Snooker scores: Ronnie O'Sullivan skips Masters as Mark Selby crashes out

Victory for Xiao Guodong, who wins the eighth frame of the match to secure a 6-2 victory over Mark Selby.

Guodong has now booked his place in the next round of the competition here at Alexandra Palace.

Xiao Guodong is one frame away from clinching a victory over Mark Selby.

Guodong has won the seventh frame to take a 5-2 lead and just needs one more frame to book his spot in the next round.

Another frame to Mark Selby and this match still has all to play for.

It's now Mark Selby 2-4 Xiao Guodong heading into the seventh frame of the match.

Mark Selby gets his first frame on the board with a 101 break to get the score back to 1-4 with Xiao Guodong.

Guodong still just needs two more frames to defeat Selby and reach the next round.

Mark Selby is on the brink of being handed a heavy defeat here at the hands of Xiao Guodong.

Guodong has just won the fourth frame of the match to take a 4-0 lead, and now needs just two more frames to get the victory and reach the next round.

Another frame on the board for Xiao Guodong, who scored 76 without reply from Selby to take a 3-0 lead in this Round One match at Alexandra Palace.

The second frame takes more than 30 minutes to complete, with Xiao Guodong eventually getting the win after a safety battle with Mark Selby.

The four-time world champion now trails by two frames in the Round One match here at Alexandra Palace.

Xiao Guodong wins the first frame in one visit with a break of 95, and has taken a 1-0 lead in the match against Mark Selby.

We're underway and the first frame between Mark Selby and Xiao Guodong has just started.

It's the best of 11 frames, with the first to six being the winner.

The second Round One match will be getting underway shortly.

Mark Selby and Xiao Guodong will go head-to-head at Alexandra Palace this evening, with the action scheduled to get underway at 7pm.

After Shaun Murphy's 6-2 loss to Wu Yize, Steve Davis had a message for the Magician. 

He said: “It was an under par performance. I was thinking, ‘What is it that’s gone wrong?’

"I think it just shows you that the first round is always the banana skin. Also, form is elusive."

He added: "It would be easier to list the aspects which were there, none of it was there. It felt like everything I touched went wrong. 

"None of my game performed well. But I have absolutely no idea why. I've been working very hard on my game, I've been practicing hard on a lot of snooker since the UK Championship.

"I didn't expect to play like that so I am as shocked as anyone. But, I'm going to try and use Kyren's (Wilson's) inspiration from last year. After defeat, he went straight to Germany and won the German Masters. So, I'll take a few days to lick my wounds and head to Berlin and try and win that one."  

After his 6-2 loss to Wu Yize, he said: "I've looked forward to today for about a year. I really looked forward to that moment, walking out as champion.

"I enjoyed about the first ten minutes of it, but the rest of the match was highly unpleasant. I did not play well at all and it's possibly the worst performance, certainly off my season, and perhaps of my history playing at the Masters.  

"I'm very disappointed, gutted, in fact. Not just to lose, but to lose like that. It was very below par and, yeah, I am very disappointed."

Shaun Murphy is well and truly in trouble. Wu Yize has taken frame seven to go 5-2 up. 

The Chinese star is now only one frame away from defeating the defending champion. That was a scrappy frame from both players. 

Wu looked to have handed the initiative to Murphy when he missed an early easy red to give him the chance to clear up. But he missed a routine pot which brought gasps from Ally Pally, to allow Wu to break with 94. 

Shaun Murphy has taken the sixth frame to move within one of Wu Yize. Can the Magician turn this match around in time?

Wu Yize only just edges out Shaun Murphy in frame five. He took wins with a break of 64 while Murphy was on 51, sealing it with a fantastic clear-up. 

He is now only two frames away from victory!

Despite the high-profile absence of Ronnie O'Sullivan this week, there are lots of huge names in action at Ally Pally as take a look at who's playing who over the next few days with a place in the second round at stake;

Shaun Murphy 1-3 Wu Yize

Mark Selby vs Xiao Guodong

Mark Williams vs Mark Allen

Zhao Xintong vs Gary Wilson

Kyren Wilson vs Si Jiahui

John Higgins vs Barry Hawkins

Judd Trump vs Ding Junhui

Neil Robertson v Chris Wakelin

Steve Davis has boldly said the snooker table Shaun Murphy and Wu Yize are using is no level. He made this claim after watching the Chinese ace pot the pink when the pink was hugging the top cushion.

The pink then ran along it nicely and went into the pocket. After seeing that, Davis is convinced the table is not level. 

He said: “I don’t want to put a downer on everything, but that pink along the cushion and the shot, the way we used to play it, he knows full well, the table is not effectively level at the top. It’s going to hug the top rail.

“I don’t know if they do, but the table fitters need to go out and check the level of the top slate.

“If those balls are hugging that top rail, then it’s going to make the game incredibly easy to make big breaks and it’s also wrong that a ball should go in that easily.

“It’s not so much the size of the pockets, which we had at the UK Open, which was nippy, but this looks like it’s not level.”

It's a third frame on the trot for Wu Yize. The Ally Pally debutant is dominating Shaun Murphy in London. 

He goes 3-0 up with an 80 break. Can the Magician find a trick up his sleeve to get past Wu?

Shaun Murphy only got one shot in frame two, and that was the break. It was a bizarre break from the defending champion, who caught the end red far too thickly, only leaving the cue ball level with the blue. 

Wu took advantage with devastating effect by recording a 130 break without missing a single shot in frame two. 

Is the defending champion in trouble?

Wu Yize has taken frame one against Shaun Murphy. The normally swaggering Murphy looked like a rabit in the headlights. 

He missed routine shots against the Chinese ace, who went on to wrap up the frame comfortably. Is there an upset on the cards?

The 2026 Masters is now underway. Defending champion Shaun Murphy is first up against dangerous Chinese star Wu Yize. 

Chris Wakelin revealed he was disappointed for snooker fans when Ronnie O'Sullivan pulled out of the Masters. The No. 17 will be competing in O'Sullivan's place at Alexandra Palace, after the Rocket pulled out for medical reasons. 

Wakelin told the Metro on Saturday monring: "I got the call last night, just before it was officially announced. I was out running yesterday teatime and I didn’t take my phone with me and I thought, maybe I should be at home optimistically waiting, then an hour after I got back, the phone rang!"

Wakelin added: "Obviously he pulled out last year, but with me being at 17 [in the rankings], I thought this will be the year that he turns up!’ Wakelin said.

"It’s a massive shame for the tournament and for the fans. There’s only one person who’s thrilled about it and luckily for me, that is me.

"Obviously he’s got his reasons and I hope he’s alright. It’s tough when you don’t want to play or you’ve got stuff going on. It’s a shame for the fans, but I’ll be doing my best to put on a the show as his replacement."

These are the seedings at the Masters: 

Judd Trump has defended his decision to leave the UK and move to Dubai. The snooker giant left these shores 18 months ago to move to the United Arab Emirates city.

He insists he has rocked up in the Middle East for nicer weather and good snooker facilities, instead of the tax benefits. The two-time Masters winner said: "We can't get away with tax.

"Everything (earned) in the UK is still taxed. So that's not the reason. For me, the reason for going is I enjoy spending time outdoors, and I can't really get that here in the UK anymore.

"I enjoy playing golf a lot in my downtime, and I brought some of my clubs to the UK Championship, but I was unable to play as it was too cold. So there's a few reasons. I've always wanted to move to Dubai. I just felt like now is the time, when the game is changing, really.

"Half the tournaments are abroad. I can imagine that there's going to be a day where it's actually beneficial to be in Dubai, or wherever it is, rather than in the UK anymore. That's what I feel. Obviously because of Zhao Xintong, there's going to be more tournaments in China in the future and abroad."

The big news of the Masters was Ronnie O'Sullivan pulling out of the competition. The snooker great took himself out of the competition for medical reasons. 

It's the second year in a row he will not feature at Alexandra Palace. In 2024, he won the Masters for a record breaking eighth time, but did not defend it. 

This year, he was due to face Neil Robertson, but the Australian will instead face Chris Wakelin.