Gary Wilson produced a superb performance in the final to successfully defend his Scottish Open crown in Edinburgh.
The Tyneside Terror outplayed Noppon Saengkham 9-5 to retain the Stephen Hendry Trophy and pocket the ยฃ80,000 champion’s cheque.
A second ranking title for Wilson will see him rise back up the rankings list to 17th and just outside the elite top 16.
For the second season in a row, the 38 year-old managed to find his best form in the Scottish capital city.
An incredible run means that Wilson is unbeaten in the 14 matches he has played in the tournament since its move to the Meadowbank Sports Centre.
There were times this week when it looked as though a repeat success would be unlikely.
Wilson scrambled past close pal Elliot Slessor in his held over qualifying fixture, and he needed all seven frames again in the following two rounds.
Following a couple of welcome straightforward victories, Wilson then survived an epic encounter against Zhou Yuelong in the last four.
The Englishman trailed 5-3 and subsequently needed three snookers in the deciding frame, but he got the penalty points required and eventually prevailed from a thriller by potting a respotted black.
In the Scottish Open final, Wilson ultimately saved his best for last.
Breaks of 105, 90, 79, 78, and 62 helped him to quickly orchestrate a 6-1 advantage over his challenger.
Saengkham, competing in a maiden ranking final, won an important last frame of the first session on the black.
After falling 7-2 down upon the game’s resumption in the evening, the Thai briefly gave the crowd hope of an unlikely fight back.
Rapid contributions of 132 and 97 from the popular 31 year-old saw him reduce the gap to just three frames.
But a missed chance near the start of the 12th frame allowed Wilson in to steady the ship and move to within the brink of glory at the last mid-session interval.
Following a showdown of high quality throughout, tension finally surfaced towards the game’s conclusion.
Saengkham took a rare close frame on the colours to hang in there, but a missed red in the next gifted Wilson the final visit he needed to complete the victory.
The Scottish Open represented the last chance for silverware to be won on the main tour in 2023.
Most of the top 16 competitors exited early on in the week, but in the end it was the top seed who emerged triumphantly with the trophy in his hands again.
Scottish Open draw
Round of 128 (bo7)
Gary Wilson 4-3 Elliott Slessor
Xing Zihao 4-3 Fergal O’Brien
Joe O’Connor 4-0 Andy Lee
Scott Donaldson 4-3 Ashley Hugill
Hossein Vafaei 3-4 Daniel Wells
Rory Thor 4-1 Graeme Dott
Ryan Day 4-2 Jiang Jun
Ashley Carty 4-2 Andres Petrov
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-2 Ma Hailong
Chris Wakelin 4-2 Mark Joyce
Yuan Sijun 4-0 Muhammad Asif
Mark Williams 3-4 Sam Craigie
Robbie Williams 4-1 Rod Lawler
David Gilbert 4-3 Jak Jones
Jordan Brown 4-2 Adam Duffy
Kyren Wilson 4-2 Mostafa Dorgham
Mark Allen 2-4 Jamie Jones
Dominic Dale 4-1 Ross Muir
Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Amaan Iqbal
Jimmy White 4-3 Duane Jones
Robert Milkins 0-4 Mark Davis
Andrew Higginson 4-3 Allan Taylor
Zhou Yuelong 4-0 Anthony Hamilton
Martin Gould 4-2 Reanne Evans
Manasawain Phetmalaikuk 4-2 Ben Woollaston
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Michael White
Aaron Hill 4-1 Ken Doherty
Jack Lisowski 4-0 Mohamed Ibrahim
Julien Leclercq 4-0 Baipat Siripaporn
Si Jiahui 4-3 Tian Pengfei
Zhang Anda 4-2 Andy Hicks
Judd Trump 4-0 Sydney Wilson
Liam Graham w/o Ronnie O’Sullivan
Ben Mertens 4-0 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Sanderson Lam 4-3 Fan Zhengyi
Cao Yupeng 4-2 David Lilley
Barry Hawkins 3-4 Pang Junxu
Xu Si 4-0 Mink Nutcharut
Anthony McGill 4-0 Ryan Thomerson
Oliver Lines 4-0 John Astley
Lukas Kleckers 4-1 Stuart Carrington
Noppon Saengkham 4-0 Rebecca Kenna
Jack Borwick 1-4 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Ali Carter 4-3 Long Zehuang
Alfie Burden 4-1 Ian Burns
Matthew Selt 4-1 Dylan Emery
Matthew Stevens 4-0 Victory Sarkis
Mark Selby 4-2 Sean O’Sullivan
Shaun Murphy 1-4 Liu Hongyu
Zak Surety 4-1 Liam Pullen
Lyu Haotian 4-2 Joe Perry
Jackson Page 4-1 Himanshu Jain
John Higgins 4-0 Oliver Brown
He Guoqiang 4-0 Peng Yisong
Ricky Walden 4-3 Hammad Miah
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-0 Wu Yize
Liam Highfield 4-0 Dean Young
Tom Ford 4-1 Louis Heathcote
Jenson Kendrick 4-2 Anton Kazakov
Ding Junhui 4-0 David Grace
Martin O’Donnell 4-2 Andrew Pagett
Jamie Clarke 4-2 Xiao Guodong
James Cahill 4-3 Stan Moody
Luca Brecel 4-0 Iulian Boiko
Round of 64 (bo7)
Gary Wilson 4-3 Xing Zihao
Joe O’Connor 4-1 Scott Donaldson
Daniel Wells 3-4 Rory Thor
Ryan Day 3-4 Ashley Carty
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 2-4 Chris Wakelin
Yuan Sijun 0-4 Sam Craigie
Robbie Williams 3-4 David Gilbert
Jordan Brown 0-4 Kyren Wilson
Jamie Jones 3-4 Dominic Dale
Jimmy Robertson 3-4 Jimmy White
Mark Davis 1-4 Andrew Higginson
Zhou Yuelong w/o Martin Gould
Manasawin Phetmalaikul 0-4 Stuart Bingham
Aaron Hill 4-1 Jack Lisowski
Julien Leclercq 2-4 Si Jiahui
Zhang Anda 4-2 Judd Trump
Liam Graham 4-2 Ben Mertens
Sanderson Lam 4-1 Cao Yupeng
Pang Junxu 4-1 Xu Si
Anthony McGill 4-2 Oliver Lines
Lukas Kleckers 1-4 Noppon Saengkham
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 3-4 Ali Carter
Alfie Burden 1-4 Matthew Selt
Matthew Stevens 3-4 Mark Selby
Liu Hongyu 4-0 Zak Surety
Lyu Haotian 4-0 Jackson Page
John Higgins 4-1 He Guoqiang
Ricky Walden 4-3 Alexander Ursenbacher
Liam Highfield 2-4 Tom Ford
Jenson Kendrick 1-4 Ding Junhui
Martin O’Donnell 4-2 Jamie Clarke
James Cahill 3-4 Luca Brecel
Round of 32 (bo7)
Gary Wilson 4-3 Joe O’Connor
Rory Thor 4-3 Ashley Carty
Chris Wakelin 4-0 Sam Craigie
David Gilbert 3-4 Kyren Wilson
Dominic Dale 4-1 Jimmy White
Andrew Higginson 2-4 Zhou Yuelong
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Aaron Hill
Si Jiahui 2-4 Zhang Anda
Liam Graham 3-4 Sanderson Lam
Pang Junxu 2-4 Anthony McGill
Noppon Saengkham 4-2 Ali Carter
Matthew Selt 4-3 Mark Selby
Liu Hongyu 2-4 Lyu Haotian
John Higgins 4-3 Ricky Walden
Tom Ford 3-4 Ding Junhui
Martin O’Donnell 4-2 Luca Brecel
Round of 16 (bo7)
Gary Wilson 4-1 Rory Thor
Chris Wakelin 4-2 Kyren Wilson
Dominic Dale 0-4 Zhou Yuelong
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Zhang Anda
Sanderson Lam 4-1 Anthony McGill
Noppon Saengkham 4-3 Matthew Selt
Lyu Haotian 2-4 John Higgins
Tom Ford 4-2 Martin O’Donnell
Quarter-Finals (bo9)
Gary Wilson 5-0 Chris Wakelin
Zhou Yuelong 5-4 Stuart Bingham
Sanderson Lam 3-5 Noppon Saengkham
John Higgins 5-3 Tom Ford
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Gary Wilson 6-5 Zhou Yuelong
Noppon Saengkham 6-3 John Higgins
Final (bo17)
Gary Wilson 9-5 Noppon Saengkham
Featured photo credit: WST
10 breaks over 50 and five in excess of 70 from Wilson. He came of age for me at the 2019 World Championship where he played like a multiple tournament winner and top 16 player.
This is a very rare instance of a player defending the first ranking title they’ve won. Without researching it only Mark Allen winning consecutive World Opens comes to mind.
John Parrott also did it at the European Open in 1989 and 1990. Those are the only three.
Steve Davis did it in the UK Championship but of course it wasn’t ranked then.
Dave Hendon also mentioned on the podcast about technically Ray Reardon doing it by winning the 1973 and 1974 World Championship. Can’t quite see Gary Wilson matching him by winning it four times in a row!
Yeah, that popped into my head about Ray yesterday too. A bit like the 3-in-a-row ranking stat, he gets in on a technicality really.
And it seems still making a century at 91!