Johann Chua is the Philippines Open champion. He beat Anton Raga 11–9 in an all-Filipino final at Gateway Mall 2 in Cubao on Saturday, and he needed every one of those eleven racks. Over in Belfast, Kyren Wilson came within a frame of going out to Sam Craigie before winning the last three to reach Sunday's Northern Ireland Open final.
Philippines Open: Chua holds his nerve, and gets a little help
Chua flew out of the blocks and led 5–0 before Raga found his feet. Raga clawed it back to 7–6, Chua pushed on again to reach the hill at 10–7, and then the final turned nervy. Chua had a chance to finish it in rack 19 but miscued on the 5, Raga cut the gap to 10–9, and the home crowd braced for a decider.
It never really came. Raga scratched on the break in rack 20, Chua walked to the table, cleared up, and Raga conceded at the end.
"We both felt the pressure especially towards the end, but I just got the opportunity to get it," Chua said afterwards, per Spin.ph.
- Chua's road to the title: 10–7 over Aleksa Pecelj, 10–1 over world champion Carlo Biado, 10–2 over 19-year-old Bernie Regalario (from 0–2 down), then 11–9 over Raga.
- Raga's road to the final: 10–7 over Jefrey Roda, 10–4 over Jayson Shaw, 10–6 over Baseth Mocaibat.
- The bigger picture: four Filipinos in the semis, the defending champion David Alcaide, world No. 1 Aloysius Yapp, Shane Van Boening and Biado all sent home by locals, and a home winner at the end of it.
Mosconi Cup watch: the Philippines Open was the last ranking event for automatic places on both teams for Orlando (27–30 November). Matchroom's confirmation of the three American automatic qualifiers, and then Johan Ruijsink's two wildcards, are the next things to look out for. Absolute Pool reported earlier in the week that Thorsten Hohmann's last-16 run had moved him past Tyler Styer, with Fedor Gorst also in that fight for third.
Northern Ireland Open: Wilson wins the last three to beat Craigie 6–5
This one looked done at the interval. Wilson took the first two frames, Craigie got one back, and a 98 sent Wilson in 3–1 up. Then Craigie, ranked 70th, won four frames in a row with breaks of 56, 55 and 100 to lead 5–3 and stand one frame from a ranking final.
Wilson answered with 60 and 56 to force a decider, and that last frame was a scrappy, tense affair. Craigie fluked a blue, then went for a bold red that didn't drop. Wilson missed a pink, Craigie missed the last red, Wilson missed the yellow, Craigie missed wildly in reply, and the 2024 champion finally finished it off. Per BBC Sport, Wilson won the last three frames; TNT Sports counts this as his 19th career ranking final.
- Second semi-final: Mark Williams v Jak Jones, the all-Welsh one, is under way at the Waterfront Hall from 7pm BST tonight. Williams won this event in 2017; Jones is the only player with more than one ranking title so far this season.
- Final: Sunday, best of 17 frames over two sessions. Live on TNT Sports and discovery+ in the UK.
Blackball World Championships: Malta's Attard into a world final
At the WPA Blackball World Championships in London, Malta's Johan Attard has reached the final of the Men's World Grand Prix. Per the Times of Malta, he beat Tony Griffin 5–4, Jeff Owen 5–0, fellow Maltese Matthias Debono 5–1 in the last 16, Neil Toms 5–2 in the quarter-finals, and South Africa's Kevin Martin 5–1 in the semi-finals. Mevrick Zammit also had a good run before losing 5–4 to Martin in the quarters. The championships run until 28 October.
Q Tour Europe, Oberhausen: last 16 set for Sunday
The amateur Q Tour's third European event in Oberhausen is down to its last 16, with the final due on Sunday. Saturday's notable results, per CueTracker:
- Peter Lines beat Robert Milkins 4–2 in the last 64.
- Lukas Kleckers was ruthless on home soil: 4–0 over Umar Hayat Ali (with a 121) and then 4–0 over Jack Borwick.
- Brian Cini came from 0–2 down to beat Hamim Hussain 4–2, finishing with a 137, then saw off Ryan Davies 4–1.
- Mark Joyce (4–1 v Yaron Bodor), Harvey Chandler (4–1 v Simon Blackwell), Sean Maddocks (4–1 v Sean McAllister) and Mark Lloyd (4–2 v Billy Joe Castle, with a 94) are all through.
Women's Snooker Open, Kuala Lumpur: the favourites start clean
The Niche Cues Women's Snooker Open began on Saturday at Niche Premium Snooker in Kuala Lumpur (24–27 October), with group matches played over the best of three. The big names barely dropped a point:
- Reanne Evans beat Coco Shao and Liu Wei Yi Lu, both 2–0.
- Ng On Yee beat Sharon Tan Lai Ying and Sharon Chua 2–0; Sharon Chua scored eight points in two frames.
- Mink Nutcharut won both her matches 2–0, and Bai Yulu beat Lau Sum Yi 2–0.
- Upset of the day: Wang Ruotong made an 83 against Pawaonrat Romyaphuek but lost 2–1 to Mini Chu Pui Ying, who made a 67.
- India watch: Anupama Ramachandran and Shruthi Lakshminarayanan each won one and lost one on day one.
LPBA final: the original queen or the eternal runner-up?
The NH NongHyup Card LPBA Championship final in Goyang is on Sunday at 10pm in Korea (2pm BST). Lim Jeong-sook, 40, won three titles in the LPBA's first season alone and is going for a sixth career win, her first final in two years and eight months. Kim Bo-mi, 28, has been in three LPBA finals and lost all three. Lim leads their head-to-head 2–1, per MK Billiards News, though Kim won their most recent meeting.
Elsewhere
- Gandia: the Predator European Seniors Championships in Spain carry on through 27 October, with 8-ball, 9-ball and the team events still to be decided.
- Seattle: the NWPA Tour's seventh stop is on at Ox Billiards this weekend (24–25 October).
Sunday's viewing
- Northern Ireland Open final, Wilson v Williams or Jones: TNT Sports and discovery+ (UK).
- LPBA final, Lim Jeong-sook v Kim Bo-mi: 2pm BST.
- Q Tour Europe Oberhausen: last 16 to the final, scores on CueTracker.
- Women's Snooker Open, Kuala Lumpur: groups continue.
Feature image: “Kyren Wilson 2026 (1)” by Andrej146, via Wikimedia Commons, released under CC0 (public domain dedication).
