Renat Denkha has won the 2026 United States National Snooker Championship though was made to battle hard by Hasanain Alsultani to claim his third successive title at the PABSA Academy in Santa Clara, California.

Even though Denkha had won his group and Alsultani had finished as runner-up in his, it was the number eight seed who had the less precarious route through the knockout stage losing just one single frame to the 2022 champion Steven Wong in the quarterfinals, while the defending champion only made it through his quarterfinal with Daniel Holoyda by virtue of a final frame respotted black.

Alsultani lost 2-1 to Holoyda in their group match on the first day of the Championship, but from then he encountered very few problems on the road to his first Championship final.

Although as the defending champion Denkha started as the slight favorite to win, a very intense high-class final was anticipated and that is exactly what ensued.

It was Denkha who made the best start as the Californian appeared incredibly nervous in the first frame, and the player from Chicago sealed it very comfortably with a break of 64.

However Alsuntani then found his stroke as a run of 32 in frame 2 gave him the confidence which helped settle his nerves, and he started to cue much more freely. He won frame 2 and then also secured a very protracted third frame of which he was always in control of to take a 2-1 advantage.

Alsuntani could not seem to make any headway in the fourth frame, and a run of 36 by Denkha helped him to level the match at 2-2 going into the 10-minute interval.

On the resumption of play, the match swung back in favor of Alsuntani as he took control of the fifth frame to restore his lead.

Denkha also found himself 3-2 down in last year's final against Ajeya Prabhakar, and so he has the proven ability in a final to fighback when under pressure. Halsultani was up in frame six and had several wonderful opportunities on the final colored balls to take a crucial 4-2 lead just as Prabhakar did last year, but yet again Denkha took advantage of his opponent's routine mistakes and his fighting spirit shone through to pinch the frame on the final black to level the match at 3-3.

The next frame got cagey from the start as several reds ended up in the baulk area, though Denkha was presented with a good scoring opportunity. Though while stretching to make the stroke he missed the red into the top-left hand pocket and Alsuntani stepped in with a very cool and well-constructed break of 71 to require just one frame for the title.

Even at this point given Denkha's tenacity and experience you knew that he was still very much in the match. An early run of 37 in the eighth frame put him firmly in control, and Asultani was not able to counter and the match was level again at 4-4 and going into a final frame.

After Alsuntani's break-off, Denkha stroked in a fabulous long red of which he scored 28 points from and it set the tone of the frame. He was always on the front foot from that moment and further scoring contributions resulted in Alsuntani conceding the frame and match with a red remaining on the table.

Denkha has come such a long way in this Championship, having first competed in it back in 2017 at the New York Athletic Club where he lost in the semifinals to Ahmed Aly Elsayed, and he did not compete again until 2023 at the Embassy Billiards Club where he lost to the eventual champion Daren Taylor in the quarterfinals.

However he came back the following year and has not lost a match in the Championship ever since, stretching his winning streak to 23 matches after his 5-4 success in this final.

The United States Snooker Association was honored to have the CEO of the Championship sponsoring partner Herbspro, Tanu Bhattacharya, and the CEO of the Billiard Congress of America, Shane Tyree, at the PABSA Academy to watch the final and be part of the presentation of the trophies.

Mr. Tyree presented Alsuntani with the 2026 runner-up trophy, and Denkha was presented the 2026 winner's trophy by Ms. Bhattacharya and with the perpetual "The Tom Kollins Trophy" by Mr. Prabhakar. A special mention was given to Sargon Isaac who won the highest break prize for his magnificent run of 103 which he compiled during his group match against Yi Dai.

Alan Morris, the Executive Director of the United States Snooker Association (USSA), was delighted with the success of the Championship. He commented: "It has been such an amazing Championship and and one of the highest, if not the highest standard of them all with some truly great performances from many of the players.

"I have to congratulate Renat on the achievement of winning three successive Championships which is a tremendous accomplishment."

Morris concluded: "I want to also congratulate Ajeya (Prabhakar) and Sam (McGrath) on the establishment of the PABSA Academy which proved to be wonderful addition as a host of this year's Championship, and it is sure to play a vital role in the hosting of future major snooker events in the United States."

All of the results from the 2026 United States National Snooker Championship can be found on the tournament page on Cloud Snooker, which is the USSA's official tournament running and scoring system platform.