Australian snooker star Neil Robertson defeated China's Pang Junxu 10-6 to ensure a record-equalling 15 seeded players advanced to the second round of the 2026 World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
The fourth seed's four-frame victory on Thursday marked only the third time in Crucible history that 15 of the 16 seeds progressed past their first-round matches. The only qualifier to survive is Iran's Hossein Vafaei, the world number 32, who thrashed China's Si Jiahui 10-3 earlier in the day.
Since the Crucible first hosted the World Championship in 1977, no tournament has seen all 16 seeds advance. The previous instances of 15 seeds reaching round two were in 1983 (when Jimmy White lost to Tony Meo) and 1993 (when Doug Mountjoy defeated Alain Robidoux).
Robertson joked that Vafaei's win relieved some pressure. "Hossein did me a favour earlier on because all the seeds had won, so the pressure was building and building — who was going to be the one that let everyone down?"
He added, "I can't work out why the qualifiers found it so tough. There were a few debutants and young players without Crucible experience. The bigger surprise is there haven't been many close matches. There probably won't be that fairytale underdog story this year."
Against Pang, Robertson held a 5-4 overnight lead and closed out the match with breaks of 77, 80, and a century 100 in the final frame. The 2010 world champion, who failed to qualify in 2024 and lost in the first round last year, will now face Chris Wakelin in the last 16 — a rematch of last year's first-round defeat where Robertson lost 10-8. Their match begins Saturday and concludes Monday.
Robertson believes the abundance of top-ranked players remaining suits his game. "It means there will be a lot of good matches. I have a great record at the Masters (which features only the top 16), so I enjoy playing great players. I'm in the part of the draw where all the players are aggressive, which suits my game."
Vafaei, meanwhile, earned a showdown with world number one Judd Trump after defeating Si Jiahui. Despite falling 3-1 behind, Vafaei reeled off nine consecutive frames with breaks of 81, 61, 60, 105, 53, 78, and 68. Over the last three frames of Wednesday's first session and four frames on Thursday, the 15th seed Si managed just 64 points combined.
"Judd is one of my friends and a nice guy on and off the table," Vafaei said of his upcoming opponent. "He is the world number one for a reason, but I'll give it my best."