Summary

  • Click the 'Watch live' icon & 'Watch & listen' tab for BBC coverage & your choice of table from the Crucible

  • Second round, best of 25 frames

  • Tonight's session:

  • Mark Selby 7-9 Wu Yize*

  • John Higgins 7-9 Ronnie O'Sullivan*

  • World Snooker Championship schedule, BBC coverage & results

  • Get involved by sending us your views through the yellow button on this page

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Live Reporting

Timothy Abraham

  1. Match stats

    Zhao 9-7 Ding

    Zhao Xintong leads by every metric you can measure after two sessions of this blockbuster second-round match.

    But Ding Junhui is far from out of it, just two frames adrift.

    He'll need that long-shot success percentage - an eye-catchingly low 38% - to improve though if he is to pull off the comeback.

    Zhao v Ding match stats

  2. Zhao and Ding to a finish

    Zhao 9-7 Ding

    Zhao Xintong of China looks on against Ding Junhui of China during the second round match on day eight of the Halo World Snooker Championship at The Crucible TheatreGetty Images

    In the all-Chinese second-round match between China's first world champion Zhao Xintong and the country's long-time trailblazer Ding Junhui, Zhao holds a two-frame lead, needing four more for victory.

    That match will be played to a finish this morning.

    The pair shared their first session 4-4 but reigning champion Zhao pulled 8-5 clear at one point on Saturday with breaks of 77, 115 and 87.

    Ding, however, called on all his experience to claim two of the final three frames of the session - both with breaks of 69 - to keep himself in contention at 9-7 adrift.

  3. How the draw stacks up

    Three UK & NI representatives already through to the quarter-finals.

    This morning we're guaranteed a Chinese player to join them.

    But will it be Zhao Xintong or Ding Junhui who sets up a last-eight meeting with Shaun Murphy?

    World Championship draw

  4. World Championship 2026: Seeds, qualifying & BBC TV schedule

    Zhao beats Williams in historic final - highlights

    The 2026 World Snooker Championship got under way at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Saturday, 18 April - and you can watch every shot of the tournament live on the BBC.

    This year is the 50th championship to be held at the Crucible since the tournament moved to Sheffield in 1977.

    The final starts on 3 May and finishes on 4 May, with the winner taking home £500,000.

    To watch live on BBC TV and follow uninterrupted coverage on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, click here.

  5. Sunday's schedule

    All times BST

    10:00

    Zhao Xintong (1) 9-7 Ding Junhui (16)*

    Mark Selby (7) v Wu Yize (10)

    14:30

    Chris Wakelin (13) 4-4 Neil Robertson (4)

    Hossein Vafaei 4-4 Judd Trump (2)

    19:00

    John Higgins (5) 2-6 Ronnie O'Sullivan (12)

    Mark Selby (7) v Wu Yize (10)

    * = to a finish

    schedule

  6. Halfway through the marathon

    A general view of The Crucible arenaGetty Images

    It might be the morning of the London Marathon - but we're already halfway through snooker's annual 17-day equivalent.

    Wonder if by the end of the tournament, this year's champion will have walked 26-odd miles around the table during their five matches...

    Anyway, they'll certainly have got their steps in regardless.

    Welcome to day nine of the 2026 World Snooker Championship - we already know three of this year's quarter-finalists and this morning we'll find out the fourth...