{"id":8518,"date":"2026-02-24T05:35:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/jiang-beats-welsh-open-title-holder-selby-in-opener\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T05:35:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:05:02","slug":"jiang-beats-welsh-open-title-holder-selby-in-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/jiang-beats-welsh-open-title-holder-selby-in-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Jiang beats Welsh Open title holder Selby in opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Published23 February 2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Defending Welsh Open champion Mark Selby was knocked out in the first round by China&#x27;s Jiang Jun on Monday, losing 4-3.<\/p>\n<p>The two-time Welsh Open winner took a commanding 3-1 lead with breaks of 123 and 137 at Venue Cymru in Llandudno.<\/p>\n<p>But on his first appearance in the main draw of the competition, Jiang rattled off three consecutive frames to cause a huge upset on day one.<\/p>\n<p>The 20-year-old had half-century breaks of 52 and 65 as he fought his way back to book a place in the second round where he will face compatriot Yuan Sijun.<\/p>\n<p>It is the third time in five years that Englishman Selby, a four-time world champion, has been knocked out in the first round of the Welsh Open.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/snooker\/live\/cgqejqgzv9wt\">\n<p>Watch Welsh Open Snooker &#8211; Selby level with Jiang; Walden leads Maguire<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/snooker\/articles\/cy9gx8wnp31o\">\n<p>Welsh Open &#x27;should be in south Wales, 100%&#x27; &#8211; Page<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published19 hours ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/snooker\/articles\/c4g51n3n8v8o\">\n<p>A &#x27;special&#x27; snooker player who became a TV star &#8211; John Virgo obituary<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published4 February<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It was an excellent first day for the Welsh players, as Jak Jones, Dylan Emery and Mark Williams all won their first-round matches.<\/p>\n<p>Jones took a comfortable 4-1 win over England&#x27;s Liam Highfield, while Emery shocked China&#x27;s Lei Peifan with a deciding-frame victory.<\/p>\n<p>Home favourite Williams &#8211; who was the last Welsh player to win the title back in 1999 &#8211; overcame Michael Holt to win 4-2 and set up a second-round match against Martin O&#x27;Donnell. <\/p>\n<p>O&#x27;Donnell upset 25th seed Tom Ford 4-2 later on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>England&#x27;s Robbie Williams knocked out world number 16 Si Jiahui with a 4-2 win.<\/p>\n<p>Williams will face last year&#x27;s runner-up and former Welsh Open winner Stephen Maguire in the second round after his come-from-behind win over Ricky Walden.<\/p>\n<p>Barry Hawkins was forced to go the distance against fellow Englishman David Lilley, though the 12th seed came out on top with a 4-3 win, sealing his win with a 108 break in the decider.<\/p>\n<p>In Monday&#x27;s evening session there were comfortable wins for Joe O&#x27;Connor, Wu Yize and two-time Welsh Open winner Neil Robertson.<\/p>\n<p>The final two games of the day both produced surprise results, as David Grace knocked out eighth seed Mark Allen &#8211; who has not reached a Welsh Open final in his career &#8211; with a 4-2 win.<\/p>\n<p>And Anthony McGill beat the 2009 Welsh Open champion Ali Carter in a deciding frame to book his place in the second round.<\/p>\n<p>The pair will face Monday&#x27;s Welsh winners, with Grace playing Emery and McGill taking on Jones in the second round in Llandudno.<\/p>\n<h2>Welsh Open day one<\/h2>\n<p>Morning and afternoon session:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Jak Jones 4-1 Liam Highfield<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Lei Peifan 3-4 Dylan Emery<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Pang Junxu 4-2 Antoni Kowalski<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Mark Williams 4-2 Michael Holt<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Yuan Sijun 4-3 Julien Leclercq<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Si Jiahui 2-4 Robbie Williams<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Barry Hawkins 4-3 David Lilley<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Hossein Vafaei 4-1 Artemijs Zizins<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Mark Selby 3-4 Jiang Jun<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Stephen Maguire 4-3 Ricky Walden<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Evening session:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Tom Ford 2-4 Martin O&#x27;Donnell<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Joe O&#x27;Connor 4-0 Aaron Hill<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Neil Robertson 4-1 Michal Szubarczyk<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Wu Yize 4-0 Ben Mertens<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Mark Allen 2-4 David Grace<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Ali Carter 3-4 Anthony McGill<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Related topics<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/snooker\">Snooker<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jiang beats Welsh Open title holder Selby in openerImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Mark Selby has won the Welsh Open twice, in 2008 and 2025Published23 February 2026Defending Welsh Open champ&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}