Gary Wilson retains Scottish Open title with victory over Noppon Saengkham

Gary Wilson completed a successful defence of his Scottish Open title with a 9-5 win over Noppon Saengkham in Edinburgh.

The 38-year-old surged into a 6-2 lead at the end of the opening session of the final then withstood a brief comeback by the Thai to seal his second ranking crown.

It capped a remarkable campaign for Wilson, who was forced to win three consecutive final frame deciders in the early stages of the tournament.

Wilson admitted he felt “dead and buried” when he trailed Xing Zihao 3-1 in their first-round match and described his second-round win over Joe O’Connor as “absolutely useless”.

He then proceeded to stage one of the great escapes in Saturday’s semi-final when he gained three snookers required then won a marathon re-spotted black to get the better of China’s Zhou Yuelong.

Seven half-centuries helped Wilson establish a dominant lead over Saengkham, who had himself battled back to beat crowd favourite John Higgins in their last-four showdown.

But it could have been better for Wilson, who missed a red to the middle, allowing Saengkham in to clear and turn a potential 7-1 margin into a flicker of hope at 6-2.

A break of 81 nudged Wilson closer at the start of the evening session, but back-to-back breaks of 132 and 97 showed Saengkham was up for the fight before Wilson took two of the next three to complete his victory.

“There’s not many people who can say they’ve won more than one (ranking title), so I’m proud and happy that I’m a multiple event winner,” Wilson told Eurosport.