Xiao Guodong successfully defended the Wuhan Open after a dramatic 10-9 victory over Gary Wilson in Saturday’s final at the Optics Valley Gymnasium.
The Chinese cueist fought his way back from 8-6 behind to land the £140,000 top prize in China for the second season in a row.
Indeed, Xiao becomes only the fifth player after Ray Reardon, John Parrott, Mark Allen, and his opponent Wilson to win his first and second career ranking titles at the same tournament.
The success continues Xiao’s remarkable rise from journeyman to an established member of the elite over the course of the last year or so.
Despite both having played brilliant snooker throughout the week to get this far in the tournament, the opening exchanges to the final proved to be cagey.
There was a plethora of unexpected misses during the first few frames with Xiao and Wilson each seeming to struggle with the enormity of the occasion.
Xiao established a 2-0 lead and had opportunities to stamp his authority on the contest, but the 36 year-old allowed Wilson back in to level at the interval.
The latter, who counted Judd Trump, John Higgins, Shaun Murphy, and Mark Allen among the players he defeated earlier in the event, then took the front for the first time with a tidy break of 96.
It appeared as though the Englishman had finally settled, but further bad shots in the sixth frame allowed the defending champion in to restore parity again.
A 62 from Xiao – his only break above 50 during the afternoon bout of play – ensured that he regained the advantage, and he duly moved 5-3 in front to guarantee a lead going into the evening session.
Wilson, though, made sure that his arrears would be just one by sparking into life to make a timely contribution of 116.
The standard during the second session was markedly different as both contenders significantly upped their level.
A second ton from Wilson, a three-time winner on the Home Nations Series, in the tenth frame brought the scores back to all-square yet again.
With the shackles finally released and more flow to the game, the pair traded sizable contributions before a third century break offered Wilson a 7-6 lead at the last mid-session interval.
Xiao had an opportunity in the 14th frame to even it up again but another uncharacteristic miss gifted his opponent a chance to establish a two-frame cushion for the first time.
All the momentum was with a rampant Wilson at this point, but Xiao refused to give up his title without a fight and shifted through the gears to compile gutsy breaks of 103 and 90, making it 8-8.
Xiao kept the challenger to his throne pointless for the third frame on the spin to go 9-8 ahead but suffered an unlucky positional shot in the next as he chased victory.
Wilson responded with a much-needed break of 52 to force a deciding frame in a ranking event final for the second successive time this season.
But Xiao, through two bites at the cherry, ultimately managed to get over the winning line to the delight of his home crowd in Wuhan.
A career-high world ranking of number eight will follow, a remarkable achievement for a player who began the week with his second career maximum break.
Xiao opted to skip the lucrative Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in favour of competing at the World Games, where he won a gold medal for his country.
That decision could have backfired, but he has backed himself to perform at other events on the calendar, and there are none he enjoys participating in more than the Wuhan Open.
2025 Wuhan Open draw
Round of 16 (bo9)
Xiao Guodong 5-2 Matthew Selt
Barry Hawkins 0-5 Stan Moody
Mark Williams 5-3 Mark Selby
Zhang Anda 5-4 Aaron Hill
Judd Trump 4-5 Gary Wilson
Tom Ford 1-5 John Higgins
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 1-5 Mark Allen
Si Jiahui 5-2 Stephen Maguire
Quarter-Finals (bo9)
Xiao Guodong 5-2 Stan Moody
Mark Williams 5-1 Zhang Anda
Gary Wilson 5-3 John Higgins
Mark Allen 5-3 Si Jiahui
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Xiao Guodong 6-3 Mark Williams
Gary Wilson 6-2 Mark Allen
Final (bo19)
Xiao Guodong 10-9 Gary Wilson
Featured photo credit: WST
