Snooker WC: 4-time World Champion ends 3-year losing streak at the Crucible

Mark Selby is one of the biggest legends of the Crucible, so expectations were high when he started his World Snooker Championship 2026 journey against Jak Jones in the 1st round. Known for his safety game, Selby turned up to Sheffield on fire, making light of his opponents' tough rank #17 status.

However, there was a big problem for Jones at the Crucible that offers up a lot of mitigating circumstance that many can understand - asthma. No one wants to do anything while coughing, but snooker is a particularly brutal sport when your lungs start protesting their existence.

4-time World Champion Selby was ruthless sensing blood in the water, and the match was practically beyond Jones after the first session and a 7-2 scoreline. In classic Selby style, the highest breaks during this run were only 78, 67 and 50.

The second session turned into a progression, with Jones' aura eminating energy that he'd given up. "The jester from Leicester" packed things up quickly, with a 3-0 session leading to a 10-2 final scoreline and allowing the suffering Jones some respite.

- I felt shocking in the morning and the game turned into a nightmare. I couldn't breathe properly, and it was extremely difficult to stay calm and composed. When you're facing one of the best of all time, it doesn't help. Admittedly the result would have probably been the same regardless, Jones told WST.

Selby was understandably far more positive, since he hasn't seen even the second round of the World Championship for 3 years.

- It's really tough leaving here after the first round, which happened to me the last couple of years. The tournament goes on around you and you can't escape it. I feel like I've been playing well in the second half of the season, and even when I'm losing it's mostly down to others playing well, Selby finished.

In the next round Leicester's pride will face Chinese youngster Wu Yize, who dismantled his countryman Lei Peifan with aplomb 10-2. In the other matches of today Chris Wakelin defeated Liam Pullen 10-6, while Ronnie O'Sullivan took down He Guoqiang 10-2.

- Wu is a great talent and fantastic to watch, he could go on to be World Champion. I'll need to be at my best to defeat him, Selby commented on his round 2 opponent.

Below you can find all the scores, schedule and results from the first round of the Snooker World Championship.






Source: WST