The 2025 International Championship final is on Sunday with John Higgins taking on Wu Yize at the SNC National Fitness Center in Nanjing.
One of the brightest young talents in the game will challenge an all-time great for the season’s eighth ranking title and a top prize worth £175,000.
Wu, chasing a maiden trophy as a professional, first emerged from his semi-final encounter with Zhao Xintong on Friday.
The 22 year-old produced another strong display in a week full of them to confidently dispatch the world champion with a 9-6 scoreline.
On Saturday, Higgins was in impressive form as he triumphed from his all-Scottish tie against Stephen Maguire with a resounding 9-2 win.
The Wizard of Wishaw is on course to land a second International Championship crown having previously won the tournament a decade ago in 2015.
Success would also represent his third of the calendar year and a 34th career piece of silverware at ranking level in what continues to be a remarkable career.
Higgins, like his contemporaries Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams, continues to defy Father Time and will begin this showdown for glory as the favourite.
The current world number six will have likely watched Williams claim victory at the Xi’an Grand Prix when the players last travelled to China and reflected that if the Welshman can achieve success at 50, so can he.
Higgins, who won the World Open and the Tour Championship at the end of last season, will naturally have all the experience on his side heading into this battle.
But Wu has very much been playing like someone who is ready to make that expected breakthrough into the big-time.
Last year’s English Open and Scottish Open runner-up has been in scintillating scoring form since returning from the mid-session interval of his last-16 tie against Judd Trump 4-0 down.
Wu has contributed 18 breaks above 50 since then, a relentless streak that has included four century breaks and a flurry of other single-scoring visits.
Following Jack Lisowski’s recent victory at the Northern Ireland Open, a triumph for Wu would represent another positive story for the game amid the confirmed arrival of a fledgling star.
Wu has faced Higgins once before in a ranking event, ironically at the International Championship itself way back in 2019 when he participated as an amateur wildcard.
The then-teenager ran the veteran close before ultimately succumbing to a dramatic 6-5 defeat in what was a round-of-128 fixture.
Six years on and he’ll contest the International Championship final over 19 frames against the same esteemed opponent and with much more on the line.
2025 International Championship
Round of 16
Shaun Murphy 6-2 Ding Junhui
John Higgins 6-5 Scott Donaldson
Zak Surety 6-3 Neil Robertson
Stephen Maguire 6-4 Jiang Jun
Wu Yize 6-4 Judd Trump
Barry Hawkins 6-4 Jack Lisowski
Mark Selby 6-1 Anthony McGill
Zhao Xintong 6-1 Si Jiahui
Quarter-Finals
John Higgins 6-2 Shaun Murphy
Stephen Maguire 6-1 Zak Surety
Wu Yize 6-0 Barry Hawkins
Zhao Xintong 6-5 Mark Selby
Semi-Finals
John Higgins 9-2 Stephen Maguire
Wu Yize 9-6 Zhao Xintong
Final (bo19)
John Higgins vs Wu Yize
Sunday, 6am and 11:30am UTC (GMT)
Featured photo credit: WST
