - winner of this Shanghai crown two years ago - scored heavy in the second portion of the tie, posting runs of 106, 81 and 138 in taking four of the next five frames to progress.

Xiao makes maximum 147 but loses in decider

During the afternoon session at the Luwan Indoor Stadium the second round began (last 16) with two deciding frame finishes.

Reigning Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong compiled a maximum 147 break in the third frame of his match with Neil Robertson - already the fifth maximum of the fledgling 2026/27 professional season, and the fourth of Xiao’s career at this level.

The world number 11 - who came back from 5-2 down for a 6-5 win in round one - totted up further efforts of 74, 133, 95 and 94 in going three up with four to play.

However, Australian Robertson mounted a brilliant comeback, claiming the eighth before efforts of 115 and 62 helped him force a decider which he emerged from.

Over on the other table, another one of snooker’s most decorated cuemen also found himself multiple frames adrift before launching a recovery and getting the job done by the odd frame.

Three-time world champion Mark Williams found himself 3-0 down to Chris Wakelin but contributions of 83, 73, 113 and 65 aided him to a 6-5 win. Next up for the 51-year-old is a meeting with title holder Wilson on Thursday.

During the morning session in the Far East, the two remaining opening round fixtures were completed with Jack Lisowski setting up a tie with John Higgins, and Si Jiahui going through to face newly-minted world snooker champion Wu Yize; that encounter will be Wu’s first competitive outing since his Crucible triumph near the start of May.

World number 17 Lisowski received a call-up to this £825,000 invitational due to Mark Allen electing not to enter. The reigning Northern Ireland Open champion was in total control of his meeting with Zhang Anda as runs of 66, 85, 67 and 51 assisted him to a 4-0 lead before he reached the hill by ousting frame five on the final black.

However, Zhang (breaks of 106 and 63) threatened an almighty comeback as he reduced the deficit to just one frame before Lisowski eventually got over the line with the help of a 51 in frame 10 for a 6-4 winning verdict.

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