John Higgins v Mark Selby live stream | Tour Championship 2026 preview
Higgins (right) and Selby go head to head again in the Tour Championship (Credit: Sportimage Ltd/Alamy Live News)
John Higgins and Mark Selby renew their Tour Championship rivalry when they collide in a mouth-watering quarter-final clash on Thursday.
The four-time World champions go head to head once more in Manchester, in what is a repeat of last year’s epic final.
Higgins, who led 5-1, lost seven successive frames to trail 8-5, but then reeled off the last five to seal a dramatic 10-8 victory, and what he described as his “best ever win”.
The Wizard’s first match of his title defence also saw him surrender a healthy advantage. Indeed, he was pegged back from 7-2 up to 8-8 by fellow Class of ’92 member Mark Williams, but recovered to get over the line a 10-8 victor.
Higgins, who was also runner-up to Neil Robertson in 2022, is bidding to become only the second multiple Tour Championship winner (after Robertson), and will fancy his chances of another deep run here.
He has already been runner-up at the Masters and Players Championship in 2026, as well as reaching the semi-finals at the Welsh Open.
Selby, meanwhile, has won the invitational Championship League, but otherwise struggled this calendar year, with a series of early exits and a withdrawal from the World Open.
Nevertheless, the Jester has already won the Champion of Champions and UK Championship this season, and would love to add a maiden Players Series title to his silverware haul.
Selby has appeared in all but one edition of the Tour Championship, and victory here would secure his place in a fourth semi-final.
In fact, a positive omen – for both players – is that the winner in five of their last six meetings has gone on to win the respective tournament – with one of those being last year’s showpiece, as well as the 2024 British Open final.
A semi-final showdown with either World champion Zhao Xintong or debutant Chris Wakelin awaits the winner of this blockbuster best-of-19 battle.
The match breaks off at 1pm BST on Thursday with the opening eight frames, before resuming at 7pm and playing to a conclusion at the Manchester Central.
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