Scottish Open 2023: Noppon Saengkham fights back to stun John Higgins and secure place in first ranking final

Noppon Saengkham fought back to sink home favourite John Higgins and book his place in the Scottish Open final.

Higgins looked extremely strong when taking a 3-1 lead at the interval, but a missed pink when seemingly well set in the fifth shifted the momentum.

As Higgins faltered, Noppon grew stronger and the 31-year-old powered on to secure his place in a ranking final for the first time in his career.

Those in attendance in the evening witnessed something Higgins had never seen in “30 years as a pro”.

An exchange of tippy-tappy with a red over a pocket saw referee Olivier Marteel call a touching ball on two reds. Simply put, Higgins had nowhere to go. After deliberating for some time, Higgins played towards the baulk end in a bid to hide the ball over the pocket. One of the reds moved, which led to a foul. It was not fatal as Noppon missed and Higgins stepped in to secure the opening frame.

Attacking snooker is Noppon’s modus operandi, and he put together a couple of solid contributions in the second to get on the board and settle the nerves.

Higgins knocked in his first ton of the week against Tom Ford on Friday, and he picked off his second – a run of 130 in the third – to restore his advantage.

Although it appeared to rise and fall in waves, Higgins’ confidence looked to increase against Ford and he cued the ball superbly in fashioning a break of 92 to move 3-1 ahead at the interval.

Noppon did little wrong in the three frames Higgins won before the interval and it looked set to follow the same pattern in the fifth, but his opponent broke down on 53 to show frailty for the first time.

Both players squandered further chances, before Noppon knocked in a stunning final red and picked off a string of superb pots to clear and steal the frame.

Higgins’ missed pink in the fifth came as a surprise, but his poor safety at the start of the sixth was a worry and Noppon punished him in style with a glorious total clearance of 133.

The seventh was a scrappy affair – and Noppon showed the first signs of nerves with a missed black – but Higgins did not take advantage and the Thailand player crunched in a superb long pot on the final red before picking off the colours to move ahead for the first time in the match.

A poor safety at the start of the eighth added to Higgins’ woes and as he had done for much of the week, Noppon picked off a long red to get underway.

The table was not pretty, and the cue ball did a lot of travelling, but Noppon picked off pot after pot in a sensational break of 120 to move within one frame of victory at 5-3.

Too often this season, Higgins’ usually exemplary positional play has been awry and that was the case in the ninth as a poor shot on the blue when on a break of 35 left him terribly placed and he trudged back to his seat after missing a tough red to the right middle.

It presented Noppon with a chance to close out the match and although he looked a little nervous he did what was required with a break of 83 to set up a clash with defending champion Gary Wilson on Sunday.

Noppon broke down with emotion after sealing the win – he had to be helped through it by Higgins – and will have to regroup for Sunday’s two-session final.