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Gary Wilson retains Scottish Open crown after sinking Noppon Saengkham

Jonathan Davies in Scottish Open

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Resurgent Saengkham stuns Higgins to reach Scottish Open final

Wilson successfully defended the Stephen Hendry trophy

Gary Wilson completed a successful defence of his Scottish Open title after beating Noppon Saengkham 9-5 in the final on Sunday.

The Tyneside Terror hit a century and a further nine breaks over 50 on the way to landing his second successive crown at the Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh.

Wilson has certainly had to dig deep this week, having arrived with four runs to the last 32 representing his best performances at ranking tournaments this campaign.

Indeed, he came through four deciders including his semi-final against Zhou Yuelong, in which he came from 5-3 down and recovered from needing three snookers in the final frame.

His efforts culminated in him becoming only the third player in history to defend their maiden ranking title after John Parrott and Mark Allen as he pocketed a cheque for £80,000.

“This game’s crazy. I was absolutely nowhere for quite a while and didn’t expect anything this week,” Wilson told Eurosport.

“Slowly but surely, I found a little bit more and a little bit more to the point where I’m actually quite proud of myself in the final.

“I’ve wanted to get to another final and play a solid game in the way I can like I did when I was younger. I felt like I played that way.

“Yes, it wasn’t pretty towards the end. I was starting to lose it a little bit, I was obviously desperate to win. But I felt I held myself together quite well.”

Wilson was a dominant 9-2 winner over Joe O’Connor in last year’s final, and he was quick out of the blocks 12 months on with breaks of 90, 62 and 66 for a 3-0 lead.

Though Saengkham, who was appearing in his maiden ranking final having defeated John Higgins in the last four, stopped the rot in frame four, the world number 20 quickly regained control at 6-1 with runs of 79, 105 and 78 along the way.

It looked like it would be 7-1 as he countered his opponent’s earlier 30 with 61 in the final frame of the afternoon. However, a missed red to the left centre enabled the Thai to clear with 43 and snatch it on the black.

Wilson drew first blood in the evening 81 but, aiming to become the third ranking event winner from Thailand after James Wattana and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Saengkham gave himself hope with breaks of 132 and 97.

Nevertheless, the Newcastle cueist moved to the brink of victory with 54 and though his opponent stayed alive by taking a nervy 13th frame on the blue, a further run of 53 got him over the line.

“I have to give all the credit to Gary,” Saengkham said. “In the first session, he was really strong and scored really heavy. He controlled everything.

“I had so much pressure because he didn’t miss. He deserved to win the trophy. “I promise I’ll be back one day!”