Saturday morning roundup — Reggie Rutherford
Wakelin one win from the biggest title of his career
Chris Wakelin is into Sunday's Champion of Champions final in Leicester after a 6–2 semi-final win over Neil Robertson on Friday night — and the scoreline flatters nobody so much as the way he closed it out.
Robertson had the better of the opening session, with breaks of 108, 69 and 53 in the first four frames, but it was 2–2 at the interval. The turning point came in frame five, when the Australian missed a simple brown and let Wakelin in. From there it was one-way traffic: runs of 67, 55, 96 and 63 took the last four frames.
The Scottish Open champion, who also knocked out holder Mark Selby earlier in the week, admitted to nerves at the finish. "In the last frame, I did genuinely feel nervous," he told ITV. "Five years ago, I could never see myself qualifying for these events. So to be here in the final of such a prestigious and huge event is a great honour for me." Victory on Sunday would be worth £150,000, a career high.
Tonight in Leicester: Kyren Wilson v Shaun Murphy, the second semi-final, at 7pm. Wilson brings a 14-match unbeaten run and back-to-back ranking titles; Murphy brings a six-match winning streak against him on the main tour, per SnookerHQ. Wakelin gets a full day's rest either way. Live on ITV.
Ho Chi Minh City: second chances are over
The Universal Open has flipped to straight knockout, races to 10, with 64 left at Sniper Billiards Club. Friday cut Dennis Orcollo, Bernie Regalario and Vietnam's Nguyen Bich Tram from the draw, and the Saturday card is loaded:
- Carlo Biado v Chang Sheng Yi (Taiwan) — Biado came through the one-loss side with a 9–3 win over Tong Ba Minh.
- James Aranas v Wu Kun Lin — Aranas won twice on Friday, 8–1 and 9–1, to stay alive; Wu is unbeaten.
- Johann Chua v Julian Serradilla — one of three all-Filipino ties, alongside Jaycee Garcia v Aivhan Maluto and Genesis Quano v Michael Feliciano.
- Marvin Asis v home favourite Duong Quoc Hoang, and Alexis Ferrer v Hoang Thai Duy, the giant-killer who put Orcollo on the one-loss side.
- Already in: John Vincent Vicedo beat Japan's Kenichi Uchigaki 10–8 in the early session, per the On the Hill live sheet.
Oliver Szolnoki (9–6 over Liu Chien Hung) and Mickey Krause (9–0 over James Oyangoren) also survived Friday, and Vietnam has 16 players in the knockout, eight of them unbeaten. It's $15,000 to the winner of Sunday's race-to-13 final from a $63,000 fund. Streamed on WNT TV; brackets on Digital Pool.
Around the tables
Carlisle history: Spencer Street A have become the first team to win the Carlisle and District snooker and billiards titles in the same season. Rob Woods beat Reuben Queen 120–75 and captain Peter Stanyer beat Phil Wall 100–66 to seal the club's first billiards crown with a week to spare. Adam Clarke, Simon Towns and Mike Griffiths finished off a clean sweep over South End A, and the side wants to go the whole season unbeaten (per Cumbria Crack).
UK Championship sponsor: Leasing Options is the new title partner of the UK Championship, WST confirmed on Friday. York Barbican stages it from 28 November to 6 December.
Antigua: The first Obsidian Women's Invitational went to the player entered as Laurz, ahead of Feelinz and Yvonne. Organisers said it was set up to get more women playing competitively (Antigua News).
On this weekend
- IPA Grand Finals, Comis Hotel, Isle of Man: day two of three, with six titles on offer. Scores on CueScore.
- APA U.S. Amateur Championship, Westgate Las Vegas: runs to Sunday, and the Women's U.S. Amateur finishes today.
- EPBF Parasport European Championships, Warsaw: the last day is Sunday.
- IBSF World Snooker Championships, Yeshwant Club, Indore: stage-one play continues.
Feature image: “Chris Wakelin 2026 (3)” by Andrej146, via Wikimedia Commons, released under CC0 (public domain).