Nov 10,2024
Chris Wakelin recovered his nerve to beat Xiao Guodong 9-8 and seal his place in Sunday's International Championship final in Nanjing.
Wakelin, who had let an 8-5 lead slip, made a match-winning break of 67 in the deciding frame and now faces Ding Junhui for the £175,000 winner’s prize.
The 32-year-old former Asda delivery driver is guaranteed a place in the world’s top 16 for the first time in his career after reaching his third ranking event final.
Wakelin, guaranteed £75,000, the biggest payday of his career, said: "I’ve worked my entire life at this game for moments like this. From 8-5 I threw it away. I made ridiculously easy mistakes.
"In the decider I knew it was now or never, I had to forget about what had happened.
"That was the hardest match of my life. In the first 10 years of my career, so many times I put myself in winning situations in matches, but didn’t take those chances.
"This was my final because getting into the top 16 was the goal. But now the shackles are off and I know I have performances like that in me."
Wakelin, runner-up to Judd Trump in the 2023 Northern Ireland Open, has beaten three former world champions en route to the final – Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy and John Higgins.
World number nine Ding hit back from 5-2 down to beat Xu 9-6 and stay on course for his first ranking title since the 2019 UK Championship.
Ding, who beat Kyren Wilson 6-4 in his quarter-final, won four straight frames to turn a 5-2 deficit into a 6-5 lead and won the last three in pursuit of his second International Championship title, having won his first in 2013.
