Kyren Wilson defeats John Higgins to win 2026 Masters in error strewn final

Wilson gets over the line in final that was full of drama, but lacked the spark of their semi-final epics.

Kyren Wilson has won the 2026 Masters, defeating John Higgins 10-6 to claim the Triple Crown invitational event at the third time of asking.

To be blunt, it was a match low on quality, aside from two frames at the end of the afternoon session when Wilson fired in back-to-back centuries. Elsewhere, even the simplest pots became a struggle as both players failed to find any rhythm, with Higgins later describing his own performance as “useless.”

But Wilson will care little, having finally added a second Triple Crown title to sit alongside his 2024 World Championship triumph.

The win will be all the sweeter after admitting he nearly suffered a mental breakdown in his first round defeat in last Month’s Uk Championship first round.

Wilson finishes scrappy afternoon session in style

First Session: Kyren Wilson 5 – 3 John Higgins

The 2026 Masters final began with Higgins taking the opening frame with a break of 58, before Wilson levelled by clearing with his own 58, after Higgins made errors on two reds when 51 points ahead.

Another missed chance from Higgins allowed Wilson to edge in front, before he quickly claimed the fourth frame to take a 3–1 lead into the interval after the Scot failed to cut a red into the middle pocket.

The two frames that followed the interval were very much ones for the purists, as the final descended into a safety-laden battle with attritional play the order. It suited Higgins however, who ground out both frames to haul himself back on level terms at 3–3.

Sensing he may be in trouble if he allowed his opponent to dictate the rhythm of the match, Wilson unshackled himself to produce back-to-back centuries of 103 and 111, taking his tournament tally to eight and, more importantly, establishing a 5–3 lead at the midway point.

Wilson gets over the line in scrappiest of sessions

Second Session: Kyren Wilson 10 – 6 John Higgins

The evening session began with Wilson looking to carry on the momentum from his double-century finish to the afternoon. However, he missed three decent chances to edge further ahead, and Higgins kept his composure to reduce the arrears to a single frame with a break of 71. Wilson then responded make it 6-4, but it was the following frame that proved to be the match in a microcosm.

Higgins missed a routine black with the frame seemingly at his mercy, triggering a nerve-riddled twenty-minute spell of snookers, massive misjudgements and high tension, before a foul from Wilson on a tricky pink allowed Higgins to finally complete a job that should have been done much earlier.

Wilson took a 7–5 lead into the interval despite making further basic mistakes earlier in the frame, and both players would surely have been glad to step away from the table after a scrappy four-frame spell.

The interval appeared to benefit neither player, but Kyren Wilson edged further ahead after a frankly poor frame, with John Higgins in particular looking as though his confidence had been shot to pieces.

Kyren Wilson pounced with a break of 78 after another error from a fading John Higgins, moving 9–5 ahead and to within one frame of the title.

With nothing to lose, John Higgins finally found some fluency, pulling a frame back with a break of 70. It proved only a brief reprieve, as Kyren Wilson wrapped up the win in another low-quality frame that prompted the new champion to admit mid-frame, “I hate this game sometimes.”