First surprise knockout at the Snooker World Championship - Iran v Trump awaits in the 2nd round

All of the seeded players at the Snooker World Championship have proven to be mountains to climb for the challengers who reached the tournament through the qualifiers. In 14 first round matches, the favourite has come out on top on every single occasion - 15th time's the charm, said Hossein Vafaei!

Iran's number 1 snooker star clearly didn't feel like he was an underdog at the Crucible, as he put pedal to the metal in a dazzling 9 frame streak to take victory over Si Jiahui. No other player has managed to surpass this amount in this year's tournament, and these kinds of streaks for players from the qualifiers happen once in a blue moon.

The match actually started like all of the others in the 2026 edition of the Championship, with the seeded player firmly in control. Si raced to a 3-1 lead, and all seemed normal. However, Vafaei didn't take long to turn things his way, potting his way confidently to a 6-3 lead at the end of the first session with a highest break of 105.

The second session belonged to Vafaei in its entirety, and the Chinese #15 seed's opportunities to steal frames from the dominant Iranian came far and few between. Si only managed breaks of 22, 9 and 24 in these crucial moments, bowing out of the tournament with a 3-10 defeat by the end.

31-year old Vafaei advances to the second round, where 2019 World Champion Judd Trump already awaits the Iranian. Iran vs Trump has been in the headlines far too much in recent weeks, but let's hope that this time out there will be less violence involved.

- I get a lot of support from home, so I'm fighting for them. I'm just hoping I can make them happy, Vafaei told WST after the match.

- I'm a big fan of Si, he's a great player and this is a fantastic achievement to get the better of him. Maybe I was a bit sharper after going through the qualifiers. This gives me a lot of confidence, and I'm ready for the next round. Judd's a friend who I have deep respect for, I hope we both play well, the 31-year old added.

You can admire Iran's first ranking title winner's (2022 Snooker Shoot Out) 9 frame streak at the World Championship 1st round in the video below.



Below are all the scores, results and schedule of the 1st round in the World Snooker Championship 2026.






Source: WST