2024 Northern Ireland Open Snooker Final Preview: Judd Trump v Kyren Wilson

The destiny of the £100,000 top prize and The Alex Higgins Trophy will be decided at the Waterfront Hall on Sunday across a two-session, best-of-17 frames encounter between the world’s top two ranked players.

Trump is aiming for an incredible record-extending fifth Northern Ireland Open crown, having claimed his first title here in 2018.

It has been pretty much plain sailing for the 35-year-old during his latest trip to Belfast having relinquished only four frames in five matches. After a 5-1 victory over Shaun Murphy on Friday night, he whitewashed Elliot Slessor 6-0 in the semi-finals around 24 hours later.

That most recent success means that Trump has now won 38 out of his last 40 matches in this event.

‘The Ace in the Pack’ is going for a seventh Home Nations event title, which would put him three clear of both Mark Selby and Neil Robertson on top of the all-time list of most decorated champions from the Series.

Into the 47th ranking event final of his career, glory in the final would represent Trump’s 30th ranking title, which would put him one behind third-placed John Higgins in the all-time ranks.

In just over 14 months on the World Snooker Tour, Trump has now reached 12 professional finals (10 of those have been ranked).

Crucible King Wilson was first to book a spot in the showpiece encounter following a 6-4 win against Pang Junxu on Saturday afternoon.

A seven-time ranking event winner, Wilson is into his third Home Nations Series event final, but is still seeking his first trophy. His two previous HNS final appearances were ones to forget, as he was brushed aside by inspired opposition; at the 2017 English Open Ronnie O’Sullivan defeated him 9-2, and the margin was even bigger at the 2020 Welsh Open when Shaun Murphy won 9-1.

This week, after surviving back-to-back deciding frame finishes in his opening two matches, 32-year-old Wilson was far more comfortable in eliminating Stan Moody (4-1) and Mark Williams (5-1) before facing Pang.

Prior to this ongoing trip to the Northern Irish capital, Wilson had never been past the last 16 at the Waterfront, although he did make the semi-finals of this tournament in its inaugural staging in 2016 at a different venue.

Wilson will be featuring in his 16th ranking event final.

Who is the favourite to win the 2024 Northern Ireland Open final? Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson career head-to-head record

In all professional competitions, Trump leads Wilson in their head-to-head record by 18-13.

Despite that, though, Wilson has recorded several high-profile victories over Trump - including their most recent meeting earlier this season in the final of the big-money Xi’an Grand Prix in China. Wilson also inflicted the ‘Crucible Curse’ on Trump during the last eight of the 2020 World Championship.

Before that 10-8 result in Xi’an, though, Trump had won their last four meetings, a run that included a thrilling 6-5 clutch triumph at the Masters in January of this year.

With bookmakers, Trump is the favourite to win the 2024 Northern Ireland Open final, and is priced at around 1/2.*

However, in terms of previous final fixtures between the two, Wilson leads that stat by three to one.

As the world number 54, Wilson’s huge career breakthrough arrived in 2015 when he ousted Trump 10-9 in the final to lift the Shanghai Masters trophy. As well as the aforementioned win in Xi’an, Wilson also got the better of his fellow Englishman, 3-1, in the 2020 Championship League Snooker Ranking Event.

Trump’s sole title match triumph over Wilson was a 4-3 verdict at the 2020 Gibraltar Open.

Given both player’s fantastic form and history, signs point to a very close affair on Sunday.

The 2024 Northern Ireland Open final is the best-of-17 frames with sessions starting at 13:00GMT and 19:00GMT.

For full details on the 2024 Northern Ireland Open including the draw, results, prize money, schedule and how to watch, please visit our tournament information centre here.

* Pre-match odds on oddschecker.com as of the evening of Saturday 26th October. 18+ Be Gamble Aware.