Stuart Bingham scored a stunning 6-3 win over world number one Judd Trump to make his first ranking final in six years at the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong.
Bingham last featured in a ranking final back in 2019 at the Gibraltar Open, where he defeated Ryan Day to capture the sixth ranking crown of his career.
Tomorrow sees the Essex cueman go head-to-head with Australia’s 24-time ranking event winner Neil Robertson. They will battle it out over the best of 19 frames for an event record £180,000 top prize.
It’s a dramatic upturn in fortune for 48-year-old Bingham, who has admitted to suffering from the 'yips' this season. To this point, he hadn’t been beyond the last 16 of any ranking event in the campaign and only just qualified for the 32 player field in 30th position.
Today’s victory secures 2015 World Champion Bingham his place in the upcoming Sportsbet.io Players Championship, dislodging Ali Carter from the qualifying positions. The guaranteed £80,000 puts Bingham into 14th position on the Johnstone’s Paint One Year List, moving Carter out to 17th. Only the top 16 players of the season earn a spot in the Telford event.
The ranking implications for Carter are drastic, with the Captain now set for a trip to World Championship qualifying. He’s placed 18th in the provisional seedings for the event and with no further involvement in the Players Series, he is left without any opportunities to rectify that.
A fragmented opening frame this evening eventually went the way of Bingham, after 36 minutes of play. However, Trump responded immediately with a break of 106 to restore parity at 1-1. That century run was the 39th of the tournament, which sets a new record for the event.
From there it was Bingham who turned on the heat. He crafted the 40th century of the tournament with a 104, before further runs 72 and 69 helped him to four on the bounce and a 5-1 advantage.
Trump responded with 124 and 72 to close the gap, but Bingham eventually won the ninth to emerge with an emotional 6-3 win.
"I'm over the moon. I had a little tear there at the table, because it has been a long time. It has been hard," said world number 23 Bingham, who has also defeated Mark Williams, Wu Yize and Mark Selby en route to the final.
"Without a doubt, I've wondered if I ever would get back in a ranking final. The last few years haven't been good on my part. I've been searching and trying things. This week it has clicked for me. I've got through matches without feeling the best, but now I'm in the final.
"I've got a great story from last night. I rang my wife and she asked what happened. I said that I won. Because the first two games were best of sevens, she switched it off at 4-2. When she found out she was amazed. I rang her today and reminded her it was first to six!
"That was my final, to get into the Players Championship. I can relax tomorrow and it is a nice payday. I'll be trying as hard as I can to get my hands on that trophy though."
Bingham Winning Interview