What happened on day one of the 2026 World Snooker Championship?

The 2026 World Snooker Championship is underway, with title holder Zhao Xintong advancing, and Zhang Anda, Mark Williams, Xiao Guodong and Barry Hawkins all holding advantages after the opening sessions of their round one matches at the Crucible.

Title holder Zhao was made to sweat a little bit by world number 92 qualifier Liam Highfield before progressing as a 10-7 victor. A full match report can be read here.

Three-time world champion Williams is four frames away from a place in round two.

Williams, competing in his 28th Crucible campaign, leads main draw debutant Antoni Kowalski, 6-3.

Youngster Kowalski created history as the first cueist from Poland to play on snooker's grandest stage, and he immediately settled in on the biggest day of his snooker life by taking the opening frame with a break of 82.

The 22-year-old could have doubled his lead but squandered chances in the next, leading to Williams eventually sinking the final three colours to level.

The Welshman then went in front after a run of 85, but Kowalski stayed with his opponent - who is 29 years his senior - with the aid of 67 to restore parity going into the mid-session interval.

On resumption, the next two frames were shared (68 break Kowalski, frame six) but Williams finished the afternoon in control after stringing together the final three frames, highlighted by two half-century breaks.

Former world number one Mark Allen has work to do if he is to progress in this year's tournament as he is 5-3 down to qualifier Zhang.

A tie that had all the makings of being a close affair, it was number 14 seed Allen who deposited the opening frame.

However, former International Championship winner Zhang - who was a seed here in each of the last two years - struck a purple patch of scoring.

The 34-year-old from China took five of the next six frames along with breaks of 129, 75, 109, 58 and 72.

Allen would finish the morning session on a positive note by taking what would be the final frame of the session before the players were pulled off a frame early.

In one of two all-Chinese opening round matches this year, number nine seed Xiao turned things around to lead Zhou Yuelong, 5-4.

This season's English Open runner-up Zhou deposited the opening two frames (63 break, frame two) but Wuhan Open champion Xiao responded with runs of 56 and 122 to restore parity into the mid-session interval.

Zhou went back in front after ousting frame five on a re-spotted black, but Xiao pieced together a three-frame sequence (56 break, frame seven) as he went in front for the first time.

Perhaps crucially, though, Zhou took the final frame of the afternoon session to trail only by one.

The final action of day one came from the clash between two former world finalists - Hawkins and Matthew Stevens.

2000 and 2005 Crucible runner-up Stevens led 1-0 and 2-1, but 2013 runner-up Hawkins reeled off six successive frames to claim the driving seat at 7-2 up.

All four incomplete matches mentioned above are scheduled to finish on Sunday.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 World Snooker Championship, visit our tournament information centre here.