Taylor to take on Azemat in all-Arizona clash
filed Sunday, September 6, 2026. 9:03pm PT/USA
The 2023 Champion Daren Taylor has secured a Round 2 match-up with his fellow Arizona Snooker Academy player Romil Azemat in the 2026 United States National Snooker Championship, after sealing a comprehensive win in Round 1 of the knockout stage.
As Taylor failed to win his Group which would have placed him in the bottom half of the knockout draw, the number two seed is now in the top half where he sealed a comfortable 3-0 defeat of Yi Dai at the PABSA Academy. He will face his good friend Azemat, who was runner-up in this Championship back in 2006 and won Group D, for a place in the quarterfinals.
Renat Denkha is currently on a 19-match winning streak in this Championship, which stretches back to when he played his opening group match in the 2024 Championship. The defending champion will be hoping to make that twenty matches when he comes up against Alfred Tinger in Round 2, after the player from New York state scored an excellent 3-0 victory in Round 1 over Arafat Amat
The number four seed Andy McCloskey has also booked his appearance in Round 2 after last year's semifinalist defeated Zia Sheik in Round 1 at California Snooker. McCloskey was runner-up in Group D, so as a consequence he will now take on the number three seed Ajeya Prabhakar, which promises to be another thrilling contest for a place in the last-8.
Another high-quality Round 2 clash will be between the winner of Group F, the number six seed Sargon Isaac, who will face Tom Limor. Number five seed Limor finished runner-up in Group E, and his 3-0 defeat of Ruicheng Huang in Round 1 at California Snooker will pitch him up against the three-times former champion.
After being jointly hosted with California Snooker in San Jose, from day four the Championship moves exclusively to be completed at the new PABSA Academy. The first session of Round 2 matches will commence at 9am local time, with the second session getting underway at 12pm.
The knockout draw, match schedule and results can all be followed in real time by visiting the 2026 United States National Snooker Championship tournament page on Cloud Snooker, which is the USSA's official tournament running and scoring system platform.
