John Higgins v Ali Carter live stream | World Snooker Championship 2026 preview
Higgins and Carter go head-to-head (Photos via Alamy)
John Higgins launches his 32nd successive Crucible campaign when he plays Ali Carter in the first round of the 2026 World Championship.
One of the standout ties of the opening round in Sheffield pits the four-time World champion against the two-time finalist, with a potential last-16 tie against Ronnie O’Sullivan at stake.
Despite a combined 54 Crucible appearances, this will be the first meeting between the players in Sheffield, where Higgins has also reached a further four finals.
Higgins has been a quarter-finalist in each of the last three years, suffering an agonising 13-12 defeat to Mark Williams on the final black 12 months ago.
The 50-year-old arrives for his latest tilt at a fifth World title off the back of three appearances in finals this season, at the International Championship, Masters and Players Championship.
Higgins was condemned to a comprehensive 10-1 rout by an inspired Zhao Xintong in the Tour Championship semi-finals last time out, but has only ever fallen at the first hurdle in Sheffield on four occasions.
Carter, meanwhile, is eyeing what would be his first match win at the Crucible for seven years.
Runner-up to O’Sullivan in 2008 and 2012, the Captain secured his 22nd appearance on snooker’s biggest stage with victories over Julien Leclercq and Anthony McGill in qualifying.
Carter reached the Shanghai Masters final at the start of the season, and was a semi-finalist at the German Masters, but suffered early exits in his last two outings at the Welsh Open and World Open.
In arguably the most eye-catching tie of round one, the best of 19 frames will determine who takes on seven-time champion O’Sullivan or debutant He Guoqiang in the last 16.
The match breaks off at 2.30pm BST on Sunday with the opening nine frames, before playing to a finish at the same time on Monday over the best of 19.
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