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Teenager Stan Moody Defeats John Higgins at British Open Snooker

The 19-year-old English player beat the four-time champion 4-2 in the last 16 in Cheltenham, advancing to the quarter-finals for the second straight year.

Stan Moody, 341st Security Forces Group plans and projects manager, center, talks to his team of defenders Nov. 2, 2016, at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. Moody has been the plans and projects manager at Malmstrom for the past five years and leads a team of four Airmen in maintaining security and b
Stan Moody, 341st Security Forces Group plans and…      Stan Moody Snooker    Airman 1st Class Magen M. Reeves / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
By Free News Press Editorial Team
Published September 4, 2026 at 1:34 AM PDT

Stan Moody is 19 years old. John Higgins is 51 and has won the British Open four times. On Thursday, the teenager beat the veteran 4-2 in the last 16 at the British Open in Cheltenham.

According to BBC Sport, Moody reached the quarter-finals for the second successive year with a strong finish. He went up 1-0 and then 2-1, with Higgins leveling on each occasion. A break of 46 put Moody ahead 3-2. Then, with Higgins leading 61-0 in the sixth frame, Moody completed a clearance of 69 with a finish on the black to close out the match.

Moody, who is from Halifax, will next face fellow Englishman Liam Highfield in the quarter-finals. Highfield got past China's Long Zehuang 4-1 in the previous round.

Judd Trump also moved through with considerably less trouble, beating David Gilbert 4-0. Trump fired breaks of 118 and 105 in the final two frames.

Cheltenham's own Jack Lisowski won 4-1 over Lyu Haotian and will face Mark Selby on Friday. Selby, a four-time world champion, got past Ukraine's Iulian Boiko 4-2 to set up that match.

Wales' Jak Jones defeated Latvian Artemus Zizins 4-2. Northern Ireland's Aaron Hill beat Fan Zhengyi 4-0 to advance as well.

The quarter-finals are set for Friday in Cheltenham, with Moody's match against Highfield headlining the English contingent still in the draw.

photos from the 2025 British Open quarter-finals
photos from the 2025 British Open quarter-finals      Stan Moody Snooker    Lee Vilenski / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)