At 21:00 Beijing time on December 17, 2023, the 2023/2024 Snooker Scottish Open ushered in the ultimate showdown, with defending champion Gary Wilson facing Thailand's Noppon Sangham. In the first 8 rounds of the first stage, Gary Wilson was in a burst of form and played well, hitting 1 single stroke to break 100, 6 single strokes 50+, and a big score of 6-2 far ahead, only 2 games away from the reigning Scottish Open champion.
Group photo before the finals
For the first time in the history of the Scottish Open, the two semi-final matches were played by four opponents from four countries. The first semi-final features defending champion Gary Wilson of England against China's Zhou Yuelong. Zhou Yuelong scored 100 points in a single stroke, Gary Wilson scored 88 points, and the two went into halftime with a 2-2 draw. After returning from halftime, Zhou Yuelong contributed a difficult clearance in the fifth game, and won two games in a row to achieve a 4-2 lead. Both of them made mistakes in the seventh game, and finally Wilson pushed the pink ball to make it 3-4. In the 8th game, Gary Wilson blew up the ball pile, the red ball accidentally fell into the pocket, and Zhou Yuelong seized the opportunity to score 77 points in a single stroke and took the lead in getting the match point. Wilson then scored 122 points and saved two match points in a row to send the game to a tiebreaker. In the deciding game, Zhou Yuelong scored 69 points in a single stroke, and Wilson made two shots of snooker to achieve a delayed score, and the two entered the battle for black. In the end, Zhou Yuelong failed to fight into the long platform to leave a chance in the middle pocket, and Gary Wilson scored a black ball in the middle bag, defeating Zhou Yuelong with a score of 6-5 to advance to the finals, while Zhou Yuelong unfortunately stopped in the semifinals.
Gary Wilson
Zhou Yuelong
The other semi-final was between Scottish native player and sole survivor of the world's top 16 wizard John Higgins and Thailand's Norpeng Sangham. After the opening, John Higgins scored 130 points and 92 points in a single stroke to end the first four games with a 3-1 lead, and then Noppen Sancam scored 133, 120 and 83 points in a single stroke to achieve "five consecutive whips", defeating Higgins with a total score of 6-3 to advance to the finals, and won the first ranking tournament final ticket in his career, especially after scoring 83 points in a single stroke in the winning game, Sancam had tears in his eyes and revealed his true feelings.
Noppon Sancam
John Higgins
Gary Wilson has faced Norpen Sancam twice in his career, with Wilson winning both of them, but both 10 years ago in 2013. This edition of the Scottish Open is Gary Wilson's fourth ranking tournament final (China Open 2015, British Open 2021, Scottish Open 2022, Scottish Open 2023) and Gary Wilson's title defense, beating Joe O'Connor 9-2 last year to claim his first career ranking title. But for Norpen Sancam, it was the first ranking tournament final of his career.
Gary Wilson lifts the championship trophy at the 2022/2023 Scottish Open
The final will be played in two phases with a best-of-17 system, with a total of 8 rounds in the first stage. In the first game, although Sancam accurately scored the long table red ball at the beginning, the cue ball was not well placed and turned into defense. After that, Sancam's offensive error gave Wilson an easy layup, and Wilson won with a single 90 points. In the first game, Wilson got into the groove quickly and got off to a good start.
In the second game, Wilson continued his fiery performance, scoring the first shot on the accurate long platform, and turning to defense with 62 points in a single stroke. After that, Wilson scored several red balls to achieve super points, and in the end, won the second game 75-0. The big score is 2-0.
In the third game, Wilson won the third game 120-0 with 1 shot of 50+ after many hands.
In the fourth game, Sancam took the lead in fighting hard and finally got a continuous offensive opportunity. But only a single stroke of 25 points offensive red ball in the pocket did not score. Wilson accidentally scored a red ball when he hit the colored ball. Sancam got back on the steam and eventually pulled one back 69-7. In the first four innings, Wilson led 3-1 and went into halftime.
In the fifth game, although Wilson was penalized for the opening cue ball, but after that, Sancam did not score the color ball, and Wilson easily got started, winning with a single stroke of 79 points. The big score is 4-1.
In the sixth game, Sancam made a mistake and missed the ball, and Wilson seized the opportunity to win with a single stroke of 105 points. The big score is 5-1.
In the seventh game, Wilson took the lead in scoring 82 points in a single stroke and won again with one stroke. The big score is 6-1.
In the eighth game, Sancam took the lead in scoring 30 points in a single stroke, and once again made a simple red ball mistake, and Wilson also made a mistake in attacking the red ball pocket with a single stroke of 61 points. Sancam got his chance and cleared the table with a shot to pull one back 73-61. The score was 6-2 in the first period.
Throughout the first half, despite Gary Wilson's hot form, Sancam was uncompetitive and made frequent mistakes, relying only on Wilson's inadvertent red ball and offensive pocket errors to get two games. People have to feel sorry for Zhou Yuelong, if the semi-finals against Wilson have a little better psychological quality and ability to grasp the key ball, Zhou Yuelong will most likely be able to win the first ranking championship in his career.
The second stage of the competition will continue tomorrow morning at 03:00 am. It is not easy to create, please like and follow the editor, continue to bring you the latest reports, and witness the birth of the champion together!