Judd Trump has set up a blockbuster Northern Ireland Open final with world champion Kyren Wilson, as the top two players in snooker will go head-to-head for the Alex Higgins trophy.
World No. 1 Trump is the defending champion and booked his spot in the Belfast final in style, whitewashing Elliott Slessor to set up a rematch of the Xi’An Grand Prix final from two months ago, where Wilson came out on top 10-8.
The reigning world champion reached the final with a 6-4 victory over Chinese potter Pang Junxu, having to fight hard despite making a century in the very first frame.
A big payday awaits Sunday’s victor, where Trump and Wilson will play out a best-of-17 match over two sessions, the first starting at 1pm and played to finish from 7pm.
Trump has also called on snooker supremo Eddie Hearn to consider helping the event and players bank some extra money, telling Eurosport: “He (Hearn) can put it on pay-per-view if he wants… get a bit of extra money for us.
“It’s a great match [against Kyren], and nice for someone to be pushing me. We’re both enjoying it. I think him playing faster has helped. You can see he has improved a lot.”
Aside from winning the second Home Nations crown of the season, both Trump and Wilson will have their eye on a potential end-of-season bonus. Neil Robertson currently leads the race for the series after his victory at the English Open, but there are still three more events starting with the Northern Ireland Open to pocket an additional £150,000.
That could come with the big prize at the Waterfront Hall, where the top two players currently in the world will battle it out for £100k. A whopping £550k prize pot will be handed out in total.
And Sunday’s runner-up can at least commiserate in the knowledge that they will be receiving a cool £45k for their troubles.
That is over twice as much as semi-finalists Slessor and Pang will make, with the two underdogs in the final four coming away from Belfast with £21k each.
Each quarter-finalist earns £13.2k, with the prize money trickling down to all 96 players who took part in the competition. An additional £5k is awarded to the player with the highest break, which currently belongs to Mark Williams for his 143 clearance against Noppon Saengkham.
Northern Ireland Open 2024 prize money
Winner: £100,000
Runner-up: £45,000
Semi-finals: £21,000
Quarter-finals: £13,200
Last 16: £9,000
Last 32: £5,400
Last 64: £3,600
Last 96: £1,000
Highest break: £5,000
Total £550,400
