Kyren Wilson beats John Higgins 10-8 to win International Championship

Kyren Wilson beat John Higgins 10-8 in the final of the 2026 International Championship in Nanjing, China, on Saturday, 7 November 2026, to win his second ranking title in a row. The Englishman trailed 5-4 after the afternoon session but pulled away in the evening to take the winner's prize of £175,000 and his 12th ranking title. The result also stopped Higgins, 51, from becoming the oldest player to win a ranking event and the first to win a title in four different decades of his life.

Wilson is in the strongest run of his career. Winning two ranking events back to back is rare in snooker, where the tour is crowded with strong players and form can change from week to week. Only 15 players had done it before him on the World Snooker Tour. The win in Nanjing came straight after his 9-2 defeat of Jak Jones in the Northern Ireland Open final, and it gives him two of the season's ranking titles before the turn of the year.

For Higgins, the final was a near miss with history. He was trying to become the oldest winner of a ranking event, and the first player to win a title in his 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. He showed he is still a serious threat: he swept aside Chang Bingyu 9-2 in the semi-finals and led the final at the interval. But Wilson, who had also beaten him in the Masters final in January, again had the answers in the evening session.

The home crowd also had players to follow deep into the event. Two Chinese players, Fan Zhengyi and Chang Bingyu, reached the semi-finals in Nanjing, and Fan led Wilson 5-3 before the Englishman turned their match around, winning frame 13 on the final black.

No Indian player reached the semi-finals in Nanjing.

Peepals calculation: Trailing 4-5 after the first session, Wilson won 6 of the 9 frames played in the evening (10 - 4 = 6) while Higgins won 3 (8 - 5 = 3). Across their last two meetings in finals, the 2026 Masters and this event, Wilson has won 20 frames to Higgins' 14 (10 + 10 = 20 against 6 + 8 = 14). Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: Wilson moves into the next events of the season as the in-form player on the tour, with two straight titles and a large boost in prize money. Higgins leaves with a runner-up finish that keeps him among the contenders.

Long-term: A run like this strengthens Wilson's case as one of the leading players of the season, with much of the season still ahead. Higgins' bid for the oldest-winner record remains open for future events.

Who is affected: Kyren Wilson and John Higgins; the Chinese players Fan Zhengyi and Chang Bingyu, who reached the last four; and snooker fans in the United Kingdom, China and other countries that follow the World Snooker Tour.

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