Xiao Guodong has won the 2024 Wuhan Open after completing a 10-7 triumph over Si Jiahui in Saturday’s final.
The 35 year-old produced a strong display overall to defy his underdog status, as he had done so often already this week at the Optics Valley Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Xiao counted world champion Kyren Wilson, Championship League Snooker winner Ali Carter, and world number eight Shaun Murphy among his conquests in the tournament.
A come-from-behind victory over Wuhan’s own Long Zehuang in the semi-finals brought him to within a win of ranking glory for only the third time in his 17-year career.
Xiao had been denied in his previous two opportunities, including at the 2013 Shanghai Masters when he contested the first ever all-Chinese ranking event final against Ding Junhui.
Eleven years later and this showdown represented just the third title-deciding contest between a pair of cueists from China.
Opponent Si went into the affair as the obvious favourite despite being far less experienced, still aged only 22.
It was always going to be difficult to replicate the spectacular standard that he conjured in his last-four outing against Judd Trump on Friday.
Si compiled a 147 break and five more frame-winning contributions in a 6-2 dismantling of the world number one and defending Wuhan Open champion.
The world number 13 found it hard to rediscover the same level of fluency from the outset, and he constantly faced an uphill battle after Xiao won the opening two frames of the final with breaks of 54 and 74.
A 109 contribution settled Si’s nerves somewhat, but Xiao crucially won the following two frames on the black ball to extend his buffer.
Almost every time Si showed signs of responding, Xiao was able to compose himself and reassert control – something he perhaps had been unable to do at key moments of big matches previously in his career.
When his young challenger closed to within one frame, Xiao compiled a tremendous 129 break and added a 73 clearance in the last frame of the first session to orchestrate a 6-3 advantage.
That quickly became 7-3 upon the evening’s resumption of play, and even though Si replied with a second ton, Xiao’s immediate response was to add another century break of his own.
A 77 break then took the former Shoot Out finalist to the brink of glory at the last mid-session interval, leading 9-4.
The final period of play became a nervy one for Xiao as he reverted back into his shell and watched as Si won three frames on the spin with breaks of 76, 131, and 83.
But gifted several bites at the cherry in the 17th frame and aided by a horrifically laid snooker behind the green on the last red, Xiao ultimately got the job done.
First turning professional in 2007, Xiao was a former Asian under-21 champion who quickly established himself as one of the top players from China.
Over the years, he made several appearances in quarter-finals and semi-finals of tournaments but rarely was able to back up one strong display with another.
That layer of steeliness was added to his game this week, and coupled with demonstrating prolific break-building prowess when in among the balls, Xiao was a fully deserving champion in Wuhan.
Success will see him rise to a career-high ranking of number 18 in the world – taking him withing striking distance of a place in the top 16 for the first time.
That could be good timing with both automatic seeding for the UK Championship and an invite to the Masters soon coming into play.
What is almost for certain – even if no criteria has officially been announced yet – Xiao will surely gain an invitation to the upcoming Champion of Champions in Bolton.
The £140,000 top prize also helps him to leapfrog his way up the one-year rankings and into prime position to qualify for lucrative events like the Tour Championship towards the end of the campaign.
A bit like Zhang Anda’s International Championship triumph a year ago, this is a life-changing breakthrough moment in the career of Xiao Guodong.
Si will be disappointed not to have made a better fist of the final, missing a few pivotal balls at important moments early on and simply succumbing to an opponent who played better on the day.
When he beat Trump in the semi-finals, the player who prevented him from winning the German Masters at the start of 2024, he must have felt that he had one hand on the trophy.
It wasn’t to be on this occasion, but such is his wonderful pedigree that many more opportunities like these are almost certain to come in the future.
This tournament and this moment in time, however, belongs to Xiao Guodong – snooker’s newest ranking event champion.
Featured photo credit: WST
