Welsh Open snooker 2024 final LIVE – Martin O’Donnell eyes first title as he faces Gary Wilson

Wilson goes for a tricky red down length of table to green bag. Doesn’t drop in jaws, and easy opener as he drops in red, but just the safety to follow.

So here we go then with the Welsh Open final. Eight frames to be played this afternoon, a possible nine frames tonight. Both players given a huge reception by the fans inside Venue Cymru in Llandudno. Wilson to get the action off and running. 2-2 on the career head-to-heads.

A stunning black helped the ‘Minister of Defence’ Martin O’Donnell complete a 5-3 win over world champion Luca Brecel in the last eight. A few more of these today will do just nicely from the Minister, who can attack as well as he defends.

John Higgins fought back from 4-0 and 5-1 behind to close to 5-4 in their semi-final, but Gary Wilson staggered over the line to stay on track for a rare Scottish Open and Welsh Open title double in the same season. Here is how he closed it out quite majestically before a sell-out crowd last night.

Higgins went into the weekend as the hot favourite to win his first ranking title since 2021, but never recovered from a scoring blitz from the Scottish Open champion.

Earlier, Martin O’Donnell booked his place in a first ranking final by making a century in the deciding frame for a 6-5 win over Elliot Slessor.

With both players surprising participants in the last four relative to their rankings, and with plenty at stake, nerves were to the fore throughout.

It was O’Donnell who made the fewer mistakes – and held his nerve superbly in the face of a late rally from Slessor – as he set up a meeting with either Higgins at Venue Cymru in Llandudno.

Welsh Open Final – Martin O’Donnell v Gary Wilson