Home Nations £1m tournament

Wu Yize is the first man into the final after beating Xiao Guodong in a compelling encounter. Xiao settled early taking the first two frames before Wu hit back to level at the interval. Xiao then won the next two aided by a break of 76 to lead 4-2.
At this point Wu turned up the heat and with successive runs of 67, 57, 115 and 54 rattled off the last four frames in a row to triumph 6-4.

Xiao looked to be freewheeling at 4-2, so I was bemused to switch back later as Wu was completing his match-winning break. Fair play to him, maybe he is the future.

World number 84 Lei Peifan produced yet another remarkable fightback from the jaws of defeat to somehow edge out Mark Allen 6-5.
In a very long match Lei went 5-2 down but slowly clawed his way back to force a decider and held his nerve superbly to set up a final clash with Wu Yize.

What a fantastic effort.

The final should be absolutely fascinating and I can't wait to watch it.

Is it the first all-Chinese final? I assume it can't be. Mark looked in control at 3-0, but when I switched back to it, it was still on. Finished well after midnight, though some might well have preferred Atlanta on the other side. Much commentary (here, not there) that Lei had never made a quarter-final before, so all the more credit to him. It might go the distance today, very slowly.

2013 Shanghai Masters: Ding Jinhui v Xiao Guodong (while still a ranking tournament)
2022 German Masters: Zhao Xintong v Yan Bingtao
2024 Wuhan Open: Xiao Guodong v Si Jiahui

Lei Peifan was 4-0 up, but Wu Yize has just pulled one back.

I saw a promo bit this evening about the Xiao-Si match, so yeah, I see. It's not the all-time-youngest either, but it IS the youngest for 35 years or something.

Wu did well to recover this afternoon. It is an odd occurrence that late semi-final finishes often lead to successful starts in finals, even though logically you'd imagine they'd start slower from tiredness.

Lei 7-4 the last I looked. Wu's a lanky sort, isn't he?

Lei Peifan is the Scottish Open champion after winning a protracted style final 9-5 over Wu Yize.
The lowest ranked player to win a ranking title for 31 years. A brilliant achievement for the young man who fell off the tour twice, regained his tour place twice but now has come of age.

A really excellent tournament.
I thoroughly enjoyed it .

Congratulations to Lei Peifan, who only regained his place on the tour this season via the Asia Pacific Q Tour. He jumps 40 places in the rankings from 83 to 43. His work is not yet done for the year, he still has to play his German Masters qualifier against Allan Taylor tomorrow.

The Scottish Open final was the last ranking final of the year. There's only German Masters qualifying and the Riyadh Championship left on the WST tour, then the tour resumes in the new year with the non-ranking version of the Championship League.

Mark Selby was a quarter finalist in 2022. After the deduction of his 2022 points he slips from 3rd to 5th in the rankings. Mark Allen's failure to get into the final means he only goes up one place to 4th, while Ronnie goes up to 3rd without potting a ball.

Gary Wilson drops to 16th after losing his points for winning the 2022 Championship. Xiao Guodong only goes up to 17th after failing to get into the semis.

Neil Robertson, a semi finalist in 2022, goes down to 20th after his points are deducted. Wu Yize failure to win the final means he doesn't overtake Robertson and has to settle for 25th for now.

Well done Lei, I'm sure he can look forward to a crap draw in the Champion of Champions in the fullness of time I felt that his semi with Mark Allen was a bit old school (which is not to say crap and slow). Both he and Wu had their share of brave potting, and it maybe needs remembering they're both just 21.

It's great for the global game imo to see two young Chinese talents contesting a big final like that. Both of them will draw such a lot from the experience. Yes they were both a bit nervy with so much on the line but in the fullness of time they will see it as an important step in the journey forwards and upwards.
Lei Peifan showed such resilience all week with his stirring fightbacks up to and including the semi final. The kid has got wisdom beyond his years.
Well done to him.