Wilson survives nail-biting semifinal to keep hopes alive while Saengkham achieves dream of reaching final

Defending champion Wilson can dream of another triumph in Scotland, while Higgins still has to wait for victory at his home tournament.

However, Wilson was extremely challenged by Zhou: It went all the way to the decider and after a break of 69, the Chinese already thought he was the winner and celebrated – he was leading with 31 points and there were only 22 points left on the table.

But Wilson collected the necessary special points thanks to two snookers on brown and green to make it 72:72, so that a re-spotted black had to decide the game. Wilson sank this after a minute-long duel, cheered with a loud “Come on” and could hardly believe it in the interview with Eurosport.

“To somehow win this is unbelievable,” said the 38-year-old: “Every now and then inexplicable things happen, so you always have to hang in there and fight.”

Bite the cue: pure frustration for Wilson in the semi-finals

Great emotions at Saengkham

Higgins appeared extremely confident in the first session, but after the mid-session interval the momentum changed after he failed to sink Pink from a good position. Saengkham became increasingly stronger and ultimately made his first entry into the final of a ranking event in an impressive manner.

This milestone caused great emotions for the 31-year-old: he was so upset after the victory that Higgins had to support him.

“I’m so happy and so proud of myself,” Saengkham admitted afterwards in the Eurosport studio. “A lot of people didn’t believe in me, but I did,” he said, looking moved at the long journey from his beginnings to moving into it Final back.

Higgins in a dilemma: hopeless situation?

2023-12-17 00:36:00
#Snooker #Scottish #Open #John #Higgins #fails #semifinals #Edinburgh #Gary #Wilson