The 2026 Tour Championship final promises to be a special showdown with Judd Trump and Zhao Xintong bidding for the title in Manchester on Sunday.
A contest between the world number one and the reigning world champion whets the appetite and offers a fitting prelude to the upcoming World Championship in Sheffield where they will also be on opposite sides of the draw.
Trump and Zhao have undoubtedly represented the best players of 2026 so far, each consistently featuring at the business end of events on the calendar.
The former ended his unusual 14-month barren streak with victory at the German Masters while Zhao secured back-to-back ranking titles at the World Grand Prix and the Players Championship.
The Chinese competitor is unbeaten in Players Series events this season and is now just one victory away from an unprecedented clean sweep of tournaments played off the one-year rankings list.
For all his success and the 31 ranking titles that he has accumulated across his own glittering career, Trump has never enjoyed glory at the Tour Champs.
In fact, before this week he had a terrible record in the tournament having not even won a match since 2020, but three wins later and he is on the cusp of lifting the trophy.
Both players reached the Tour Championship final, meanwhile, with unexpected thrashings of their respective semi-final opponents.
Trump thumped Neil Robertson 10-4 while Zhao was even more dominant in a 10-1 hiding of reigning champion John Higgins.
It sets up a first-ever meeting in a final between the duo, a clash that has more than just the £150,000 top prize riding on it.
Trump and Zhao will each be fully aware of the fact that they are regarded as the sport’s ultimate top dogs at present.
A triumph for either would represent a major coup and could provide a significant mental edge ahead of the trip to the Crucible, where they’ll start proceedings as the two obvious favourites for the world title.
Trump and Zhao have already faced off twice this season, with Trump winning their Champion of Champions clash and Zhao edging a Riyadh Season Snooker Championship battle – both in semi-finals.
This will be their first match against one another with silverware on the line, and it promises to be a humdinger.
Zhao is yet to lose a final as a professional player, winning all six that he has previously contested on the World Snooker Tour.
Trump is no stranger to the winning sensation as well, but the 36 year-old has lost three of the four title-deciding fixtures that he has participated in this term.
Many probably have Zhao, who has scored heavily in his two victories at the event, as the slight favourite, but such is the quality on display that the outcome could easily go either way.
What’s for certain is that it’s a fascinating final not to be missed.
The 2026 Tour Championship final is to be played over 19 frames on Sunday, April 5 with sessions commencing at 13:00 and 19:00 BST.
Featured image credit: WST
