Kyren Wilson v Fan Zhengyi live stream | International Championship 2026 Semi-Final preview
Wilson is eyeing a second straight ranking final appearance (PA Images)
Kyren Wilson looks to extend his winning streak when he locks horns with Fan Zhengyi in Thursday’s International Championship semi-final.
The winner of the most recent ranking event takes on a home favourite in Nanjing for a place in Saturday’s final, where John Higgins or Chang Bingyu await the victor.
Wilson, fresh from victory at the Northern Ireland Open less than a fortnight ago, is now appearing in the semi-finals of the International Championship for the first time.
Although, it has not been a groundbreaking run without drama for the Warrior, who threw his cue on the table in frustration during his first-round clash with Liam Highfield.
However, Wilson recovered from 5-3 down to prevail 6-5 and, following a 6-1 rout of Ryan Day, also came through a deciding frame against Oliver Lines.
The reigning Masters champion then ended Ding Junhui’s hopes of climbing into the world’s top 16 ahead of the UK Championship, beating the Dragon 6-4 to extend his ongoing winning streak to 10 matches.
Wilson’s latest obstacle is a player appearing in only the second ranking event semi-final of his career.
Coincidentally, Fan beat Wilson on the way to his first at the 2022 European Masters, which he subsequently went on to win after beating Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final.
The Chinese has already taken out another big name this week in Judd Trump, who he recovered from 4-2 against to beat 6-5 in the last 64.
Fan had opened the week with a 6-1 win over Steven Hallworth, and has also put Pang Junxu (6-2), Liam Davies (6-4) and Hossein Vafaei (6-3) to seal his return to this stage of a ranking tournament.
It will be a battle over the best of 17 frames at the SNCNFC in Nanjing, for the right to play either four-time World champion Higgins or rising star Chang in the showpiece.
The match breaks off at 6am GMT (2pm local time) on Thursday, before playing to a conclusion from 11.30am (7.30pm local time).
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