Eight players remain in the hunt for glory at the quarter-finals stage of the 2026 British Open, which take place on Friday in Cheltenham.
The random draw element to this tournament always adds something extra, and the last-eight pairings have thrown up some interesting ties.
There is a £100,000 champion’s cheque up for grabs this weekend at the Centaur, with three wins now separating the remaining octet from lifting the Clive Everton Trophy.
Let’s take a look at each of the upcoming fixtures.
Mark Selby vs Jack Lisowski
Cheltenham cueist Jack Lisowski is the home favourite and is so far living up his billing with a run to the quarters for only the second time.
Lisowski overcame Lyu Haotian to reach this stage of a ranking event for the first time this season, and last season’s Northern Ireland Open champion will next face Mark Selby in one of the obvious ties of the round.
The latter has emerged from a series of close matches in the tournament, winning three deciding-frame clinchers in a row before edging Iulian Boiko 4-2 in the last 16.
Selby and Lisowski share a surprisingly even head-to-head record, but Selby ended Lisowski’s run to this round in 2023 and also beat Jackpot in the final of the 2019 Scottish Open.
When is it? Friday, September 4th at 13:00 BST
Liam Highfield vs Stan Moody
By reaching the quarter-finals, Liam Highfield and Stan Moody have already matched their previous best performances in ranking events.
Highfield backed up his standout defeat of Kyren Wilson with a victory over Long Zehuang, while Moody has dispatched both Zhang Anda and John Higgins to get this far.
For Moody, the 19 year-old is widely expected to orchestrate these kinds of opportunities on a more regular basis in the future.
But this is arguably an even more important chance for Highfield, who has been a journeyman on the World Snooker Tour for more than 15 years.
The duo clashed just once before, at last year’s Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters where Moody pipped Highfield in a high-scoring 4-3 thriller.
When is it? Friday, September 4th at 13:00 BST
Aaron Hill vs Jak Jones
Aaron Hill was quoted by the Metro this week as saying, “I’m at the stage now where I want to win tournaments.”
The Irishman’s next opponent in the 2026 British Open draw has already joined the club of professional winners with Jak Jones emerging as the Championship League Snooker champion in July.
Jones has played strongly this week, seemingly boasting a boost in confidence on the back of that breakthrough success in Leicester.
This is Hill’s fourth quarter-final in a ranking event, and the 24 year-old has been slowly but steadily becoming a more consistent force over the last few seasons.
Not in favour of the Cork man’s chances of finally reaching the semi-finals of an event is a poor record against Jones, having lost convincingly to the Welshman in both of their prior ties against one another.
When is it? Friday, September 4th at 19:00 BST
Judd Trump vs Zhao Xintong
While the Selby versus Lisowski clash offers a lot, it doesn’t really come much better right now than a showdown between Zhao Xintong and Judd Trump.
The new world number one encounters the player who held the top status for the last two-year period in a blockbuster battle not to be missed.
Trump reached the last eight with back-to-back 4-0 victories on Thursday, easily outgunning both Elliot Slessor and David Gilbert with whitewash displays.
It was a little tougher for Zhao, but last week’s Wuhan Open runner-up still managed to emerge with a 4-2 defeat of Mark Joyce after earlier ousting Michael Holt.
The last time Zhao and Trump crossed paths, it was in the final of the Tour Championship when the former secured a dominant 10-3 triumph.
When is it? Friday, September 4th at 19:00 BST
Featured photo credit: WST
>The random draw element to this tournament always adds something extra
It does, yes — the question is whether that’s a good thing or not, since I think snooker, both as a sport and (especially) the WST as a business, *generally* benefits when marquee names remain in the tournament — these are normally players who were, or would have been, seeded.
Looking at this lineup, I would say the marquee players remaining in the draw are Selby, Trump, Xintong, and Lisowski.
So another alternative would be to segregate the remaining players into two groups before every draw: 1) marquee (or higher-ranked) players in one group, and 2) the ‘others’ in a second group — then randomly draw one marquee player verses a player from the ‘others’ group.
This way you could avoid QF matchups like Mark Selby vs Jack Lisowski, and Judd Trump vs Zhao Xintong — because looking at the ‘others’, these are the 4 players you would normally expect to make it to the SF.
Note this also preserves the possibility of David vs Goliath type upsets — looking at these QF matchups, where is the potential for an interesting upset? — I guess you could say it would be an interesting upset if Lisowski beat Selby, but that’s about it.
Actually in Moody and Hill, we have young players who are on the cusp of great careers, and Jak Jones has won one of the 4 completed tournaments so far this season. If WST can’t promote these players then it’s a concern.
But actually the numbers in Cheltenham have been great (I attended the first 3 days). It’s one of the better venues in the UK, although very hard to reach unless you drive.
It’s also been the first live snooker in the UK this season, after the 673 matches played behind closed doors at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
I think the WST can promote the players you name without having a QF where Judd Trump plays Zhao Xintong, a matchup most would normally expect in a final.
I know of Jak Jones, especially due to his success in WC qualifying, and think he’s an interesting player who has shown both ability and mental toughness — but for a 33 y/o, his snooker resume is pretty thin — I’m less familiar with Aaron Hill; I have seen him play a few times, but was not all that impressed.
To me, Liam Highfield vs Stan Moody is the more interesting matchup — after beating a good player in Zhang Anda, then a legend in John Higgins, this looks like a very good chance for Moody to advance to the SF — looking at the players remaining in the draw, making the final is likely to be more of a challenge.
There are tournaments without a random draw where Zhao and Trump could meet before the final. This FA Cup style element is a big part of the British Open’s identity.
Highfield is playing to a particularly high level in his last two matches. His win last night featured two tons, an 80 and a 70.
I like to follow his progress as he plays at the Reardon club in Stoke where I used to be a member. He was mentored for some time by the club’s previous manager, Dave Deakes, who we lost in 2020. Dave would have enjoyed seeing Highfield dominate Kyren Wilson the other night.
Yes, his teaming up with Anthony Hamilton seems to be a winner. Has looked vastly more consistent this year.
I didn’t realise they’d linked up. Would presume his main base is still The Reardon where Jamie Cope was also once the resident professional.
Highfield is a player I like to watch — I always look for him during WC qualifying, because I know he has the potential to beat bigger names — and he often does pretty well there — like Jak Jones, he has both snooker talent and mental resilience — a confident table presence.
But he’s 35 y/o now, and his snooker resume is also fairly thin.
Tough matchup today with Stan Moody — normally both would be facing higher-ranked opponents at this stage of a ranking event, and I’d be rooting for both to advance.
I know I am repeating some comments above but anyway here it is.
I believe it is very fitting that at the British Open we are starting to experience progress from the younger generation of British players.
In my days a boy might wear a new pair of shoes to impress. At 19 as David Caufield has eluded to; Stan Moody is not only making a breakthrough on the table but in his appearance, well done son. His birthday is in ten days, I wish he receives the perfect birthday gift.
Aaron Hill at just 24 from Cork, Ireland keeps making strides forward. Okay he is not British but he is Irish.
Jak Jones only 33 from Wales won his first ranking event this year in the Champions League.
It should also be mentioned fellow Welshman who just turned 20, June Liam Davies showed his qualities by beating Barry Hawkins and Craig Steadman before just being edged out in a decider with another Brit having a great start to the new season in David Gilbert.
All said and done, only Zhao Xintong is still alive in the tournament that hails from China. The balance of the quarterfinals are from England, Wales and Ireland.
……….The class of ’92 are not in the quarterfinals………