Ding Junhui defeated by Gilbert in 1st Round

In the first round of the main draw at the 2026 Snooker China Open, Chinese player Ding Junhui was defeated 1-6 by David Gilbert in a highly anticipated match.

At the start of the match, David Gilbert took the first frame with a break of 69 points. Ding Junhui responded in the second frame with a break of 76 points to level the score. In the third frame, even though Ding Junhui initially led in points, David Gilbert managed a comeback. After that, Gilbert was unstoppable, delivering consecutive breaks of 67, 72, 110, and 113 points, winning five frames in a row to secure victory in the match with a final score of 6-1.

In this year’s China Open, Liu Linhao and Wu Shengguang were eliminated in the wildcard round. In the end, a total of 12 Chinese players advanced to the last 32 of the main draw. Among them, Zhao Xintong, Wu Yize, Xiao Guodong, Ding Junhui, and Si Jiahui qualified directly based on their world rankings, while Zhang Anda, Chang Bingyu, Liu Hongyu, Jiang Jun, Zhou Yuelong, Yao Pengcheng, and Pang Junxu progressed from the qualifying rounds.