Apprentice defeats master as teenager Moody stuns World Open title holder Higgins

The 19-year-old, who is in his third season on the professional snooker circuit, sets up a meeting with Welshman Ryan Day on Wednesday in the £825,000 world ranking event.

In a clash of generations with 31 years difference between the two players, Moody was facing four-time world champion Higgins for the first time in top-flight competition.

Moody settled in quickly against one of snooker's all-time greats, making breaks of 84 and 52 in establishing a 2-0 lead.

Higgins - who began his title defence yesterday with a 5-3 win over Liam Highfield in a high-quality affair - got on the scoreboard in frame three with the help of a 57, but Moody went into the mid-session interval 3-1 up after a run of 84.

On resumption, the world number 47 extended his advantage, reaching the hill at 4-1 up with an effort of 82.

However, you can never cross off Higgins' chances. Competing in his record 2,000th professional match, the 33-time ranking event winner reduced his arrears and then crafted a 135 to reduce the deficit to only one frame.

In frame eight, Moody had the chance to finish the job, but within a few pots of progression, he ended up on virtually top of the final red and was forced to play safe.

After a safety exchange, Higgins masterfully cleared from yellow to black to send the tie all the way.

With momentum firmly on the side of Higgins having taken the last three frames, the 50-year-old scored first in the decider, but Moody came back to the table, and composed himself to produce a match-winning contribution of 65.

Moody's stock on the World Snooker Tour continues to rise. The hot property kept his professional tour card at the end of last season - a fine achievement for someone so young - and has kicked on this campaign.

Now into the world's top 50, Moody reached his maiden ranking event quarter-final at the Wuhan Open last August, and only a few weeks later he was in the last eight of another ranked event, this time on home soil at the British Open.

The Yorkshire cueist narrowly missed out on qualifying for last month’s World Grand Prix in Hong Kong - an invitational event for the top 32 players from the one-year list - but was still invited to the Far East by the tournament organisers there for promotional work.

During his trip, Moody spoke of his hopes for the rest of the season, including his desire to win a tournament.

There is a top prize of £175,000 to the winner of this week’s World Open title in Yushan, and substantial pay-outs throughout the rest of the tournament - these amounts could make a huge difference to players further down the rankings.

With the biggest competition of all on the horizon - the World Snooker Championship - it is possible that Moody could break into the world’s top 32 rankings for the first time by the end of this campaign.

It looks as if the teenager will be inside the top 48 come the world qualifiers, which means he would need to win two matches to make his Crucible Theatre debut.

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