Gary Wilson v Joe O’Connor live stream | Scottish Open final 2022 preview
Can Wilson claim his maiden ranking title? (Photo by NIgel French/PA Images)
Gary Wilson and Joe O’Connor do battle for the right to land their maiden ranking title in the Scottish Open final on Sunday.
Both players are aiming to break into the winners’ enclosure by lifting the Stephen Hendry trophy and pocketing a cheque for £80,000 – the biggest of their careers to date.
Whoever prevails would also become the 16th different player to triumph in the Home Nations since the series launched in 2016.
Surprise finalists they may be, but the two competitors have certainly earned the right to reach the showpiece.
Between them, they have taken out the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Kyren Wilson, Zhao Xintong, Mark Williams and Ding Junhui to stand within nine frames of glory.
Wilson will be hoping to make it third time lucky, having fallen at the final hurdle in the 2015 China Open and 2021 British Open.
The Tyneside Terror made the short trip to Edinburgh having not advanced past the last 32 at any tournament in 2022-23.
However, he opened with a 4-2 win over former World champion Ken Doherty, before prevailing in deciders to deny O’Sullivan and Hossein Vafaei.
The world number 32 then recovered from 3-1 down to overcame namesake Kyren Wilson 5-3, and hit three centuries from 3-3 to see off Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-4 in the semi-finals.
This will be his third meeting with O’Connor, who had only reached two ranking quarter-finals in his career prior to this week.
Nevertheless, the world number 55 has enjoyed quite the run, beating Zhao, Ding, Williams and Walden, before adding Robertson to his list of scalps in the semi-finals.
The Leicester cueist made breaks of 137 and 71 against the Triple Crown winner. But the key moment of his 6-3 victory was undoubtedly the stunning 47 clearance he produced in frame seven to snatch a 4-3 lead on the black, and winning the subsequent two frames to seal it.
Play gets underway at 1pm GMT with the opening eight frames, before a maximum of nine commence from 7pm at the Meadowbank Sport Centre in Edinburgh.