Breaking News;NOPPON SAENGKHAM RESCUES TO STUN JOHN HIGGINS AND CAPTURE FIRST RANKING FINAL POSITION IN THE SCOTTISH OPEN 2023…..

After losing to Noppon Saengkham in the semi-finals at the Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh on Saturday night, John Higgins’ dreams of winning the Scottish Open are dashed for another year. Higgins had a 3-1 lead but faltered. Watch live snooker action, including the Scottish Open, on eurosport.com, the Eurosport app, and discovery+.

Noppon Saengkham rallied to defeat hometown favorite John Higgins and secure his spot in the Scottish Open championship match.
Higgins led 3-1 at the half and looked very strong, but the momentum was thrown off in the fifth when a seemingly well-set pink was missed.

Noppon gained strength as Higgins faltered, and the 31-year-old surged ahead to book his spot in a ranking final for the first time in his professional career.

On Saturday, the Edinburgh crowd received value for their money when a respotted black won the first semi-final.
Those present that evening saw something that Higgins had never seen in his “thirty years as a pro.”
Referee Olivier Marteel called a touching ball on two reds after a tip-tappy exchange with a red over a pocket. In other words, Higgins was stuck somewhere. Higgins played toward the baulk end in an attempt to conceal the ball over the pocket after giving it some thought. A foul resulted from a movement by one of the reds. Noppon missed, and Higgins intervened to secure the opening frame, so it was not fatal.

After 30 years of experience, that has never occurred. Higgins departed while scowling.

Noppon’s style of play is attacking snooker, and he made two strong contributions in the second to get on the board and calm the crowd.
In his match against Tom Ford on Friday, Higgins scored his first century of the week. In the third, he scored a run of 130 to regain the upper hand.

After 30 years of experience, that has never occurred. Higgins departed while scowling.

Noppon’s style of play is attacking snooker, and he made two strong contributions in the second to get on the board and calm the crowd.
In his match against Tom Ford on Friday, Higgins scored his first century of the week. In the third, he scored a run of 130 to regain the upper hand.

Higgins’ confidence seemed to grow against Ford despite the fact that it seemed to come and go in waves. He expertly cued the ball to fashion a break of 92 to go ahead 3-1 at the half.
In the three frames Higgins won prior to the interval, Noppon did not do much wrong, and it appeared that the fifth would go according to the same script, until his opponent faltered on frame 53, displaying weakness for the first time.
Both players wasted more opportunities, but Noppon struck a spectacular final red and won a run of excellent pots to steal the frame.
Higgins surprised everyone by missing the pink in the fifth, but his lack of safety at the beginning of the sixth was concerning.

After Noppon missed a black in the scrappy seventh, Higgins failed to capitalize, and the Thailand player crushed in a fantastic long pot on the final red before picking off the colours to take the lead for the first time in the match.
Higgins’ troubles were compounded by a poor safety at the beginning of the eighth, and Noppon, like he had done for most of the week, picked off a long red to get going.
The cue ball traveled a lot and the table was not very attractive, but Noppon won several pots in an incredible 120-minute break to get within one frame of victory at 5-3.

Higgins’ typically excellent positional play has gone awry far too often this season. In the ninth, he mishandled a bad shot on the blue during a break of 35, which left him terribly positioned. He then trudged back to his seat after missing a tough red to the right middle.
It gave Noppon the opportunity to finish the match, and even though he appeared a little nervous, he made the necessary break of 83 to set up a matchup with the reigning champion Gary Wilson on Sunday.
After securing the victory, Noppon lost it in tears and needed Higgins’ assistance to get over it. He will need to gather himself for Sunday’s two-session final.