Image source, Getty Images

• Made Crucible debut in 2019
• Came from the first qualifying round to win the 2025 World Snooker Championship, becoming the first Chinese winner
• Joined Terry Griffiths and Shaun Murphy as the only qualifiers to land snooker's biggest prize since the tournament's 1977 move to South Yorkshire
• Used to live 10 minute-walk from the Crucible
• Served a 20-month ban for his role in a match-fixing scandal, and returned to action in late 2024

Liam Highfield starts the second half of this session just how he would have wanted.

Zhao goes 17 up, but the English qualifier produces a break of 86 to take the frame.

Highfield is still making some silly mistakes, but this will give him confidence.

Zhang Anda is looking very strong.

He calmy strolls around the table as he produces a break of 109 to win the fifth frame 139-0.

That's his second century of the match.

Mark Allen didn't have a sniff.

Alongside his commentary work for the BBC, John Virgo presented popular snooker TV show Big Break alongside comedian Jim Davidson from 1991 to 2002.

One iconic moment from the show came in 1992, when he introduced a then 16-year-old Ronnie O'Sullivan to the world.

Both games are back underway following the mid-session interval.

The current scores:

• Zhao Xintong 3-1 Liam Highfield
• Mark Allen 2-2 Zhang Anda

Michael Emons
BBC Sport at the Crucible

Image source, Michael Emons

Speaking earlier this week, Neil Robertson, the 2010 world champion who was part of the BBC commentary team at the Crucible in 2024, paid tribute to John Virgo.

“It will be difficult, especially for the studio and commentary team," he said.

"Stephen Hendry had a good rapport with him in the commentary box and he said to me that was one of the things he will really miss, not having John there.

“John's was such a famous voice which we listened to over the years. I had the pleasure of working with him a couple of years ago in the commentary box.

"I was there for a week and I got to really appreciate how good he was at telling a story and making the frame seem really exciting and keeping you really interested.

"Even in the moments when you try to make it exciting, he was able to do it, being able to tell stories from previous years. Some of the things he and Dennis Taylor would talk about you can’t replace that – it takes decades to build up those stories and that rapport with the listeners and viewers. He will be sadly missed for sure.”

Before the start of today's morning session, the Crucible paid a moving tribute to former player and commentator John Virgo, who died in February aged 79.

Ken Doherty
1997 world champion on BBC Two

Liam is just hitting the ball too hard. He's not paying shots with care and attention, he's going for pace every time.

After such an impressive third frame, Liam Highfield falters.

The Englishman has a great opportunity to unlock the table, but misses a pretty simple red into the top right when using the rest.

Zhao Xintong surges ahead with a break of 124 - our second century break of the Championship - and goes into the mid-session interval with a two-frame lead.

Mark Allen produces a 47 break before Zhang concedes the frame and we're all-square at the mid-session interval.

Zhang has outscored Allen 268-191 over four frames, with a pot success rate of 88% compared to Allen's 84%.

This one has been fascinating tactical match-up.

Michael Emons
BBC Sport at the Crucible

Image source, Getty Images

Last year, Mark Allen helped a lucky fan in the Crucible crowd win £25,000.

One of the event's sponsors, Midnite Sports and Casino, ran an initiative where for each session, one person in the crowd was randomly selected and if a 147 happened, on either table, they won the money.

The lucky winner was Brian Nicholls from Tamworth, a lifelong snooker fan who had never been to the Crucible before and was bought a ticket by his son as a present for his 75th birthday.

Allen's 147 came in his 13-6 loss to Chris Wakelin in the last 16 and the initiative is back this year, although the price structure has changed.

A 147 in round one earns the spectator £5,000, but the prize rises throughout the tournament - £10,000 for the last 16, £25,000 in the quarter-finals, £50,000 in the semi-finals and £100,000 in the final.

If there is more than one maximum then the lucky fans will still earn the amounts listed above.

Steve Davis
Six-time world champion on BBC Two

That was very brave from Liam Highfield, he was starring 3-0 in the face.

It looked like there might be a big scoreline coming up, but he dug himself out of that hole.

In the context of this session, that was a very important frame for him.

After missing the chance to nick the first frame, Liam Highfield is off the mark.

Highfield misses a long pot on red, before Zhao Xintong draws gasps from the Crucible crowd by missing a simple black.

Highfield looks set to clear up but then misses a simple green.

Zhao pots yellow but Highfield expertly escapes his snooker. The defending champion plays a safety shot that leaves Highfield with a difficult attempt on green, and he makes it superbly and sets himself up to thump in the brown and pink.

Uncharacteristic mistakes from both. Maybe Zhao isn't going to have this all his own way.

Zhang reals off a break of 75 to take the lead in this finely-poised contest.

Both players made some excellent safety shots, but it's Zhang who looked the most confident with a series of difficult pots.

• Zhao Xintong (China, 1) v Liam Highfield (England)
• Ding Junhui (China, 16) v David Gilbert (England)
• Xiao Guodong (China, 9) v Zhou Yuelong (China)
• Shaun Murphy (England, 8) v Fan Zhengyi (China)
• John Higgins (Scotland, 5) v Ali Carter (England)
• Ronnie O'Sullivan (England, 12) v He Guoqiang (China)
• Chris Wakelin (England, 13) v Liam Pullen (England)
• Neil Robertson (Australia, 4) v Pang Junxu (China)
• Kyren Wilson (England, 3) v Stan Moody (England)
• Mark Allen (Northern Ireland, 14) v Zhang Anda (China)
• Barry Hawkins (England, 11) v Matthew Stevens (Wales)
• Mark Williams (Wales, 6) v Antoni Kowalski (Poland)
• Mark Selby (England, 7) v Jak Jones (Wales)
• Wu Yize (China, 10) v Lei Peifan (China)
• Si Jiahui (China, 15) v Hossein Vafaei (Iran)
• Judd Trump (England, 2) v Gary Wilson (England)

All first-round matches are best of 19 frames. Seeds are in brackets.

The first-round will be played between Saturday, 18 April and Thursday, 23 April.

Michael Emons
BBC Sport at the Crucible

Image source, Michael Emons

The Crucible is the home of snooker and now we have it confirmed that the World Championship will be here at least until 2045, apart from in 2029 when the Sheffield venue will be redeveloped with 500 seats added in.

The eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed more seats as the players walked into the arena.

There are 26 seats in the 'Legends Walk Premium' area, situated at the top end of the tables, next to the camera operators and tv studio, to nudge the capacity up from 980 to just over the 1,000 mark.

We have our first century break of the 2026 World Championship.

2023 International Championships winner Zhang Anda rattles off a break of 129 to clear the table.

After a poor first frame, he looks settled now. That was Zhang at his best.

This is already beginning to look like a tall order for Liam Highfield.

Zhao Xintong is nowhere near top speed yet, but the Englishman can't lay a finger on him.

The defending champions produces a break of 65 to take the frame 98-25.

Image source, Getty Images

Northern Ireland's Mark Allen begins his bid for a first world title against Zhang Anda.

The 14th seed is a two-time semi-finalist, but has suffered round-two losses in both of the past two years.

He did make a 147 break at the Crucible last year, becoming only the 11th player to do so at the famous venue.

Despite winning the English Open, Allen described this season as "probably my worst season performance wise for a long time."