The 2026 English Open (officially the 2026 BetVictor English Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 7 to 13 September 2026 at the Brentwood Centre in Brentwood, England. Qualifying took place on 25 and 26 July at the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England. The 11th consecutive edition of the tournament since it was first staged in 2016, it was the fifth ranking event of the 2026–27 snooker season, following the 2026 British Open and preceding the 2026 Shenzhen Open. It was the first of four tournaments in the season's Home Nations Series, preceding the 2026 Northern Ireland Open, the 2026 Scottish Open, and the 2027 Welsh Open.

Mark Allen won the 2025 edition, defeating Zhou Yuelong 9–8 in the final. However, he withdrew from the 2026 edition for personal reasons.

Ali Carter won the tournament, beating Mark Williams 9–6 in the final.

Overview

The English Open was first staged in 2016 and the inaugural winner was Liang Wenbo, who defeated Judd Trump 9–6 in the final to win his maiden ranking title. The winner received the Steve Davis Trophy, which was named to honour the six-time World Champion following his retirement at the end of the 2015–16 snooker season.

The 2026 edition—the 11th consecutive staging of the event—took place from 7 to 13 September at the Brentwood Centre in Brentwood, England, the fifth consecutive year the venue hosted the tournament. Qualifying took place on 25 and 26 June at the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England. Sponsored by BetVictor, it was the fifth ranking event of the 2026–27 snooker season, following the 2026 British Open and preceding the 2026 Shenzhen Open. It was also the first of four tournaments in the season's Home Nations Series, preceding the 2026 Northern Ireland Open, the 2026 Scottish Open, and the 2027 Welsh Open.

Mark Allen won the 2025 edition, defeating Zhou Yuelong 9–8 in the 2025 final, but he withdrew from the 2026 edition for personal reasons and so Sam Craigie received a bye to the last 32.

Ali Carter won the tournament, beating Mark Williams 9–6 in the final. There were 72 century breaks made in the event, with 40 at the main stage, and 32 during qualifying. The highest was a 141 made by Zhou Yuelong.

Format The tournament used a tiered format first implemented for the Home Nations Series in the 2024–25 snooker season. In round one, players seeded 65–96 faced those seeded 97 and below, including selected amateurs. In round two, the winners from round one faced players seeded 33–64. The winners from round two faced the top 32 seeds. All matches were played as the best of 7 until the quarterfinals, which were the best of 11. The semifinals were the best of 11, and the final was a bestof17-frame match played over two .

Prize fund The prize fund for the tournament is detailed below.

Winner: £100,000 Runner-up: £45,000 Semi-final: £21,000 Quarter-final: £13,200 Last 16: £9,000 Last 32: £5,400 Last 64: £3,600 Last 96: £1,000

Highest break: £5,000 Total: £550,400

Summary Last 64 Mark Allen, Ronnie O'Sullivan, and Jak Jones withdrew giving Sam Craigie, Liam Davies, and Chang Bingyu walkovers to the last 32 respectively.

Oliver Lines beat world number one Zhao Xintong 4–2, Luo Zetao defeated Neil Robertson 4–3, Gong Chenzhi beat Jimmy Robertson, also by 4–3, and Kyren Wilson beat Mateusz Baranowski 4–1. Judd Trump whitewashed Jordan Brown, Mark Williams defeated Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon 4–3, Mark Selby beat Ricky Walden, also by 4–3, Barry Hawkins beat Lyu Haotian 4–2, and Jamie Clarke defeated David Gilbert 4–3.

Last 32 Selby defeated Zhang Anda 4–3, Wilson beat Chang, also by 4–3, Trump beat Ashley Carty 4–1, Wu Yize beat Xu Si 4–2, Davies beat Wang Xinbo 4–1, and Anthony McGill, beat Fan Zhengyi, also by 4–1. Shaun Murphy whitewashed Jamie Clarke, Yuan Sijun defeated Lines 4–3, Hawkins beat Daniel Wells 4–1, Mark Williams defeated Matthew Selt 4–3, and Ali Carter whitewashed Robbie Williams.

Last 16 Davies beat World champion Wu 4–1, Wilson defeated Selby 4–3, Zhou Yuelong beat Yuan 4–2, and Ding Junhui beat Joe O'Connor 4–1. Trump defeated McGill 4–3, Carter beat Gong 4–2, Williams beat Hawkins 4–1, and Murphy defeated Pang Junxu 4–3.

Quarter-finals The quarter-finals were played on 11 September as the best of 11 .

In the afternoon Ding beat Wilson 6–2, and Carter defeated Zhou 6–5.

In the evening session Murphy defeated Trump 6–5, and Williams beat Davies 6–3, with Williams making his 700th career century in the final frame.

Semi-finals The semi-finals were played on 12 September as the best of 11 frames.

In the afternoon session Carter beat Ding 6–2. After the match Carter said: "I felt I was just hanging on in the first four frames, but to get out 2–2 was great as I was always on the back foot. I went out after the interval and played no miss snooker so it was amazing. To get in the top 16 at my ripe old age of 47 wouldn't be too bad would it? There is a lot to play for tomorrow, but I'm going to be in there fighting. Arguably Shaun is one of the best players in the world and Mark Williams is an all-time great. It is going to be really tough but I'm going to savour it. It is brilliant to be here. It goes without saying that it is all about the winning, but it has been a good week to get to another final. I'm still competing with the best players in the world and it is a feather in my cap."

In the evening session Williams defeated Murphy 6–5. After the match Williams said: "I'm not sure how I managed to win. I looked at the scoreboard, saw 5–1 and thought I was out. I stuck in there and made a few good . I got it back to 5–4 and he started to miss a few. It was a great clearance to go 5–5 and an unbelievable break in the . He missed an easy black at 5–2 and I just thought at least if I could clear up I wasn't giving it to him. Those matches coming from 5–1 down probably only happen once in a thousand. I just had to stick in and that was the one time it turned round for me. It has to be up there with my best comebacks. I was 5–1 down and 60 odd behind on two occasions. I'm over the moon to have a crack at the final now."

Final

The final was played on 13 September as the best of 17 frames, played over two sessions.

At the end of the afternoon session, Williams led Carter 5–3. However, Carter went on to win the match, and the tournament, 9–6. After the match Carter said: "It doesn't feel real at the moment. It hasn't really sunk in, I've not won as many titles as someone like Mark Williams, but it is great. The boys know I can play, that is for sure. In all my ranking events I've never beat one of the alltime greats in the final, to do that today makes it extra special. Not being detrimental to the other players I've beat it has been lower ranked players than me. To play Mark Williams and win in front of my home crowd is a dream come true. I was flying my aeroplane last night. I was getting in it, running the check list, starting it up and going out flying for half an hour. I was getting away from it all. That was nectar for me." Williams said: "I tried my best. I played alright in patches. I didn't play too well tonight, but Ali put pressure on me and I didn't handle it very well. He deserved to win. It was a great game and I enjoyed it. I tried my best. The crowd has been unbelievable all week. The conditions have been good, tough at times, but good. Well done and good luck to Ali."

Final rounds The draw for the final rounds is shown below. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the players' seeding and players in bold denote match winners.

Top half

Bottom half

Note: w/d=withdrawn; w/o=walkover

Final: frame scores Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: Ben WilliamsBrentwood Centre, Brentwood, England, 13 September 2026 Ali Carter 96 Mark Williams Afternoon: 0136 (136), 8347, 3270, 1132 (132), 11022 (103), 674, 4882, 5175Evening: 9212, 6830, 7924, 1061, 596, 8450, 990 (frame 5) 103 Highest break 136 (frame 1) 1 Century breaks 2

Qualifying draw All qualifying matches were the best of 7 frames. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the players' seeding, an (a) indicates amateur players not on the World Snooker Tour, and players in bold denote match winners.

Note: w/d=withdrawn; w/o=walkover

Century breaks Main stage centuries A total of 40 century breaks were made during the main stage of the tournament in Brentwood.

141 Zhou Yuelong 140, 100 Yuan Sijun 139, 111, 104 Wu Yize 138, 103 Pang Junxu 136, 132, 112, 103 Mark Williams 133, 114 Barry Hawkins 128, 115, 103, 101, 101 Shaun Murphy 128, 112 Mark Selby 123 Wang Xinbo 119, 114, 103 Ali Carter 115, 112, 110 Judd Trump 113 Oliver Lines 113 Ricky Walden 112 Luo Zetao 111 Fan Zhengyi 109 Antoni Kowalski 108, 106 Zhang Anda 105 Liam Davies 102, 100 Zhao Xintong 101 Chris Wakelin 100 Xu Si

Qualifying stage centuries A total of 32 century breaks were made during the qualifying stage of the tournament in Leicester.

139, 120 Luo Zetao 137 Michael Holt 134 Sam Craigie 130 Dylan Emery 129, 105 Cheung Ka Wai 128, 120 Marco Fu 124 Daniel Wells 119 Louis Heathcote 118, 106, 100 David Grace 113, 108 Xu Yichen 113, 106 Liam Highfield 111 Fan Zhengyi 109 Mateusz Baranowski 107 Julien Leclercq 107 Long Zehuang 107 Oliver Sykes 106 Liam Graham 106 Ross Muir 104 Jackson Page 104 Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon 103 Alfie Burden 101 Mitchell Mann 101 Wang Xinbo 100 Ashley Carty 100 Lyu Haotian

Notes

References