Welsh Open snooker final preview: Barry Hawkins meets Jack Lisowski for Llandudno crown

The all-English best of 17 frames title match takes place across two sessions (13:00GMT and 19:00), with the winner collecting the ranking title, £100,000, and lifting The Ray Reardon Trophy.

Hawkins is through to his 13th ranking event final - his first in over a year - and is aiming for his fifth ranked accolade. His last triumph came at the 2023 European Masters, and his last on UK soil was over nine years ago at the World Grand Prix.

This will be the 46-year-old’s second Welsh Open final - he was denied by John Higgins, 9-7, at the 2018 staging.

The world number 14 has had a very consistent season, to date, but in some ways a frustrating one. This week is the first time he has gone past the last eight of a tournament, although he had made three ranked quarter-finals (Saudi Arabia Masters, International Championship, UK Championship) and six further last 16 finishes.

His run this week, so far, has pushed him into 12th on the one-year list, which provisionally puts him in a qualification spot for the Tour Championship in a few weeks time, although with the final, and the World Open in a few weeks time coming up, a lot can change on that front.

‘The Hawk’ was close to withdrawing from this week’s festivities due to a bad back, but he’ll be very happy that he attended with at least £45,000 coming his way, and the chance to over double that amount.

Following a narrow 4-3 win over David Lilley, Hawkins saw off Pang Junxu and Mark Williams, both 4-2. Despite being outscored by his opponent, he defeated Neil Robertson 5-3 in the last eight before resisting a surge of breaks from Wu Yize to deny his young peer, 6-4, in the semi-finals.

It has already been a rollercoaster of emotions for Lisowski this week in North Wales.

Having lost his first six ranking event finals, Lisowski secured his maiden ranking title earlier this season at the Northern Ireland Open at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast when he pipped world number one Judd Trump, 9-8, in the final. The triumph was a particularly emotional one, having faced his good friend Trump, and coming just months after the unexpected death of his father.

Since that breakthrough, the 34-year-old’s results on the World Snooker Tour had been disappointing, and earlier this week he talked about how he was struggling with his game.

But ‘Jackpot’ has battled through and found something, defeating Louis Heathcote (4-2), Xiao Guodong (4-3), Jackson Page (4-2) and Stuart Bingham (5-2), before ousting John Higgins, 6-5, in a thrilling semi-final where he produced a fearless decisive effort of 78.

That latter result not only put him through to the final, but also secured him the seasonal £150,000 Home Nations Series order of merit bonus. Had he lost the tie, the jackpot would have gone to Mark Allen instead.

This week’s run - as well as being very lucrative to his bank balance - has also been a boost for his rankings. Lisowski is up to 14th on the one-year list, but victory on Sunday would surely give him a spot in the Tour Championship (the same can be said for Hawkins).

In terms of their head-to-head record, Hawkins leads. He won their most recent encounter - a 6-4 victory in the last 16 of this season’s International Championship in China. That win came not long after Lisowski’s title success in Belfast, with Hawkins stopping that match-winning streak. They have never met in a final.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 Welsh Open, visit here.