Two young Chinese players already wrote history yesterday and there is more to come today.

Indeed, the final today will be played between Lei Peifan and Wu Yize, both only 21 years of age. Whoever wins today, we will have a “new” ranking event winner as one of them will lift the Stephen Hendry trophy, a first trophy for whoever wins the final but surely not the last.

Both of them came from behind to win their semi-final. Here are the reports shared by WST:

WU MAKES EDINBURGH FINAL

Wu Yize is through to the second ranking event final of his career after a hard fought 6-4 defeat of Chinese compatriot Xiao Guodong at the BetVictor Scottish Open in Edinburgh. 

The hugely talented 21-year-old, who was Rookie of the Year in 2022, is enjoying his finest season on the World Snooker Tour thus far.

Earlier in the campaign, he beat the likes of Judd Trump, Ali Carter and Stuart Bingham to reach a maiden title match at the BetVictor English Open. After a fiercely contested encounter, it was Neil Robertson who prevailed 9-7 in the final.

He now faces the prospect of a best of 17 encounter with either Mark Allen or Lei Peifan. Victory will give Wu the Stephen Hendry Trophy, a top prize of £100,000 and the first ranking event win of his fledgling career.

If he goes on and captures the title he will also move ahead of Robertson in the BetVictor Series standings, ahead of the finale at the Welsh Open. Whoever accumulates the most prize money across the qualifying events will scoop a massive £150,000 bonus.

Xiao bows out after yet another deep run in his best ever season as a professional, having first joined the tour back in 2007. He claimed maiden ranking event glory at the Wuhan Open and was a losing finalist at the Champion of Champions.

A cagey first two frames this afternoon went the way of Xiao, before Wu came from behind to take the third and then made 63 in the fourth to head into the mid-session at 2-2.

When play resumed, Xiao made 76 to regain the lead at 3-2 and then claimed the sixth on the pink to move 4-2 up.

Xiao led a crucial seventh 56-0, before falling out of position. With the balls in uninviting positions, a stunning break of 67 from Wu saw him steal on the black and close to 4-3 behind.

That was the moment where momentum shifted, as Wu hammered home further runs of 57, 115 and 54 to make it four on the bounce and a 6-4 victory.

“I really enjoyed the atmosphere today. In the past, I might have felt a lot of pressure in situations like this, but now I just find it enjoyable,” said world number 27 Wu.

“Today, we played on a new cloth and with new balls. The first four frames were challenging, as we were adapting to the table and the conditions, which were quite different from yesterday. Later on, both of us made some adjustments.

“Of course I’m eager to win the title, but for me it’s also about enjoying the process. Winning the title would be a way to reward myself for all these years of effort. For every tournament, becoming champion is hard to come by and it requires me to be at my best.“

LEI FLOORS ALLEN WITH STUNNING FIGHTBACK

Lei Peifan is through to the first ranking event final of his career, after completing an epic fightback against Mark Allen to prevail 6-5 at the BetVictor Scottish Open in Edinburgh.

It looked as if Allen was coasting to his 20^th ranking when he led 5-2. However, Lei turned the match on its head and scored an unlikely victory with the clock well beyond midnight.

He can now look forward to a final against Chinese compatriot and fellow 21-year-old Wu Yize. The finalist’s combined age of 42 makes this the youngest title match in a ranking final since Paul Hunter (19) beat John Higgins (22) in the 1998 Welsh Open final.

It’s been a stunning ascension to prominence for world number 84 Lei, who until this week had never been beyond the last 16 of a ranking event. He’s already defeated Hossein Vafaei, Shaun Murphy, Stuart Bingham and Tom Ford to reach this point.

The winner tomorrow will pick up the Stephen Hendry Trophy, their first ever ranking event title and a career high payday of £100,000.

Breaks of 73, 97 and 55 helped Allen into his commanding 5-2 lead this evening. However, a missed pink in the eighth, with the balls at his mercy, initiated a barnstorming fightback from Lei.

He capitalised on Allen’s missed opportunity in emphatic fashion, claiming four frames on the bounce to seal an epic fightback win.

Lei said: “It is very exciting to win. Today I didn’t play very well in the first session. I was telling myself not to give up, just to focus on the table and play. It was my first time in a semi-final so I just wanted to enjoy the moment.

“I was nervous today and didn’t know how to adjust myself. It was only one table and there were so many people watching. In the second session I felt a little bit more relaxed.

“Myself and Wu know each other very well. We will just have to go out and try to bring a good performance for everybody to watch. Playing in a tournament is different to practising. It is the first time we have met.”

Allen said: “I probably got what I deserved for not winning 6-2. I missed the pink when I was 5-2 up and then everything started to go against me. I just didn’t close the match out well enough. I’ve got no regrets. He potted some good balls in the last, so credit to him.”

Xiao Guodong was one of the Chinese players who arrived in Britain in the late noughties, in the aftermath of Ding’s breakthrough. I first met him at the SWSA in Gloucester. He didn’t speak much of English at the time but his outgoing personality made him stand out in that group. At the time, some fans on forums, predicted a Chinese tsunami. It didn’t happen, it was never going to happen. Behind the “snooker player” there is a human person and it was preposterous to assume that being away from their family, having to adapt to a different culture, to learn a different language and still to perform at their best would be feasible, never mind easy. All the academies that exist today weren’t around at the time. After the match yesterday Xiao congratulated his young opponent and the smile on his face was 100% genuine, you could see that. He was part of that pioneer group that lay the foundations that allow the younger generation of Chinese players to thrive. Xiao is only 35, he only recently won his first ranking title in Wuhan, he still has time for more, but whatever happens from here he should be proud of himself.

As for Wu and Lei … what can I say? Both were outstanding yesterday, in different ways. Wu is very easy on the eye and Lei’s determination is admirable and his “escape” skills were astonishing yesterday. I just hope that both play well today!

We have three Chinese players in the semi-finals of the 2024 Scottish Open. Two of the, Wu Yize and Lei Peifan, are only 21 years old The two other semi-finalists are experienced campaigners: Mark Allen and Xiao Guodong. Here is how we got there as reported by WST.

WU AND XIAO SET FOR SEMI-FINAL

Wu Yize battled to reach his fourth ranking event semi-final, prevailing 5-4 against world number 16 Chris Wakelin at the BetVictor Scottish Open in Edinburgh.

Victory for talented 21-year-old Wu moves him within two games of grasping maiden ranking event glory.

The Chinese star was named Rookie of the Year, after a fine breakthrough season in 2022. Since then, he’s continued to demonstrate his considerable potential.

Earlier this season Wu went on a run to the BetVictor English Open final, which included a win over Judd Trump, before a nerve shredding 9-7 loss to Neil Robertson.

Wu, who plays compatriot Xiao Guodong in the semis, now knows that he is two wins away from a maiden ranking title and the Stephen Hendry Trophy.

Winning the event will move him above Robertson in the BetVictor Series standings ahead of the finale at the Welsh Open. The prize money leader in the series will scoop a £150,000 bonus.

Defeat for Wakelin ends another deep run in a season which has seen him make the top 16 in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings for the first time in his career. As a result, he can look ahead to a Johnstone’s Paint Masters debut at Alexandra Palace in January.

The opening stages of the match saw Wakelin take charge, breaks of 107 and 51 gave him a 2-0 advantage. However, Wu replied by claiming the third and fourth with runs of 82 and 72 to draw level at 2-2.

Wakelin regained the advantage by winning the fifth, but it was Wu who took two on the bounce to move to the verge of victory at 4-3.

A gutsy contribution of 103 from Wakelin forced a decider, where he had an opportunity to win before missing a red to the middle. Wu stepped up and ruthlessly fired in 66 to seal victory.

Wu said: “I’m quite satisfied with my form. Last night, before the match, I watched some of my games from last year. I feel that I’ve improved in many aspects overall, and that’s something that makes me really happy.

“In the first frame, my cue tip had some issues and even miscued. Fortunately, my dad was with me, as I don’t know how to fix a tip myself. After the second frame, I asked him to help adjust it.

“I often see online that Edinburgh is described as a very romantic city. I visited here in 2021 and spent two or three days exploring. This is my first time competing in Edinburgh and everything feels amazing. My focus now is to give my best performance in the tournament and after it’s over, I plan to take my dad on a little tour around the city.”

On the other table, Xiao scored a 5-1 defeat of 2023 World Champion Luca Brecel to book his spot in the last four. 

It’s been a landmark season for Xiao, who won his maiden ranking title at the Wuhan Open and was runner-up at the invitational Champion of Champions. 

Defeat for Brecel ends an important run, which has gone a long way towards staving off the very real threat of dropping out of the world’s top 64, when the points for his 2023 Crucible victory drop off at the end of the season. 

The opening stages of this afternoon’s encounter were truncated, with Xiao moving 2-1 ahead after winning a 50-minute third frame. He then clicked into gear, with breaks of 106 and 81 on his way to crossing the line after five frames in a row.

The Wu vs Wakelin match was a very enjoyable high quality affair, the kind of match that make you think “It’s a shame there had to be a loser“. Wu still has that freedom and freshness of the very young. He’s blessed with a huge talent and an excellent temperament … it’s a deadly combo! Wu was interviewed on ES after the match … in English. His command of the language is still basic but he went through that interview with a smile. All credits to him. The British players, and the Brits and Americans in general, usually only speak English and find it “normal” that every one else speaks it as well. It’s not, it takes an effort, especially when your native language is completely different in its etymology, structure, grammar and uses a different alphabet. It always infuriates me when, here on my Greek island, I witness tourists¹ being rude to waiters, hotel/restaurant staff and shopkeepers because their command of English isn’t perfect. Their own command of Greek is usually zero.

In the second match of the afternoon, Xiao Guodong played well too. I will refrain to write what I think of Brecel’s “performance”.

PISTOL FIRES PAST SAENGKHAM TO MAKE SEMIS

Mark Allen is through to the 41^st ranking event semi-final of his career after defeating Noppon Saengkham 5-2 at the BetVictor Scottish Open in Edinburgh.

The Pistol has been searching for form in recent weeks, but was back to his fluent best this evening in a captivating clash against the always dangerous Saengkham.

Allen spent a brief period at the start of the campaign as world number one, but has subsequently slipped back down to fifth. His exploits this week will see him move to at least fourth and making the final would push him to world number three.

The Northern Irishman is aiming to win this event for a second time. He first lifted the Stephen Hendry Trophy back in 2018, when he beat Shaun Murphy 9-7 in the title match.

Defeat for Saengkham means he will have to wait for a maiden ranking crown. He came close last year in Edinburgh, when he lost to Gary Wilson in the final. However, once again it has been a positive week in the Scottish capital for the Thai.

A break of 87 gave Saengkham the opener this evening, before Allen turned up the heat with contributions of 87, 120 and 127 on his way to four on the bounce and a 4-1 lead.

Saengkham responded with a stunning 136 to close the gap, but the high quality encounter was finished off with 105 in the seventh from Allen to triumph 5-2. He now faces China’s Lei Peifan in the last four.

“I played well there and scored heavily. I can’t complain. I only missed one or two shots in the whole game so I can’t complain,” said 11-time ranking event winner Allen.

“I’m enjoying what I’ve been trying this week. Just getting on with it and going for my shots. The games in York and in the early part of this week I wasn’t enjoying things. I just thought I’d get on with it and see what happens. I couldn’t have felt worse than I did so nice to see some balls going in and I’m scoring pretty well.

“I am confident, but I’m not taking anything for granted. I need to keep performing the way I have so far. I’m going to be playing a tough opponent no matter who gets through.”

It was China’s Lei who prevailed in the other quarter-final, winning a tense decider with Tom Ford to come through 5-4.

Lei was competing in the last eight of a ranking event for the first time in his career, having already beaten the likes of Shaun Murphy and Stuart Bingham thus far.

The final frame came down to a safety exchange on the brown. Eventually Lei conjured a brilliant pot and held his nerve with a tough cut back blue to get himself into a maiden ranking semi-final.

I chose to watch table two. It was another good match and one where the “momentum” appeared to shift from one player to the other every odd frame. Tom was the heavier scorer, he had two big centuries in this match: a 136 and a 125. It was Lei however who came on top in most of the close more tactical frames. Given that Tom is old enough to be Lei’s father, you would expect the opposite … that said, tactical play has never been Tom’s favourite cup of tea.

1. Usually Americans, but sometimes Brits as well ↩︎

Yesterday saw the round of 64 at the 2024 Shoot-out played to completion in Leicester. Of the 32 matches played, my “coin predictions” only yielded 14 correct “guesses”. My overall winner guess was equally dire … Shaun Murphy bowed out.

The crowd was bigger and VERY loud especially in the evening. Far too loud for my liking actually. I switched off the sound on my computer at one point. It was that bad. I do get it that people want to have a good time, but does that necessarily involve shouting all the time? There was one guy in particular … he was utterly annoying and, unfortunately, encouraged by the fact they showed him on TV all the time.

There was quite a bit of drama. Noppon narrowly avoided a heart attack ❤️‍🔥. Kreishh Gurbaxani played some really crazy stuff and still won! The defending champion bowed out. Generally the young players did well and that’s one positive of this event: we get to see everyone on TV, not just the big names and their (often unfortunate) opponents.

All the results are available on snooker.org

Another positive is that because generally the top guys don’t take it too seriously many of them are more inclined to make themselves available to fans. Going by what transpired on social media, Zimena met her hero… 😊. Happy for you Zimena!

Today we have 31 matches on the menu and tonight we will know the 2024 madness champion.

This is the draw for the last 32 round and my predictions

1. Neil Robertson v Liam Pullen – Liam Pullen
2. Dylan Emery v Noppon Saengkham – Noppon Saengkham
3. Zhou Yuelong v Florian Nüßle – Florian Nüßle
4. Duane Jones v Tom Ford – Tom Ford
5. Antoni Kowalski v Vladislav Gradinary – Antoni Kowalski
6. Andrew Higginson v Ma Hailong – Andrew Higginson
7. Wu Yize v Liam Davies – Wu Yize
8. Zhang Anda v Elliot Slessor- Elliot Slessor
9. Mark Selby v Jamie Jones – Mark Selby
10. Liam Graham v Ali Carter – Liam Graham
11. Aaron Hill v Allan Taylor – Allan Taylor
12. Si Jiahui v Martin O’Donnell – Martin O’ Donnell
13. Kreishh Gurbaxani v Ashley Carty – Kreishh Gurbaxani
14. Robbie Williams v Fan Zhengyi – Robbie Williams
15. Huang Jiahao v David Gilbert – Huang Jiahao
16. Robert Milkins v Haydon Pinhey – Robert Milkins

This time I didn’t use a coin or anything, I made my predictions based on what I saw so far … let’s see if I can do better than the coins. I have absolutely no clue about who will win this crazy event. It’s a shame that Joe Swail isn’t playing… maybe, for once, being partially deaf might have been an advantage¹.

Post afternoon session update

Well, I’m definitely better than the coins: 10 out of 16… and here is what the round of 16 brings and my predictions.

1. Mark Selby v Liam Pullen – Mark Selby
2. Antoni Kawalski v Florian Nüßle – Antoni Kowalski
3. Allan Taylor v Andrew Higginson – Andrew Higginson
4. Elliot Slessor v Wu Yize – Wu Yize
5. Robert Milkins v Martin O’Donnell – Robert Milkins
6. Robbie Williams v Huang Jiahao – Robbie Williams
7. Kreishh Gurbaxani v Tom Ford – Tom Ford
8. Noppon Saengkham v Liam Graham – Noppon Saengkham

Make that 6 out of 8 then…

Not going to predict anything about the evening… see you tomorrow!

1. Although… I’m partially deaf myself and I really struggle in loud environments. So, maybe not… ↩︎

First of all … it’s Ronnie’s birthday. He turns 49 today. He doesn’t like birthdays but all the same

Happy birthday Ronnie !

Next, WST has published some information about the next events to come

WORLD OPEN DRAW

Judd Trump will defend the World Open title in China in 2025, in a strong field of snooker’s biggest names.

The draw for the qualifying round is now available – CLICK HERE for the match schedule.

Trump won the title for the second time last season, beating Ding Junhui in the final in Yushan. He will start the defence of his crown against Xing Zihao. The following matches have been held over to the final stages in China:

Judd Trump v Xing Zihao
Ding Junhui v Jiang Jun
Sanderson Lam v wild card
David Lilley v wild card
Scott Donaldson v wild card
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Stuart Carrington
Zhang Anda v Stan Moody
Xu Si v wild card
Kyren Wilson v Hammad Miah

The remaining ties will take place during the qualifying round at Pond’s Forge in Sheffield on December 20-22. Notable qualifying ties include:

John Higgins v Wang Yuchen
Neil Robertson v Michael Holt
Mark Selby v Artemijs Zizins
Luca Brecel v Iulian Boiko
Mark Williams v Sunny Akani
Mark Allen v Rory Thor
Shaun Murphy v Mostafa Dorgham 

GERMAN MASTERS QUALIFIERS DRAW

The draw for the 2025 German Masters qualifying rounds has been made. CLICK HERE for the match schedule.

The qualifying rounds run from December 16 to 19 at Pond’s Forge in Sheffield, with players battling to make it through to the final stages at the Tempodrom in Berlin (January 27 to February 2). The top 32 are seeded through to Berlin, with the draw to be announced soon.

Judd Trump claimed his second UK Championship title last night, beating Barry Hawkins by 10-8 in the final.

Congratulations Judd Trump

Here is the report by WST:

TOP TRUMP CLAIMS SECOND UK CROWN

Judd Trump became Victorian Plumbing UK Champion for the second time in his career after winning a fiercely contested clash with Barry Hawkins 10-8.

The incredibly steely Hawkins showed huge resolve to battle from 9-6 down to 9-8. He had a chance to force a decider in the 18^th, but missed a red to the left middle. Trump then appeared to get himself over the line with a break of 67.

However, needing two snookers and having battled past Mark Allen 6-5 in semis at 1am last night, the indefatigable Hawkins turned up the heat.

He left Trump in a number of perilous snookers and eventually extracted four foul points. Hawkins continued to push, but he couldn’t get the second snooker he needed. Trump cracked in a long-range brown to seal victory and punched the air in relief.

It’s the 30^th ranking event title of his glittering career, only John Higgins, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan have won more. The 2019 World Champion has now captured Triple Crown silverware five times.

The £250,000 top prize pushes Trump over the £1 million barrier for the season, making him the first ever player to cross that tally in a single campaign before Christmas. He also picked up titles at the Shanghai Masters and the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.

The Ace in the Pack first captured the UK title back in 2011, when he burst onto the Triple Crown scene with a 10-8 win over Mark Allen in the final as a 22-year-old.

Trump appeared in further finals in 2014 and 2020. However, he lost 10-9 to Ronnie O’Sullivan and Neil Robertson respectively. Victory tonight makes 35-year-old Trump the tenth multiple winner of the UK Championship.

Hawkins is still searching his breakthrough triumph in one of snooker’s Triple Crown events, having been thwarted at the final hurdle by some of snooker’s greatest ever competitors.

The 45-year-old lost out to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2013 World Championship final and the 2016 Masters title match. Hawkins was also runner-up to Neil Robertson at Alexandra Palace in 2022.

Hawkins’ performances this week earn him £100,000 and a return to the top 16 in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings. His reward for that is another meeting with Trump in the first round of the Johnstone’s Paint Masters next month.

Trump and Hawkins came into this evening’s session with the former holding a 5-3 advantage. The Hawk continued to chip away at that two-frame cushion, but he was kept at arm’s length for most of the evening by Trump.

Breaks of 62 and 32 gave Trump the first frame of the night. Londoner Hawkins then took two on the bounce to make it 6-5, with Trump stringing together 67 in the 12^th to lead 7-5 at the mid-session interval.

When play got back underway they traded frames as they jostled for position, but a crucial break of 133 moved Trump to the edge of the finishing line at 9-6.

Hawkins’ race looked to have been run, but he refused to wilt and crafted contributions of 75 and 82 to make it 9-8. Under the ultimate pressure, it was Trump who prevailed in the nerve shattering 18^th to get over the line.

“It was so close and it looked like it could go 9-9. I was under a lot of pressure and I knew I had to take that chance, because he was playing so well. I slowed myself down and made sure of every single pot. There was no flair at all in that break. I just had to find a way to get the balls in the hole. At two snookers, I felt pretty safe and all of a sudden he was back in it. To pot the brown was such a relief.”

Judd Trump

World Number One

Trump added: “It was an incredible game. Barry battled unbelievably considering the late night he had yesterday. I got a nice lead at 9-6 and he really turned it on to get back to 9-8. In the end, I probably just had that little bit of luck on my side to get over the line.

“If he was fatigued, he didn’t show it. He battled so hard. He came in fresh and was still battling back at the end. It was an incredible performance from him and hopefully he will be picking up one of these titles one day.

“This is such a hard tournament to win and my record hasn’t been amazing here. It has been a long time since I’ve been in the deep end here in York. I was struggling early on against Neil in the first round, managed to get through and then turned it on. I’m very proud and hold this trophy in very high esteem.”

Hawkins said: “It has been a great week. If someone had said I would get to the final beforehand, I would have taken it. Once I was here in the final I wanted to win. I thought it was a great game. I think I missed the boat tonight, I probably should have levelled. I managed to get it together towards the end and felt good.

“I’ve beat some great players this week, but I’ve lost to the best player in the world at the moment. He is world number one for a reason. He is just such a fantastic player and his all round game is phenomenal. It is no disgrace losing 10-8 to that man.”

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

It was a great match indeed, a fitting conclusion for a great tournament. Of course, Ronnie’s early exit was a huge disappointment for me, but the man who beat him made it to the final and put on a remarkable fight against the current best player, the World number one, Judd Trump.

Barry Hawkins is a hugely underrated player. He’s not spectacular, but he’s seriously efficient. His all-round game is extremely solid, his temperament is excellent. He’s a top player AND a very likeable guy. If anything, he’s too humble, too nice. I really like Barry who I met many times at SWSA. I wanted him to win yesterday, and that was nothing against Judd Trump.

But Judd won, deservedly. He is currently the best player in the world, no question. There was a time when I really disliked him. No more. I disliked him because he came across as very arrogant before he ever won anything of note. Actually he’s shy, as I found out when I met him in the flesh and we had the opportunity to talk. There was a time when he had a bunch of “friends” running havoc on social media, loud and often disrespectful to his opponents. I thought Judd was made out the same mould. He isn’t. They were doing him a disservice…. but, hey … they were just boys being boys, boasting about their celebrity friend.

Here is the announcement by WST:

JOHNSTONE’S PAINT MASTERS DRAW – O’ SULLIVAN TO FACE HIGGINS

The draw for the 2025 Johnstone’s Paint Masters has been made, with defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan headlining in a clash of the titans against John Higgins.

Other notable ties include a repeat of the current Victorian Plumbing UK Championship final between Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins, as well as a meeting between former Masters champions Mark Williams and Ding Junhui.

The top eight seeds were drawn at random against players seeded 9-16 to make up the first round of snooker’s biggest invitation event, which runs from January 12-19, 2025, at Alexandra Palace in London. The match schedule will be announced soon.

…

The top eight seeds are placed into the draw as follows:

1 Ronnie O’Sullivan vs John Higgins

8 Shaun Murphy vs Gary Wilson

5 Mark Allen vs Si Jiahui

4 Mark Selby vs Ali Carter

3 Judd Trump vs Barry Hawkins

6 Mark Williams vs Ding Junhui

7 Luca Brecel vs Chris Wakelin

2 Kyren Wilson vs Zhang Anda

Right… NOT. Higgins is probably the worst first round draw Ronnie could get in this competition and I expect nothing but another first round exit. 😞 IF by some miracle he gets past Higgins, he has a good chance to reach the SFs. But Higgins has really been a bogey opponent for Ronnie over most of his career,