Tour Championship snooker 2026 semi-final LIVE - John Higgins thrashed by Zhao Xintong who will meet Judd Trump in the final

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TNT Sports brings you live text coverage from the Tour Championship 2026. Zhao Xintong and John Higgins were pitted together in the second semi-final in Manchester. World champion Zhao took an 8-0 lead after the first session and needed only three frames in the evening to finish a 10-1 winner to set up a meeting with Judd Trump in Sunday's final.

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Zhao completes dominant win over Higgins

Shanghai Masters

Wilson to renew rivalry with Trump in final after beating Zhao in thriller

01/08/2026 at 16:06

Zhao Xintong will meet Judd Trump in the Tour Championship final on Sunday having made light work of John Higgins in a lop-sided semi-final.

Zhao had an 8-0 lead over Higgins after the opening session and, although Higgins avoided a whitewash, the Chinese star wrapped up victory with less than an hour required back on the table on Saturday evening.

The world champion immediately knocked in a long pot and his 54-break put him a frame away from victory.

After Zhao started with five reds and five blacks in the ninth - on an open table it looked like a maximum might have been on - he was forced to go for a pink and missed his pot before Higgins then produced a fantastic 79 to get on the board.

After both had chances early on in the following frame, Zhao then produced a break of 85 to secure victory.

Zhao has now moved up to fourth in the rankings and will take on the world No. 1 Trump, who overcame Neil Robertson in the other semi-final on Friday.

After a scrappy opener, the Chinese star then made 60-plus breaks in every frame of the afternoon session, securing the match's only century, with a 104, in the eighth frame.

Zhao beats Higgins 10-1

Just the break of 85 in the end. With just one hundred, the stats won't do justice as to how well he played in this match.

Zhao 9-1 Higgins (77*-9)

Zhao is having fun now. He slots a black all the way into the green pocket. He will look to seal victory with a century.

Zhao 9-1 Higgins (62*-9)

The end is nigh. Higgins will soon be requiring snookers.

Zhao 9-1 Higgins (17*-9)

Zhao pots a good red with the rest and, after a black, wobbles the next one in - and now looks like building a big score.

Zhao 9-1 Higgins (8-9)

Higgins pots a very good red into the left middle then, after a black, a fantastic long pot into the yellow pocket. He then misses a pink though.

Zhao 9-1 Higgins (8-0)

Zhao gets the first red of the frame but misses his next one and he is fortunate this time not to leave a pot on.

Zhao 9-1 Higgins (4-0)

Higgins goes in off, but her is lucky not to leave Zhao a chance of a pot.

Zhao 9-1 Higgins

A very good break of 79 from Higgins to, finally, get on the board. He allows himself a smile.

Zhao 9-0 Higgins (41-54*)

There was a last tricky red but Higgins got in behind it and, after a little wobble in the jaws, put it away, he should put down to the brown to take the frame now.

Zhao 9-0 Higgins (41-27*)

The black wiped its feet a little, but did drop and Higgins should, at the least, end this break in front of Zhao.

Zhao 9-0 Higgins (41-1*)

He maybe rushed a little bit going for a slightly awkward pink to middle and has left Higgins a chance now.

Zhao 9-0 Higgins (40*-0)

Zhao had the perfect position to open the reds from his second black. Now he has them all open - and potted five reds, five blacks....

Zhao 9-0 Higgins (8-0)

It almost gets mundane the way Zhao fires in a long red from beyond baulk, straight after the break, and gets perfect position for the black.

Zhao 9-0 Higgins

The eighth straight frame with a half-century from Zhao and he needs just one more to secure victory.

Zhao 8-0 Higgins (61*-14)

Notch another frame up for Zhao. Things could all be done and dusted very shortly.

Zhao 8-0 Higgins (30*-14)

A fine pot from Zhao to get him back with his hand on the table - and this spells danger for Higgins.

Zhao 8-0 Higgins (21-14)

Higgins has to play safe after failing to get position off a red near the top cushion.

Zhao 8-0 Higgins (21-6*)

Higgins is left a pot the middle which he puts away. We have said this before, but can he make this chance pay?

Zhao 8-0 Higgins (21-0)

Zhao opens the reds up but leaves the cue ball on the bottom cushion, so has to play a safety.

Zhao 8-0 Higgins (5*-0)

Not the start Higgins wants, he offers Zhao a chance and he is immediately of on a break.

The two moments of the afternoon session...

Zhao got creative to pot a ball in the third frame.

And then he played the shot of the tournament so far...

Zhao leads Higgins 8-0!

Welcome back...

The players are set to resume play at just after 1900 BST. If this afternoon's session is anything to go by, we might not be playing too long after that.

Zhao two frames away from semi-final whitewash

John Higgins has overcome numerous obstacles in his career but even he will have faced few taller tasks than pulling back an 8-0 lead in a race to 10 frames against Zhao Xintong.

Zhao did not hit a century until the eighth frame of their Tour Championship semi-final in Manchester but made 60-plus breaks in every one bar the first and proved impossible for Higgins to keep out.

The second and fourth frames saw Higgins hit 46 and 50 breaks respectively but Zhao responded with clearances of 69 and 81 to win both.

The third saw a remarkable pot, kissing a red into another red by the middle pocket to divert 45 degrees into the pocket.

After a clean sweep before the mid-session interval, a 74-break won the next frame, before the shot of the day in the sixth frame.

Two half-centuries in the penultimate frame acted as the hors d'oeuvre for his first century of the match, and 73rd of the season, with a 104-break in the last.

Judd Trump, in theory, has an advantage having his semi-final yesterday, and he dominated Neil Robertson 10-3 in that match but, unless Higgins can pull off a miracle, it does not look like Zhao will have a late night before the final tomorrow.

McManus: Zhao pot the best I have ever seen

Regular TNT Sports pundit Alan McManus had the highest possible praise for Zhao Xintong's pot.

"That shot is the best pot I've seen," McManus said on Channel 5. "He had half a pocket to aim at."

Zhao leads Higgins 8-0!

A break of 104 seals a perfect first session for Zhao. He will take an 8-0 lead into this evening.

Zhao 7-0 Higgins (72*-17)

Zhao makes his ninth half century of the session. Can he grab his first hundred?

Zhao 7-0 Higgins (43*-17)

Zhao pots the pink and gently opens up the remaining reds. The frame and an eight-nil lead looks a formality now.

Zhao 7-0 Higgins (17*-17)

Oh dear! Higgins takes the more difficult of two reds into the middle pocket and ends up hitting the near jaw. Zhao is back amongst the balls now.

Zhao 7-0 Higgins (1-1*)

Easy as you like! Higgins makes a perfectly solid break leaving the cue ball just off the baulk but Zhao rolls in a long red....but then he misses the black, opening up the reds and giving Higgins a chance.

Zhao 7-0 Higgins

A break of 62 to go with his 58 earlier. Higgins will probably wish he could get the punishment out of the way now rather than return in the evening. Especially if he doesn't win this frame.

Zhao 6-0 Higgins (72-1)

Another frame is in the bag for Zhao. Just one more to follow in the session.

Zhao 6-0 Higgins (58-1)

A nice bit of humour as Zhao leaves himself in a difficult position in the bottom-left jaws. Higgins bangs his cue to try to get the white to drop. Zhao then misses the pot but leaves nothing on.

Zhao 6-0 Higgins (48*-1)

The game looks so easy for him. Twice he leaves himself difficult pots but he cuts a red near the pink spot into the blink pocket with the rest and then pots the yellow from a tight angle.

Zhao 6-0 Higgins (8*-1)

Higgins gets a bit of luck deflecting in a red off the pack inadvertently. But he then misses the yellow into the right middle. Zhao is at the table again...

Zhao 6-0 Higgins

Zhao leaves a red in the bottom right jaws but a break of 78 is enough to yet take another frame.

Zhao 5-0 Higgins (35*-0)

He looked in a spot of bother, without an easy red to continue his break, but a very good cut into the left middle solved that. It looks ominous in this frame again for Higgins.

Zhao 5-0 Higgins (4*-0)

A period of phony war at the start of the frame, with the reds spread and both players denying the other a clear opportunity - sometimes more by luck than judgment. It ends with Zhao rocketing in a long pot and screwing back to baulk. He then, with the cue ball on the cushion, rolls a yellow home into the right middle. He is on his way again...

Zhao 5-0 Higgins

The yellow, played with the rest, stays in the jaws meaning Zhao can't get a century but his 74 is more than enough to win this frame. Even slowing Zhao down only seems to be delaying the inevitable.

Zhao 4-0 Higgins (71*-15)

Higgins now needs snookers and is staring down the barrel of a five-nil deficit.

Zhao 4-0 Higgins (24*-15)

Higgins twice fails to get out of a snooker and the second time he leaves a red on for Zhao and he now looks like putting together a big score.

Zhao 4-0 Higgins (7-15)

A couple of misses from Zhao as he fails to get out of a snooker from Higgins - in the first instance hitting the pink. Third time he gets out of it and Higgins takes on a double, but the king of this shot, hits the far jaw and it bounces out. Zhao then leaves him in a hideous snooker.

Zhao 4-0 Higgins (7-5)

Higgins not getting much luck. A good narrow cut into the green pocket, with the rest, sees the cue ball drop well below the black leaving it unpottable.

Zhao 4-0 Higgins (6-4)

A rare poor positional shot from Zhao and he has to play up to baulk.

Zhao 4-0 Higgins (1*-4)

Back underway and Higgins pots the first ball, a good cut into the left middle, but he then misses his next red and Zhao is back on the table.

Zhao 4-0 Higgins

Exactly what Higgins would have feared. Losing all the frames before the mid-session interval. An 81-clearance here, including a difficult long pink to put the frame beyond doubt. Even without hitting a century, Zhao has dominated and looks very hard to stop.

Zhao 3-0 Higgins (32*-50)

Again, with the balls perfectly placed, it would be more of a surprise if Zhao does not clear up from here, than if he misses a ball.

Zhao 3-0 Higgins (1*-50)

Higgins gets to fifty for the first time today, but misses a red which goes up and down to baulk and almost deflects in. As it is, Zhao has the type of chance he often buries.

Zhao 3-0 Higgins (0-25*)

Higgins just sneaks the pink in. It he hit it off the side cushion and kissed the red near the pocket before dropping in. Another wonderful shot.

Zhao 3-0 Higgins (0-25*)

Higgins has broken up the reds but at present obscured the black and pink from being pottable. A couple of good shots and it will be a frame-winning chance though.

Zhao 3-0 Higgins (0-3*)

Higgins again first on the table. Can he make it pay this time? (Repeat to fade...)

Zhao 3-0 Higgins

He adds 54 to his earlier 64, not even bothering to pot the black. It all looks so easy for him.

Zhao 2-0 Higgins (75*-8)

It is three-nil now. Zhao pots the two reds he needed to put the frame beyond doubt.

Zhao 2-0 Higgins (64-8)

Zhao stumbles ahead of the finishing line in the frame, missing a pink where he needed an awkward stretch and extended butt of the cue.

Zhao 2-0 Higgins (38*-8)

Zhao keeps his break going with an extravagant pot deflecting the red he struck against another near the middle pocket, sending the original red down the hole.

Zhao 2-0 Higgins (15*-8)

Higgins didn't get much luck splitting the blacks and then missed a red to the left middle. After each take on and miss a long red each, Zhao does what he usually does and makes the magnificent look simple, banging in a red and starting a fluent break.

Zhao 2-0 Higgins (0-8*)

A nice long pot from Higgins to get on the board first. His long potting isn't the issue. It's the lack of big breaks. Can he remedy this now?

Zhao 2-0 Higgins

Just like that, Zhao is two ahead and Higgins will know how important it is to win one of the next two frames before the interval.

Zhao 1-0 Higgins (37*-46)

The most delicate of cannons, when potting the pink with the rest, opened up the final two reds and there will be short odds on Zhao winning the frame now.

Zhao 1-0 Higgins (1*-46)

Just like happened often in his semi-final against Mark Selby, a break broke down in the forties. He left himself with a tricky red from near the bottom-left jaws and missed. Then Zhao potted a tricky red himself to get going in response.

Zhao 1-0 Higgins (0-31*)

Higgins breaks up the pack well off the black and now looks to have a good chance to win the frame.

Zhao 1-0 Higgins (0-6*)

Higgins first to get on the board in the second frame. He did not make these chances into one-visit frame-winners in the semi-final. He needs to today.

Zhao 1-0 Higgins

Higgins concedes and goes behind early.

Zhao 0-0 Higgins (61-11*)

Zhao's break ends and Higgins plays on needing two snookers.

Zhao 0-0 Higgins (47*-4)

Another fine long pot has the Chinese star back on a break.

Zhao 0-0 Higgins (40-4)

Higgins might need some luck today - and he gets some here as Zhao pots a red but then clips the green off its spot into the top-corner pocket. No pot is left on though.

Zhao 0-0 Higgins (40-0)

Amazing! You just don't expect Zhao to miss a pot by that much. The pink barely would've touched the sides of a bucket in the bottom-left corner.

Zhao 0-0 Higgins (3*-0)

Zhao gets underway with a typically brilliant long pot and potting the yellow allows him to get amongst the balls.

The boys are on the baize

The all-time great and maybe the current best are on the table now.

The stat that shows Zhao's advantage

In most statistics, there is little between them: Zhao, at fifth, is just one place above Higgins in the world rankings. But the Chinese player has 72 century breaks, to Higgins' 22.

A big task for Higgins

It would never be wise to rule out the four-time world champion, but the current world champion looks in sublime form as he readies himself to defend his title in Sheffield - live on TNT Sports and its streaming home HBO Max - at present, he looks in far better form than the Scot.