The 2025 Welsh Open final will be contested between Mark Selby and Stephen Maguire at the Venue Cymru in Llandudno on Sunday.
The pair emerged from their respective semi-final encounters on Saturday to move one step closer to landing the ยฃ100,000 top prize.
Selby won the last four frames to beat Luca Brecel 6-3 while Maguire edged a close battle with Ali Carter by a two-frame margin.
For Maguire, it takes the Scot through to a ranking event final for the first time since 2020 when he won that year’s Tour Championship.
It has been a long period in the doldrums for a fierce competitor who was once widely regarded as among the very best in the sport.
Maguire, a former UK champion and a six-time ranking event winner, once reached as high as number two in the world rankings.
But while the Glaswegian was a regular presence at the business end of tournaments in the first half of his career, consistency and form have generally been lacking across the last decade or so.
Few would have predicted the 43 year-old’s remarkable run this week in Wales, where by reaching the final he has guaranteed himself a ticket to Hong Kong for the upcoming World Grand Prix through the one-year ranking list.
Before all that, Maguire will of course be hoping to make a long overdue return to the winners’ enclosure at an event he previously won back in 2013.
Welsh Open roll of honour
| Year | Champion | Year | Champion |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Stephen Hendry | 1993 | Ken Doherty |
| 1994 | Steve Davis | 1995 | Steve Davis |
| 1996 | Mark Williams | 1997 | Stephen Hendry |
| 1998 | Paul Hunter | 1999 | Mark Williams |
| 2000 | John Higgins | 2001 | Ken Doherty |
| 2002 | Paul Hunter | 2003 | Stephen Hendry |
| 2004 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | 2005 | Ronnie O’Sullivan |
| 2006 | Stephen Lee | 2007 | Neil Robertson |
| 2008 | Mark Selby | 2009 | Ali Carter |
| 2010 | John Higgins | 2011 | John Higgins |
| 2012 | Ding Junhui | 2013 | Stephen Maguire |
| 2014 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | 2015 | John Higgins |
| 2016 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | 2017 | Stuart Bingham |
| 2018 | John Higgins | 2019 | Neil Robertson |
| 2020 | Shaun Murphy | 2021 | Jordan Brown |
| 2022 | Joe Perry | 2023 | Robert Milkins |
| 2024 | Gary Wilson | 2025 | ? |
Selby, on the other hand, boasts silverware from this month already having got his hands on the Championship League Snooker invitational trophy a couple of weeks ago.
The 41 year-old also won the British Open earlier in the campaign, a triumph that extended his career tally in ranking events to 23.
Selby will undoubtedly begin the 2025 Welsh Open final as the favourite, but he looked vulnerable midway through his last-four clash with Brecel before being gifted opportunities to settle again.
Maguire won’t give up chances as readily as the Belgian, but he could do with increasing his scoring power which hasn’t been firing throughout the week at all.
Selby and Maguire have a long history of playing each other, and they will have even crossed paths way back in their amateur days during the 1990s.
On the World Snooker Tour, their head-to-head record is almost level with Selby on 16 wins against Maguire’s 15 in all competitions.
Despite their long tenures at the top of the sport, however, this match will represent their first in a big final.
It promises to be a thrilling climax to the 2024/25 season’s concluding Home Nations event, where the Ray Reardon Trophy will be lifted for the first time since the six-time world champion’s passing last July.
The 2025 Welsh Open final is on Sunday, February 16th with the sessions for the best-of-17 showdown commencing at 1pm and 7pm UTC.
Featured photos credit: WST
Maguire is a harder matchplayer than Brecel but the Scot remains very attacking. A failure to nail a good percentage of long pots could present Selby easy openings. The Jester is definitely scoring the stronger of the pair this week.
They’ve met lots over the years, including three past matches at the Welsh Open, but this match-up offers something fresh with it being their first final showdown.
Selby leads 6-2 across their meetings in quarter-finals and semi-finals. Their first meeting was in the 2003 British Open.
Selby once beat Maguire at the Masters 6-2, knocking in three tons and two 90s.
A 35th ranking final for Selby and a 14th for Maguire.
A good contrasting final lineup, and a heavyweight lineup for the fans and good to see Maguire smashing in pots more than smashing his knuckles again. I really don’t think that he will find Selby as erratic an opponent as Carter was yesterday though.