Kyren Wilson captured the 2026 Masters title on Sunday with a 10-6 victory over John Higgins at the Alexandra Palace in London.
In a match that had several long and protracted frames, Wilson was by far the more composed player throughout the day’s play and thoroughly deserved his maiden Masters victory.
It’s third-time lucky for the competitor known as the Warrior after prior disappointments in the 2018 and 2025 finals.
Wilson collects the £350,000 champion’s cheque and has the honour of having his name inscribed on the famous Paul Hunter Trophy.
The final commenced amid an electric atmosphere inside the Ally Pally as both contenders were given a rapturous reception upon their entrances into the arena.
Higgins got off to the perfect start with a break of 58 helping the Scot, looking for his first Masters crown in two decades, take the opening frame.
But the signs of the struggles that were to come were immediately evident in the second frame when Higgins missed several gilt-edged chances to double his lead.
Instead, Wilson cleared with a 58 contribution of his own and duly added two more frames to reach the mid-session interval two in front.
The 2024 world champion wasn’t without his own mistakes in what at times was a turgid affair, allowing his opponent back in to restore parity at 3-3.
However, the 34 year-old shifted through the gears to end the afternoon bout of play 5-3 up – compiling back-back-back century breaks of 103 and 111.
After the first two frames of the evening session were shared, Higgins pinched a marathon 11th frame on the pink to stay in the hunt at just one back.
Yet the 50 year-old, becoming the oldest Triple Crown finalist in the sport’s history, appeared to be tiring with more and more sloppy errors creeping into his game.
Higgins excelled in dramatic 6-5 triumphs over world champion Zhao Xintong and world number one Judd Trump in the previous rounds, but the tank looked to be running on empty.
Wilson, who was similarly battle sharp having also reached the final with successive deciding-frame successes, seized control and picked up the pieces to move 8-5 up.
When that became 9-5 with a 78 contribution, the end-result looked inevitable but, with the winning line within reach, Wilson missed a routine black off the spot.
That let Higgins in for a brief reprieve, but despite the best efforts of encouragement from the crowd, he could only muster a single frame.
Wilson needed a few bites at the cherry in the 16th frame but finally sealed the deal to reinstate himself as one of the world’s best players.
It’s a second major title for Wilson and brings him one away from becoming a member of the career Triple Crown club, needing only the UK Championship now to complete the set.
The ten-time ranking event winner endured a difficult end to 2025, but just like he did on more than one occasion in this tournament, he proved that he has the mettle when his back is against the wall.
Featured photo credit: WST
Definitely the better player on the day won deservedly, “better” did really mean “least bad” in this final however. Wilson was probably the player of the week, not just the final day, so he was the doubly deserving winner but it was a strange week of players veering from peaks to troughs match by match, or frame by frame. John Higgins was probably outplayed in his two matches leading up to the final, but he didn’t have a third underdog win in a row in him, in a two session match, with the trophy in front of his opponents face.
Trump definitely didn’t outplay him in the semis.