Home Nations £1m tournament

Experience told this evening as John Higgins was too strong for Zhou Yuelong beating him 5-0. Meanwhile Jiang Jun collapsed from 4-1 up against Wu Yize to lose 5-4.

Semi finals:

Wu Yize v Barry Hawkins

John Higgins v Jack Lisowski

John Higgins is timeless.
Pass it on .

What a class player he still is.

Wu Yize did whitewash Hawkins in the International Championship, so that's a good sign, but Hawkins has the advantage being fresher for finishing in the afternoon yesterday, while Wu had to stay up late to win a deciding frame in a tough match.

As regards the £150K BetVictor bonus for the player who wins the most prize money across the BetVictor home nations series, Mark Allen is currently in line to receive it, but if Jack Lisowski can beat John Higgins and reach the final, he can snatch the bonus from Mark Allen's grasp.

Let's have two 6-5 nailbiters decided on respotted blacks .

(28-02-2026 08:18 )Joannis Wrote:  As regards the £150K BetVictor bonus for the player who wins the most prize money across the BetVictor home nations series, Mark Allen is currently in line to receive it, but if Jack Lisowski can beat John Higgins and reach the final, he can snatch the bonus from Mark Allen's grasp.

They were discussing it after Lisowski's win:

REANNE EVANS: Are you thinking about the money?
JACK LISOWSKI: What do you think?
MARK WILLIAMS: I'm thinking about it and I can't even win it!

Barry Hawkins is through to the final after resisting some ridiculous snooker from Wu Yize to prevail 6-4.
The Hawk surged into a 4-1 lead before Wu went into beast mode to level at 4-4.
But the man from China missed in the balls in frame 9 and paid the penalty to lose a frame he should have won. Hawkins then saw out the match to reach his second Welsh Open final.

It's the old old story of leaving it late (even if it worked in the previous round).

Higgins 3-1 up at the mid-session.

The first mini session was a bit scrappy with the aforementioned 3-1 lead for the Scot but after the interval Lisowski came roaring out the traps rattling in runs of 95, 79 and 138 to take a 4-3 lead. John Higgins responded superbly as you would expect with a fine 82 but in frame 9 missed a blue to the green pocket and Lisowski put together an excellent 58 break using brown and pink to go one away from victory.
Wizard of Wishaw never backs down though and a typical granite like break pulled him level to force a decider.
£150k bonus on the line for Lisowski and a potential title shot to boot.

Yikes.

His response?
A quite brilliant 78 break.
Well done that man.
Fabulous performance.

It will be a Hawkins v Lisowski Welsh Open final tomorrow.

I have really enjoyed this tournament.
So many enjoyable matches. That one tonight tops the lot. And two of the nicest guys on the tour will meet in the final. I like both so best wishes to each of them from me for the title match.

Congratulations to Jackpot for scooping the £150K bonus! Even if he loses the final, he'll get more than the £100K prize the winner gets.

Sadly I don't see anything but a Hawkins victory. Every dog has his day, and I fear it's Hawkins turn. But it would be great if Jack won; no major tournament final wins for years, then 2 in the same season.

Barry Hawkins is the Welsh Open champion for 2026 after beating Jack Lisowski 9-5.
The match was largely won in a clinic of an opening afternoon session in which The Hawk rattled in breaks of 105, 67, 102, 76 and 88 to storm into a 7-1 lead.
In the evening Lisowski came roaring out the traps with a couple of rapid fire century breaks and pulled back to 7-4. Hawkins steadied the ship with a 68 and got over the line in frame 14 to seal the Ray Reardon Trophy..
Lovely post match words from both men about each other. Two very worthy finalists and a fifth ranking title of his career for the champion.

Four different winners of the Home Nations events too. Lisowski takes home a whopping £195,000 for his troubles after claiming the bonus.

Hawkins cements his top 16 place and grabs a spot in The Champion of Champions event.

Congrats to both.