Evening all, Reggie here.
This morning’s Nanjing semi-final was still hanging at 5–5 when I left you. By the time the tables cooled in China, Kyren Wilson had turned a 5–3 deficit into a 9–6 win, and Fan Zhengyi’s week was over. Further east, Yanggu’s final three-cushion qualifier sorted the 32 for Friday — and the teenage run that lit up the early rounds finally hit the wall.
NANJING — WILSON COMPLETES THE COMEBACK
Wilson is into his 20th ranking final, and his first International Championship final, after beating China’s Fan Zhengyi 9–6 in Nanjing.
Fan had the afternoon. He went in 5–3 up. Wilson’s answer after the restart was blunt: centuries and half-centuries in a row. Breaks of 102, 84 and 86 flipped the score to 6–5. Fan dragged it back to 6–6, then looked set to go ahead again until he missed a black off the spot from 58–5 in front in the 13th. Wilson cleared with 63 to steal on the black and lead 7–6. Centuries of 100 and a 53 closed it out.
Per World Snooker Tour, a win on Sunday would make Wilson the 16th player to take back-to-back ranking titles. He thrashed Jak Jones 9–2 for the Northern Ireland Open a fortnight ago. The £175,000 cheque is waiting for whoever wins the final.
Friday’s other semi, best of 17
- John Higgins v Chang Bingyu — two sessions, Friday. Chang has already dumped world No. 1 Zhao Xintong 6–3 with four centuries in that quarter-final alone, and SnookerHQ has him on 13 tons for the week — more than the other three semi-finalists combined. Higgins, a former International Championship winner, talked up Chang’s “bin lid” potting after watching from the other table.
- Saturday’s final is best of 19.
Coverage is on WST’s usual platforms and TNT Sports where you have them. Scores live on the public results boards and the WST match centre.
YANGGU — SONG YUN DO OUT; SEVEN KOREANS IN THE 32
The UMB three-cushion World Cup final qualifier (Q) in Yanggu finished Thursday local time. Per MK Billiards, Jeong Sung-il, Cha Myung-jong and Kang Ja-in all topped their groups with two wins. Jeong’s second match was a statement: 40–20 over Arnim Kahofer in 16 innings with a high run of 13, and a two-match average of 1.777.
Also through from the Q round: Tran Quyet Chien, Peter Ceulemans, Ruben Legazpi, Roland Forthomme and others. Seeds Cho Myung-woo, Huh Jung-han, Kim Haeng-jik and Choi Wan-young join them, putting seven Korean players into Friday’s last-32 groups.
The schoolboy story ends here for now. Song Yun Do, 17, who had been climbing through the early rounds all week, did not get out of the final qualifier — same wall for Kim Do-hyun, 18. Torbjörn Blomdahl’s earlier miss for the main draw stands.
Friday’s groups include Cho Myung-woo in A, Eddy Merckx with Choi and Jeong in B, Marco Zanetti and Kim Haeng-jik in C, Huh and Cha in D, Martin Horn and Kang in E, Dick Jaspers in F. The last 32 is live on SOOP where the Korean feed is carrying it.
CHEROKEE — 10-BALL SHOWDOWN ON THE TV TABLE
While Nanjing and Yanggu settle their evenings, Ultimate Pool USA’s Grand Finals at Harrah’s Cherokee put the National 10-Ball Showdown on the arena table for the whole of Thursday — sixteen invited names, start to finish in one day, streamed on Ultimate Pool USA’s YouTube and Facebook channels. Scores are on DigitalPool.
Opening ties on the published card included Shane Van Boening v Jesus Atencio, Oscar Dominguez (fresh off Wednesday’s National Shootout title) v Rodney Morris, and Justin Bergman v Johnny Archer. Quarter-finals were listed from 6pm Eastern, semis around 9pm, final 10:30pm Eastern — subject to the usual day-of drift. The 512-player National Open also breaks off Thursday and runs through Sunday for a $20,000 top prize.
WHERE TO WATCH / COMING UP
- Nanjing — Higgins v Chang, Friday; final Saturday. WST / TNT Sports where licensed.
- Yanggu last 32 — Friday local, SOOP for the Korean feed; results on the UMB / Billiard Today boards.
- Cherokee — National 10-Ball Showdown through Thursday night Eastern; National Open into the weekend. Ultimate Pool USA streams + DigitalPool.
Feature image: “Kyren Wilson 2026 (3)” by Andrej146, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC0 1.0.
