Home hopes extinguished and world champ stopped as Welsh Open quarter-finals set

Reigning world champion Zhao Xintong’s 11-match winning streak on the professional circuit came to an end as he was defeated by the 2015 Crucible king, Stuart Bingham.

Having won the World Grand Prix and Players Championship events earlier this month, in North Wales, Zhao was aiming to join a very exclusive club of cueists who have won three ranking titles in-a-row. And it was the Chinese who took the opening frame of his latest assignment.

However, world number 17 Bingham levelled up before breaks of 75 and 64 helped him reach the hill at 3-1 up.

Zhao kept his hopes alive with a 98 in frame five to reduce the gap to one, but ‘Ball-Run’ Bingham got the job done in the next to end a five-match losing sequence to his opponent in all competitions.

Next up for Bingham will be Jack Lisowski, who eliminated Jackson Page, 4-2, with runs of 67, 84, 99 and 54.

Despite struggling with his game, current Northern Ireland Open champion Lisowski will scoop this season’s £150,000 Home Nations Series order of merit bonus if he makes this week’s final.

Mark Allen is currently in pole position for the six-figure jackpot, but having been defeated in round one, destiny is out of his hands. The other player who can overtake him is Zhou Yuelong, who needs to win his maiden ranking title in order to also pocket the bonus purse.

And the 28-year-old remained active in both of those races as he racked up a trio of half-centuries in a 4-1 victory over Sam Craigie.

Three Welsh players started the day, but all three went through the exit door as the long wait for a home winner continues.

Mark Williams, the only native to win the Welsh Open title (1996, 1999) and the last to reach the final (2003), fashioned a run of 115 in moving 2-1 up against Barry Hawkins, but it was ‘The Hawk’ who flew into the last eight as a 4-2 winner, highlighting efforts of 64, 69, 62 and 84.

Joining compatriots Page and Williams on the sidelines for the rest of the competition is former Crucible finalist Jak Jones who was ousted 4-3 by Neil Robertson on the final pink after a thrilling climax.

The contest got off to a sizzling start as Robertson replied to Jones' opening frame break of 126 with a 122.

Two-time winner of this crown Robertson led 2-1 and 3-2 but was pulled back each time before potting a tremendous brown and fiddly pink in the decider to go through.

Conqueror of Mark Selby earlier this week, 20-year-old Jiang Jun is through to his second career ranking event quarter-final - his first was at the last Home Nations stop in Scotland just before Christmas - after dismissing Robbie Williams, 4-1, with the aid of runs of 50 and 69.

Jiang will meet fellow Chinese countryman Wu, who was in brilliant scoring form as he totted up contributions of 78, 71, 104 and 70 in whitewashing David Grace, 4-0.

The other quarter-finalist is the most successful player in Welsh Open history, John Higgins. The five-time champion - who made the final of last week’s Players Championship - also had his scoring shoes on as he constructed breaks of 95, 78 and 60 before wrapping up his 4-2 success over Zhang Anda with a 144.

That latter effort puts Higgins in line for the £5,000 tournament highest break bonus.

2026 Welsh Open quarter-finals line-up and schedule:

Barry Hawkins v Neil Robertson (from 12:00GMT)

followed by: Jack Lisowski v Stuart Bingham

Zhou Yuelong v John Higgins (from 19:00GMT)

Jiang Jun v Wu Yize (from 19:00GMT)

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