Iran’s Hossein Vafaei grew to become the first qualifier to beat a seeded participant at the 2026 World Championship as he defeated China’s Si Jiahui 10-3 to arrange a tie with world primary Judd Trump.
Si, a semi-finalist in 2023, held a 3-1 lead, however 31-year-old Vafaei, ranked thirty second on the planet, received 9 frames in a row, thanks to breaks of 81, 61, 60, 105, 53, 78 and 68.
Over the final three frames of the first session on Wednesday and the 4 frames on Thursday, fifteenth seed Si solely scored a mixed 64 factors as Vafaei impressed.
He will play 2019 winner Trump subsequent and stated: “He is one of my friends and a nice guy on and off the table. He is the world number one so it’s the best match.
“I’m getting a whole lot of help from again dwelling and they might love me to do superb in this match.
“Si is one of the best players China has so a tough opponent for me, I respect his game and I’m one of his fans, he is such a great player.”
