2026 International Championship Snooker: In-form Kyren Wilson reaches back-to-back finals

Wilson recovered from a first session deficit to defeat Fan Zhengyi, 9-6, and reach Saturday’s showpiece fixture at the £825,000 world ranking event where he’ll meet either John Higgins or Chang Bingyu.

Having reclaimed the Northern Ireland Open title only a couple of weekends ago, in-form Wilson makes it back-to-back finals on the World Snooker Tour, and he extends his winning streak to 11 matches across both events.

World number 51 Fan from China took the opening frame of Thursday's semi-final before Wilson levelled with the aid of 55 and then nudged in front.

Fan - appearing in his second ranking event semi-final, and first since his surprise title triumph at the 2022 European Masters where he ousted Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final - made breaks of 70 and 59 in frames either side of the mid-session interval to go 3-2 up.

Wilson restored parity with an 84 in the sixth, but underdog Fan won frame seven on the final black - after his peer had missed the same colour for a chance - before finishing the afternoon in style, compiling a 103 for a 5-3 lead.

On resumption a few hours later, world number nine Wilson was eager for a fast start, and that's exactly what he got, fashioning runs of 102, 84 and 86 in a three-frame burst to go 6-5 in front.

Fan stopped his opponent's sequence with the aid of a 62 in making it 6-6, but after the last mid-session interval, 34-year-old Wilson stole frame 13 on the final black with a counter of 63 after his opponent missed a glorious opportunity, and then crafted breaks of 100 and 53 to reach the 20th world ranking event final of his career.

Kyren Wilson’s route to the International Championship final

Englishman Wilson’s route to the title match has been far from straightforward. In his qualifying round tie held in England several weeks ago, he battled back from 5-2 down to deny Irish youngster Leone Crowley, 6-5.

In the Far East over the past few days, Wilson had to win the final three frames to pip Liam Highfield, 6-5, in the last 64 before surviving another deciding frame finish, this time against Oliver Lines in the last 16.

He has also eliminated Ryan Day (6-1 in the last 32) and Ding Junhui (6-4 in the quarter-finals). It’s the first time that Wilson has been to the final of the International Championship; his previous best was a quarter-final outcome two years ago.

Within the space of only a fortnight, Wilson is set to star in two ranking finals. Prior to travelling to Belfast last month, he’d not featured in the semi-finals of a ranked tournament for over 18 months.

As a consequence - with significant chunks of prize money coming off his rolling tally this term - he was projected to fall outside of the world’s top 16 rankings later in the season. Now, any such concerns seem to be fizzing away, with a guarantee of at least £75,000 coming this weekend.

Fan collects £33,000 for his efforts in the event, a result that will push him up to 45th when the world rankings are revised.

Higgins and Chang are scheduled to meet across two sessions on Friday (06:00GMT and 11:30GMT) at the SNC National Fitness Centre.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 International Championship, visit our tournament information centre here.