Thepchaiya Un-Nooh beat Ronnie by 10-7 in the 2026 World Open Final today, a match where the momentum swung from one play to the other throughout. Ronnie won the first four frames, then Theppy won the next six, only for Ronnie to win three on the bounce, before Theppy won the last four frames, making a 147 in the process. Fifteen of the seventeen frames played featured a break over 50.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh made three consecutive centuries, including a stunning 147 break, in the last three frames to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-7 and win the World Open final in Yushan.
It’s a second ranking crown for the Thai star, renowned for his rapid pace of play. His first appropriately came at the Shoot Out in 2019, when he defeated Michael Holt to capture the top prize.
Victory this evening sees Un-Nooh become the second player from Thailand to win a full format ranking event. His legendary compatriot James Wattana last achieved the feat back in 1995 at the Thailand Open.
Un-Nooh pockets £175,000 for the win, the biggest payday of his career. It sees him catapult from 39th to 22nd in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings. He also earns a spot in the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship in Manchester, which is reserved for the top 12 earners this season in ranking events. O’Sullivan moves from 12th to 10th in the world rankings.
It’s a disappointing end to a momentous and encouraging week for seven-time World Champion O’Sullivan. The Rocket revealed that he has been suffering stage fright in recent months and has been working to rebuild his game. That work paid dividends in his quarter-final with Ryan Day, when he made a historic 153, the highest break of all-time.
Coming into this evening the momentum, in a match which swung one way then another, was all with Un-Nooh. Having trailed 4-0 this afternoon, he reeled off five on the bounce to lead 5-4 ahead of the concluding session.
He extended his lead to 6-4 when play got underway tonight, but was then met by a break building barrage from 50-year-old O’Sullivan. Three consecutive century runs of 114, 132 and 136 saw him sweep to a 7-6 lead at the mid-session.
When they resumed, breaks of 77 and 132 saw Un-Nooh, who was runner-up to Judd Trump here in 2019, regain the lead. He then moved 9-7 up with a stunning maximum 147 break to send a packed Yushan crowd into raptures.
For the first time in history though, the high break prize for the final stages of a ranking event was paid out to a score higher than 147. O’Sullivan’s 153 took the £5,000 spoils.
Un-Nooh’s perfect run is the seventh 147 of his career and the 240th in professional snooker history. That puts him level with Ding Junhui in seventh position on the all-time list. It is the 23rd of an incredible season, which has smashed the previous record of 15 for most 147s in a single campaign.
If that wasn’t enough, he followed that up with a total clearance of 131 to power over the line and secure the title. Yesterday he said this would be his dream final, after today’s match he admitted it was better than he possibly could have imagined.
“It is like a double dream final now. This has always been my dream, to lift the title against Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final. For the rest of my life this is something I’m not going to forget,” said an elated 40-year-old Un-Nooh.
“I went to the practice room in the interval, spoke to myself and managed my emotions. After being sat on my chair watching Ronnie make three centuries, I told myself this is a great final and to enjoy it. I don’t know how what happened after the interval came true. I can’t believe it. I’m still stunned with my performance. How did I do that? Sometimes snooker is one way traffic. To make a 147 in the final against Ronnie O’Sullivan in a final is a great honour.
“This is my first time winning a major event and this is the biggest prize of my career. It is a dream come true and a step forward. I want to make snooker come back to be as famous as it used to be in Thailand. Like the old times.”
O’Sullivan said: “It has been a positive week, but I have to say Thepchaiya was unbelievable. He deserved his victory. He played much better than me today. I watched his semi-final and he was strong. I couldn’t go with that. It was far too good for me.
“Thepchaiya was flowing and had every shot in the book. I have to accept that is how it is. If I found that bit extra I could have made it tougher than him. I am in a much better place than I was even two weeks ago. I’m taking each day as it comes.”
Here are the scores for that match:
Ronnie fought hard, but it wasn’t enough. He made four centuries1 but it wasn’t enough…
Will Ronnie win another ranking event? I want to hope so but I’m not sure. Time waits for no-one … and Ronnie is 50. He has nothing to prove, of course, but … 💔
In the first session Ronnie was not the lukiest player, and nobody knows how it has gone with a lead by Ronnie after the first session. In the evening session Un-nooh was the better player by far und deserved the win – Ronnie looked frustrated and tired.
But I hope we can see him playing well in some tournements and perhaps there will come another final, and …..????
It genuinely feels like he is cursed in the last 2 years. Even when he is actually playing well or at least for most parts and would deserve to win a tournament someone comes out and plays unbelievable stuff. It feels like the whole week was for nothing in the end which is sad.
The thing to prove was that he is still capable of winning a tournament. Well, no. Good for Un-Nooh to have won a real title besides that blasted Shootout and at least this time it wasn’t Jordan Brown Ronnie lost to (my biggest nightmare of a final). It’s just all sad, it’s hard to get to a final and it’s a waste of efforts to lose there, but I suppose this is it at that age, although it is very disheartening after the start he had, but not the first time losing a bunch of frames in a row costs him big time
Did you lose a bet Santino? There was no “bottlejob”. You could MAYBE have said that if Ronnie had lost the second session after being all the match in front. But both session followed the same scenario, Ronnie started strongly but couldn’t sustain that level for the whole session. That looks to me more like tiredness than anything else. Thepchaiya is a very, very good player, and maybe he was the freshest of the two on the day. Also, he is 11 years younger than Ronnie …
nah no bet.
however let’s be honest losing 6 on the trot from 4-0 is awful form, no excuse for that.
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Actually it wasn’t the first time he lost a bunch of frames in a row, the most painful being those seven in the WSC QF against Brecel, from a 4-frame advantage. There was also the same in the Tour final against Williams, although the lead was smaller and of course difficult to forget last year WSC’s SF second session disaster. I suppose these are lapses of concentration coming with age, that’s why I find it mildly amusing to read discussions of his draw and chances (nil, if you ask me) at this year’s Worlds.
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Csilla…
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Christian?
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As someone who wants Ronnie to win another WSC and doesn’t care about the other events for the time being, I think it’s probably better for him not to win tournaments before the WSC, but rather to just go into the WSC feeling good about his game.
When he wins tournaments before the WSC, that only seems to increase pressure and expectations, which is never helpful for him. He’s better off keeping the pressure and expectations as low as they can be.
I think the World Open was a step in the right direction for him, striking a good balance between having enough success that he can feel good but without winning the title and thereby further increasing the pressure. That doesn’t mean he’ll win the WSC, of course, but in my view he seems to be pursuing a wise course for maximizing his chances.
I agree that the WSC is the one that truly matters. But given his low ranking position now he is guaranteed to face an extremely tough opponent in the 2nd round. And at this moment it’s Higgins!
That’s why it would have been so important to win a tournament and earn more ranking points.
Yes, but there also would have been a “cost” associated with those extra ranking points, in the form of increased pressure and expectations to win the WSC. Had he won the World Open, he might very well have been widely-considered the favorite to win the WSC, which (in my view) would probably have reduced his chances of actually winning.
He’ll still be “one of the favorites”, but not the clear popular choice, which I think will be better for him. The more “under the radar” he can be, the better.
He has made it clear himself that the WSC is his top priority in snooker, and it seems to me that he has planned his season around doing what he thought would maximize his chances of winning the WSC. It’s debatable whether winning the World Open would have been better for his WSC chances or not.
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Actually, yes, John Higgins is probably the worst second round opponent he could get. For some reason he’s the one who I really wish he could avoid… to the point that I would be happy for Ronnie to be overcome by Wakelin and face Neil Robertson instead
https://www.tntsports.co.uk/snooker/world-open/2026/ronnie-osullivan-thepchaiya-un-nooh-flukes_sto23283445/story.shtml
In the first session Ronnie was not the lukiest player, and nobody knows how it has gone with a lead by Ronnie after the first session. In the evening session Un-nooh was the better player by far und deserved the win – Ronnie looked frustrated and tired.
But I hope we can see him playing well in some tournements and perhaps there will come another final, and …..????
Ok…….Since when is a potted pink like that a fluke????
“After his shock World Open final defeat…………”
Oh my word, what a clickbait-driven, useless sports website TNT is!
https://www.tntsports.co.uk/snooker/halo-world-championship/2026/ronnie-osullivan-u-turn-embarrass-myself_sto23283740/story.shtml
As Ronnie said in Hendry’s channel, someone will play incredibly out of his/her skin just because he or she is play against Ronnie himself.
It genuinely feels like he is cursed in the last 2 years. Even when he is actually playing well or at least for most parts and would deserve to win a tournament someone comes out and plays unbelievable stuff. It feels like the whole week was for nothing in the end which is sad.
The thing to prove was that he is still capable of winning a tournament. Well, no. Good for Un-Nooh to have won a real title besides that blasted Shootout and at least this time it wasn’t Jordan Brown Ronnie lost to (my biggest nightmare of a final). It’s just all sad, it’s hard to get to a final and it’s a waste of efforts to lose there, but I suppose this is it at that age, although it is very disheartening after the start he had, but not the first time losing a bunch of frames in a row costs him big time
single biggest bottlejob ever seen
Did you lose a bet Santino? There was no “bottlejob”. You could MAYBE have said that if Ronnie had lost the second session after being all the match in front. But both session followed the same scenario, Ronnie started strongly but couldn’t sustain that level for the whole session. That looks to me more like tiredness than anything else. Thepchaiya is a very, very good player, and maybe he was the freshest of the two on the day. Also, he is 11 years younger than Ronnie …
nah no bet.
however let’s be honest losing 6 on the trot from 4-0 is awful form, no excuse for that.
Actually it wasn’t the first time he lost a bunch of frames in a row, the most painful being those seven in the WSC QF against Brecel, from a 4-frame advantage. There was also the same in the Tour final against Williams, although the lead was smaller and of course difficult to forget last year WSC’s SF second session disaster. I suppose these are lapses of concentration coming with age, that’s why I find it mildly amusing to read discussions of his draw and chances (nil, if you ask me) at this year’s Worlds.
Csilla…
Christian?
As someone who wants Ronnie to win another WSC and doesn’t care about the other events for the time being, I think it’s probably better for him not to win tournaments before the WSC, but rather to just go into the WSC feeling good about his game.
When he wins tournaments before the WSC, that only seems to increase pressure and expectations, which is never helpful for him. He’s better off keeping the pressure and expectations as low as they can be.
I think the World Open was a step in the right direction for him, striking a good balance between having enough success that he can feel good but without winning the title and thereby further increasing the pressure. That doesn’t mean he’ll win the WSC, of course, but in my view he seems to be pursuing a wise course for maximizing his chances.
I agree that the WSC is the one that truly matters. But given his low ranking position now he is guaranteed to face an extremely tough opponent in the 2nd round. And at this moment it’s Higgins!
That’s why it would have been so important to win a tournament and earn more ranking points.
Yes, but there also would have been a “cost” associated with those extra ranking points, in the form of increased pressure and expectations to win the WSC. Had he won the World Open, he might very well have been widely-considered the favorite to win the WSC, which (in my view) would probably have reduced his chances of actually winning.
He’ll still be “one of the favorites”, but not the clear popular choice, which I think will be better for him. The more “under the radar” he can be, the better.
He has made it clear himself that the WSC is his top priority in snooker, and it seems to me that he has planned his season around doing what he thought would maximize his chances of winning the WSC. It’s debatable whether winning the World Open would have been better for his WSC chances or not.
Actually, yes, John Higgins is probably the worst second round opponent he could get. For some reason he’s the one who I really wish he could avoid… to the point that I would be happy for Ronnie to be overcome by Wakelin and face Neil Robertson instead