Today’s final in Wuhan will be competed between Xia Guodong, the defending champion and Gary Wilson. Whatever happens today, both players will be in the top 16 at the end of the event, with Shaun Murphy dropping out to rank 17th. Here are the reports shared by WST about what happened on semi-finals day.
Not many will have predicted this Final line-up at the start of the event.
It’s quite a remarkable achievement from Xiao Guodong to reach this final. It’s never easy to defend a ranking title, never mind a first ranking title but he has the opportunity to do just that today, and to do it in front of his “home” fans. The pressure on him will be immense but he’s a quite down-to-earth character and I certainly don’t put him past him.
Home hero and defending champion Xiao Guodong defeated three-time World Champion Mark Williams 6-3 to make his second consecutive Wuhan Open final.
Xiao has enjoyed a strong home support this week, as well as in his title triumph last year, coming from the city of Chongqing, which neighbours Wuhan’s Hubei Province.
Rewind 12 months and Xiao was battling in the 2024 title match with Chinese compatriot Si Jiahui. He scored a 10-7 victory to capture his maiden ranking title in front of his friends and family, 17 years on from turning professional.
Since then, he’s broken into the world’s top 16 and made further ranking semi-finals at the 2024 International Championship, 2024 Scottish Open and the 2025 German Masters. Xiao was also runner-up to Williams at last season’s Champion of Champions.
Welsh 50-year-old Williams bows out having reached an incredible 68th ranking semi-final this week. The 26-time ranking event winner will have to wait in his quest to become the first player to win tour events in his teens, 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.
The first four frames were shared this afternoon, before a break of 75 in the fifth moved Xiao 3-2 ahead.
Williams claimed a 27-minute sixth to restore parity, but 36-year-old Xiao responded immediately with 80 in the seventh to make it 4-3. He then moved 5-3 ahead, before coming from 58-0 down with a brilliant break of 68 to push himself over the line.
He now faces either Mark Allen or Gary Wilson in tomorrow’s final, over the best of 19 frames with a top prize of £140,000 on the line.
“Maybe there’s some kind of magic power in Wuhan that keeps pushing me forward. I also think it’s thanks to the good luck and support I get from everyone here,” said world number 13 Xiao.
“For me, it is an honour to play legends like Mark Williams, John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan. Of course, after losing to Mark in the Champion of Champions final last year, beating him this time is a big boost to my confidence. I want to learn from these great players every time I face them.
“My focus really improved after 3-3. I told myself that even though my scoring wasn’t great today, I needed to concentrate fully on the cue ball control on every single shot. Even in the final clearance I wasn’t nervous, I just tried to treat it as a normal situation and stay relaxed.”
Gary Wilson claimed five frames on the spin to beat former Masters and UK Champion Mark Allen 6-2 and reach the final of the Wuhan Open, ensuring a return to the world’s top 16 in the process.
World number 18 Wilson will now move up to at least 16th with the guaranteed £63,000 for making the final, pushing Masters champion Shaun Murphy into 17th spot.
Wilson’s run to the title match has seen him dispatch an all-star cast of opponents. The Tyneside Terror had already defeated Murphy, world number one Judd Trump and four-time World Champion John Higgins to make the semis.
Tomorrow will see Wilson take on China’s defending champion Xiao Guodong for the title and the £140,000 top prize.
The two finalists share parallels to their career stories. Wilson ended an 18 year professional quest for his first ranking title at the 2023 Scottish Open and went on to defend his title the following year. Xiao waited 17 years after first coming on tour before winning maiden silverware at last year’s Wuhan Open, he can emulate Wilson’s feat by winning tomorrow’s final.
The opening frame this evening went the way of three-time ranking event winner Wilson, who made a break of 77 to move 1-0 ahead. However, Allen emphatically restored parity with 135 in the second, before making 66 in the third to move 2-1 up. Wilson then took the fourth to head into the mid-session level at 2-2.
When play resumed it was Wilson who made his move. Runs of 113, 78 and 70 moved him one from victory at 5-2.
With Allen leading the eighth Wilson made an intricate break of 25, which involved a sensational shot to develop the green, to leave his opponent needing snookers on the pink. Allen couldn’t amass the required penalty points and Wilson claimed victory.
40-year-old Wilson said: “All the events I’ve won have been similar and in the UK. I want to win different sorts of tournaments and it is a good chance to try and do that now.
“Our stories are very similar. I remember what it is to try and defend and go on and do it and I will be trying to stop him doing the same as me. It is going to be a fantastic final against a Chinese player and one from the region. I know it will be a good atmosphere. I’m looking forward to it.
“I’ve beat some fantastic players this week, but you aren’t looking at who it is really. You are just trying to play your own game. If you can do that as a professional, then you have a chance of beating anyone. It is then about holding yourself together.
“We all have at some point played the opponent rather than the table. You know you won’t get away with things against top players. In my early days I knew it would be a big scalp if I won against certain players. You kind of just have to get bored of that and just play the game.”
Ronnie O'Sullivan 