Zhao Xintong is up to number five in the official snooker rankings, a new career-high following his triumph at the 2026 Players Championship on Sunday.
The Chinese number one beat John Higgins 10-7 in Telford, recovering from a sluggish start to finish in style with a brace of centuries and a run of 92 in the concluding three frames.
Victory represents Zhao’s second on the bounce in ranking events, and he’s the only player this season at all to have won more than one.
Let’s have a quick recap on how the two main snooker rankings lists look after the week’s action.
Zhao Xintong’s upward trajectory
It won’t be until the World Championship in 2027 that Zhao has any ranking points of significance from the rolling two-year system to defend, meaning he’s constantly moving up the pecking order these days.
Reaching number five in the world eclipses Zhao’s previous high of six that he boasted before his ban, and his charge towards challenging for the world number one spot could get more and more realistic in the coming months.
Judd Trump, however, remains comfortably in top spot as the sport’s leading player as things stand despite losing in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Kyren Wilson, Neil Robertson, and Mark Williams continue to occupy the next three spots, with Mark Selby dropping down to seventh behind Zhao and Higgins.
Shaun Murphy, Mark Allen, and Xiao Guodong complete the top ten ahead of Ronnie O’Sullivan, who opted not to participate in Telford.
O’Sullivan’s failure to play in every event means that his provisional end-of-season ranking is down at 14th, but his buffer over Elliot Slessor in 17th is around £100,000 so his top 16 status doesn’t appear to be in jeopardy just yet.
Back to the official standings and Wu Yize is in 12th – the rising Chinese star staying in front of Chris Wakelin, Barry Hawkins, Ding Junhui, and Si Jiahui.
| Official 2-Year World Rankings | Feb 23, 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judd Trump | £1,797,550 |
| 2 | Kyren Wilson | £1,369,200 |
| 3 | Neil Robertson | £1,154,850 |
| 4 | Mark Williams | £995,400 |
| 5 | Zhao Xinting | £953,550 |
| 6 | John Higgins | £892,350 |
| 7 | Mark Selby | £848,350 |
| 8 | Shaun Murphy | £756,800 |
| 9 | Mark Allen | £645,750 |
| 10 | Xiao Guodong | £629,500 |
| 11 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £585,200 |
| 12 | Wu Yize | £570,900 |
| 13 | Chris Wakelin | £558,200 |
| 14 | Barry Hawkins | £551,850 |
| 15 | Ding Junhui | £547,850 |
| 16 | Si Jiahui | £474,400 |
| — | — | — |
| 17 | Stuart Bingham | £405,500 |
| 18 | Zhang Anda | £392,950 |
| 19 | Jak Jones | £389,300 |
| 20 | Ali Carter | £374,050 |
| 21 | Elliot Slessor | £368,050 |
| 22 | Jack Lisowski | £356,000 |
| 23 | Gary Wilson | £314,300 |
| 24 | David Gilbert | £293,300 |
| 25 | Zhou Yuelong | £293,050 |
| 26 | Stephen Maguire | £292,550 |
| 27 | Pang Junxu | £281,500 |
| 28 | Joe O’Connor | £277,300 |
| 29 | Lei Peifan | £256,800 |
| 30 | Tom Ford | £252,050 |
| 31 | Yuan Sijun | £249,900 |
| 32 | Hossein Vafaei | £221,700 |
Race to the Tour Championship
Following the second of three events on the Players Series where qualification is based off the one-year snooker rankings, the race to feature at the Tour Championship enters its final stretch.
There are just two counting tournaments left on the calendar before the cut-off point for the 12-player field in Manchester.
Neil Robertson continues to lead the way on this list, mostly on the back of his victory at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters near the start of the campaign.
Zhao has leapfrogged his way into second place ahead of Selby, Murphy, Trump, and Williams, while runner-up Higgins is up six spots to 11th.
Currently in 12th position and holding onto the last Tour Champs ticket is Xiao Guodong, but it’s hard to know whether ninth-placed Ronnie O’Sullivan would accept his invitation to the Tour Championship or not, so Elliot Slessor in 13th could still be sitting pretty.
Zhou Yuelong, Barry Hawkins, Zhang Anda, and Jack Lisowski are others who are among the immediate chasing pack, but they’d each need deep runs to force their way up the standings.
The Welsh Open and the World Open are the two tournaments that are on the agenda before Manchester.
| 1-Year Snooker Rankings | Feb 23, 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Neil Robertson | £635,300 |
| 2 | Zhao Xintong | £443,550 |
| 3 | Mark Selby | £419,350 |
| 4 | Shaun Murphy | £384,900 |
| 5 | Judd Trump | £339,350 |
| 6 | Mark Williams | £329,800 |
| 7 | Wu Yize | £286,300 |
| 8 | Chris Wakelin | £259,800 |
| 9 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £251,750 |
| 10 | Mark Allen | £237,350 |
| 11 | John Higgins | £233,600 |
| 12 | Xiao Guodong | £228,000 |
| — | — | — |
| 13 | Elliot Slessor | £205,300 |
| 14 | Zhou Yuelong | £185,000 |
| 15 | Barry Hawkins | £183,800 |
| 16 | Zhang Anda | £180,400 |
| 17 | Jack Lisowski | £180,400 |
| 18 | Gary Wilson | £156,900 |
| 19 | Si Jiahui | £135,200 |
| 20 | Stephen Maguire | £132,800 |
| 21 | Ali Carter | £131,250 |
| 22 | Kyren Wilson | £125,900 |
| 23 | Chang Bingyu | £122,700 |
| 24 | Stuart Bingham | £121,700 |
| 25 | Ding Junhui | £114,850 |
| 26 | Yuan Sijun | £104,300 |
| 27 | Anthony McGill | £98,000 |
| 28 | Thepchaiya Un-Nooh | £97,100 |
| 29 | Jak Jones | £94,000 |
| 30 | Joe O’Connor | £93,050 |
| 31 | Pang Junxu | £92,100 |
| 32 | Aaron Hill | £80,700 |
When is the next snooker event?
We certainly don’t have too long to wait for the next ranking event on the calendar for the ongoing 2025/26 snooker season.
In fact, the 2026 Welsh Open is already under way at the Venue Cymru, running from Monday, February 23rd to Sunday, March 1st in Llandudno.
It’ll be the last tournament from the Home Nations series, following earlier events stages in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
More details for the Welsh Open are available by clicking here.
Featured photo credit: WST
A notable drop after the Player’s Championship is Martin O’Donnell dropping 12 places to 59th.