Good morning. I promised you the Leicester result: the defending champion is out, beaten in his home city by a man he used to practise with. After that, Vietnam, Korea and a hill-hill final in Mississippi.
LEICESTER: WAKELIN ENDS SELBY'S DEFENCE
Chris Wakelin is the first man through to the semi-finals of the Champion of Champions. He beat Mark Selby 6–2 in last night's Group One final at the Mattioli Arena, so Selby will not become only the second player to defend this title. Wakelin had already come from a frame down to beat Barry Hawkins 4–1 in the afternoon, with a 117 along the way.
How the final went, per the official event report and livesnooker:
- Frames 1–3: Wakelin took the opener with a 54. Selby levelled, then Wakelin won an eight-point third frame with a 59 clearance.
- Frames 4–5: two clearances of 66 put Wakelin 4–1 up.
- Frames 6–7: Selby got one back with a 70, and an 83 put Wakelin one frame away.
- Frame 8: it was close until Selby missed a pink and left it over the pocket. Wakelin potted it and won the match.
The best part came afterwards. "Mark and I practised together for a good seven, eight years, he helped me with my own game," Wakelin said. He admitted he "didn't play my best and was certainly quite lucky", and said he has gone back to his old cue this week. This is his first Champion of Champions semi-final, and it is on Friday night. Selby goes home with £17,500. The winner on Sunday gets £150,000.
Today (Group Two, ITV): Neil Robertson v Panchaya Channoi at 1pm, then Judd Trump v Jak Jones, with the two winners meeting at 7pm over 11 frames.
HO CHI MINH CITY: THE No.1 RACE GOES SOUTH
The Universal Open Ho Chi Minh starts tomorrow at the Sniper Billiards Club. It is a 128-player World Nineball Tour Silver event with a $63,000 prize fund and $15,000 to the winner. It is the tour's first visit to Vietnam away from Hanoi.
- The No.1 duel: world No.1 Aloysius Yapp and No.2 Carlo Biado are both in. Billiard News puts the gap between them at about $18,000 in ranking money, so a deep run here could change things at the top.
- Form man: Johann Chua won the Philippines Open last month, beating Anton Raga 11–9 in the final, and he already has a Vietnamese title from Hanoi in 2024.
- Mosconi pressure: Olivér Szolnoki is fourth in the Mosconi Cup qualification race, one place outside the automatic spots. This and next week's Bangkok event are the last ranking stops before the Mosconi Cup in Orlando on 27 November.
- The homecoming: Ho Chi Minh City is home for Duong Quoc Hoang, Vietnam's top-ranked player (No.21) and this year's Premier League Pool champion. The full 128 entry list hadn't been published at the last check, so his place is still to be confirmed.
Format: double elimination to the last 64, then straight knockout with a race to 13 for the title. It streams on WNT.TV.
KOREA: CHO MYUNG-WOO DOES IT IN DOUBLES
The 21st Korea Sports Council President's Cup national championship is under way in Yanggu, at the venue that hosted last week's three-cushion World Cup. On Monday, Cho Myung-woo and Kim Hoe-seung (Seoul) won the three-cushion doubles. They beat Kim Haeng-jik and Choi Ho-ta (Jeonnam) 30–22 in 22 innings in the final, per MK Billiards News.
They made runs of 15, 13 and 13 in their last three matches, and won the semi-final 30–7 in six innings, a 5.000 average. Cho said it was the first time he had done that in official doubles play. It is his second President's Cup doubles title in a row (he won last year with Yoon Do-young) and his third national doubles title of 2026. For Kim, it is his first title of any kind.
Less happily, Billiards and Sports reports that the men's three-cushion winner's prize has been cut from 20 million won to 5 million. The singles start today, the 9-ball finals are on Wednesday, and the three-cushion finals close the event on Thursday. It streams on SOOP.
USA: RIVAS WINS IT ON THE CASE GAME
Sergio Rivas won the Mississippi 9-Ball Classic at the Corner Pocket in Jackson, the second Tavern Series stop on the Making It in America Pool Tour ($10,000 added, 65 players). He lost his first match 9–8 and then won ten in a row, per AzBilliards, reaching the final against Devin Poteet, an extended race to 11. Rivas led 10–7, missed two routine outs and was pegged back to 10–10, then won a safety battle in the case game to take it 11–10.
In Charlotte, Randy Flakes came through the loss side to win the One Pocket event at The Pool Series stop at Smokin' Cue, his first known regional tour title. He beat Mike Davis Jr double-hill in a final that ended just before 9am UK time on Sunday.
ON THE RADAR
- Today: Champion of Champions Group Two, Leicester (ITV)
- Wednesday: Universal Open Ho Chi Minh breaks off (WNT.TV); Champion of Champions Group Three: Shaun Murphy v Ronnie O'Sullivan at 1pm, then Wu Yize v Chang Bingyu
- Thursday: Champion of Champions Group Four: Zhao Xintong v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Kyren Wilson v Ali Carter; President's Cup three-cushion finals, Yanggu (SOOP); IBSF World Snooker Championships players' meetings in Indore, with qualifying from Friday
- 13–15 Nov: IPA Tour Grand Final, Bolton (scores on CueScore)
- Friday 7pm: Wakelin's Champion of Champions semi-final (ITV)
Has Selby's defence ending in his home city changed your pick for Sunday, or is this Trump's to lose now? Tell us below.
More from Leicester and Ho Chi Minh City later today.
— Reggie
Sources: Champion of Champions Snooker (official), livesnooker, World Nineball Tour, Billiard News, Ncue Media, Universal HCMC Open (official), MK Billiards News, Billiards and Sports, Korean Billiards Federation, AzBilliards. Feature image: “Chris Wakelin 2026 (2)” by Andrej146, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication).
