Wu Yize has secured his maiden ranking event title after beating John Higgins 10-6 in the 2025 International Championship final on Sunday.
The 22 year-old produced a dominant display to overcome the four-time world champion at the SNC National Fitness Center in Nanjing.
Wu had looked dead and buried much earlier in the tournament when he trailed Judd Trump 4-0 at the mid-session interval of their round-of-16 tie.
But the silky Chinese cueist stormed back to defeat the world number one, whitewashed Barry Hawkins in the quarters, and then ousted world champion Zhao Xintong to reach his third ranking final.
And it was third time lucky for Wu who put behind him the disappointment of missing out on success in the finals of last season’s English and Scottish Opens.
Wu began the International Championship final strongly with breaks of 86 and 62 helping him to orchestrate an early 2-0 advantage.
Higgins, chasing a third ranking title of the year and a 34th in total, then got on the scoreboard with an excellent run of 101.
But his young opponent produced a blistering burst of power scoring to win three out of the next four frames with contributions of 110, 113, and 137.
At 5-2 behind, it appeared as though the match might be getting away from Higgins even before the need for a second session of play.
But despite an enormous total points deficit across the game up until that point, the Scot battled in typical fashion to pinch the remaining two frames of the opening session and stay in touch at just 5-4 behind.
Considering his relative lack of experience at this stage of tournaments, that slip could have proved costly.
Yet Wu showed few signs of nerves as the play resumed in the evening, scoring further breaks of 87 and 80 to extend his advantage to 8-4.
Higgins, who managed impressive victories over Shaun Murphy and Stephen Maguire in the previous rounds, got in with opportunities but was predominantly unable to take advantage.
The 50 year-old did stop the rot to win the frame before the last mid-session interval, but a missed black in the 14th frame allowed Wu in to move to within the brink at 9-5.
The former world under-21 amateur champion botched his first attempt at completing the job to gift Higgins an unexpected chance to get another frame.
But Wu quickly had another opportunity in the next, spearheaded by a great long pot that was a trademark of his game all week, and he didn’t spurn this one – winning in style with another century break.
Wu becomes the second first-time ranking event winner in succession on the main tour following Jack Lisowski’s triumph at the Northern Ireland Open a couple of weeks ago.
The £175,000-worth of ranking points that he has accrued from this glory will be enough to see him leapfrog his way into the elite top 16 for the first time in his career.
That is particularly good timing as it guarantees his involvement at the venue stages of the upcoming UK Championship in York, the campaign’s first Triple Crown event.
Wu also looks set to participate in all three tournaments on the lucrative Players Series later in the campaign where qualification is based off the one-year rankings.
Indeed, such is the prodigious talent at his disposal, Wu looks set to be a major contender at all the biggest events for many years to come.
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)
Wu Yize 10-6 John Higgins
Featured photo credit: WST
Congratulations to Wu Yize on a stunning capture of the International Championship, becoming the ninth Chinese player to win a ranking event.
His scoring throughout the event was savage. He compiled 14 centuries, matching Mark Allen’s record, from 2018, of the most in a single edition of this tournament. His century-per-frame ratio is currently superior to the likes of Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Zhao Xintong, Jack Lisowski and Mark Williams. He’s already a contender as the best long potter in the game.
This year’s edition saw a record-breaking 160 centuries.
John Higgins appearing in a 59th ranking final.
I only watched the final but Wu’s long potting was astonishing, even from Higgins’ safeties that were very good.
It reminded me of Zhao Xintong in the UK Championship final.