Cini and Gao Meet in 2025 WSF Championship Final

Malta’s Brian Cini and China’s Gao Yang will face off on Saturday afternoon in the final of the 2025 World Snooker Federation Championship (WSF) in Saïdia, Morocco.

The winner of the best-of-nine frame title match will earn the prestigious title and a two-year World Snooker Tour (WST) tour card.

Both Cini and Gao, along with losing semi-finalists Mateusz Baranowski of Poland and Northern Ireland’s Fergal Quinn, have also confirmed their places in the 2025 World Snooker Championship qualifying rounds in April by reaching the last four.

The final will take place at 14:00 local time (GMT +1) and can be watched live on the WPBSA YouTube channel and WSF Facebook page.

Brian Cini – Route to the Final

• 3-1 vs. Hassan Gull (Group Stages)
• 3-1 vs. Harvey Chandler (Group Stages)
• 3-0 vs. Nikita Bazilevics (Group Stages)
• 3-0 vs. Mahjoub Tawdi (Group Stages)
• 4-3 vs. Sean O’Sullivan (Last 64)
• 4-1 vs. Aidan Murphy (Last 32)
• 4-2 vs. Daniel Womersley (Last 16)
• 4-0 vs. Umut Dikme (Quarter-Finals)
• 4-0 vs. Mateusz Baranowski (Semi-Finals)

Brian Cini has already made history this week by becoming the first player from Malta to reach the final of any WSF event and is now just one victory away from ensuring that his country is once again represented among the professional ranks.

The 28-year-old has been in impressive form throughout, securing impressive victories over two former professional and dropping just eight frames in nine matches en route to the final.

He stormed through the group phase in dominant fashion, picking up a clean sweep of victories, before coming through his toughest test of the event against England’s Sean O’Sullivan.

Cini led 2-0 and 3-2 in the best-of-seven frame match but was made to battle as O’Sullivan rallied multiple times to force a deciding frame that went down to a respotted black.

Ultimately, it was the man from Malta who potted it to get over the line and he then overcame the English duo of Aidan Murphy and Daniel Womersley to reach the penultimate day of the event.

On Friday, Cini was in imperious form and he did not drop a single frame as he whitewashed Germany’s Umut Dikme in the quarter-finals before sweeping aside Poland’s Matuesz Baranowski in just 82 minutes to reach the final of snooker’s biggest amateur event for the first time in his career.

Gao Yang – Route to the Final

• 3-0 vs. Harry Flower (Group Stages)
• 3-0 vs. Mourad Naitali (Group Stages)
• 3-1 vs. Sybren Sokolowski (Group Stages)
• 3-2 vs. Mateusz Baranowski (Group Stages)
• 4-0 vs. Salaheddine Ktila (Last 64)
• 4-0 vs. Qadeer Abbas (Last 32)
• 4-1 vs. Patrick Whelan (Last 16)
• 4-2 vs. Stuart Watson (Quarter-Finals)
• 4-2 vs. Fergal Quinn (Semi-Finals)

Gao Yang is into a second consecutive WSF Championship final and remains on course to become the first player in history to win both the WSF Junior and WSF Open Championship titles.

The 20-year-old lifted the 2020 WSF Junior crown by defeating Sean Maddocks 5-2 in the final in Hamrun, Malta before reaching the title match of last year’s open event in Golem, Albania.

Twelve months ago, Gao was defeated 5-0 in the final by Hong Kong China’s Ka Wai Cheung and so the Chinese former professional will be looking to go one better this time around.

A clean sweep of victories in the group phase, which included a success against eventual fellow semi-finalist Mateusz Baranowski, saw Gao through to the knockout stages and he then advanced further with back-to-back whitewash wins against host nation cuest Salaheddine Ktila and Qadeer Abbas from Pakistan.

A 4-1 win against England’s Patrick Whelan saw Gao into the penultimate day of the competition where he then faced Stuart Watson.

Gao did not have things all his own way on the Friday, but the tournament high break of 140 and another century contribution of 115 helped the man from China to a 4-2 victory over Watson to reach the semi-finals.

There he faced Northern Ireland’s Fergal Quinn, who had fought through a decider against Florian Nuessle in the previous round. On Friday evening, Gao raced into a 3-1 lead before his opponent rallied and looked on course to force a final frame shoot out.

Gao created an opportunity to win the match, however, and impressively held his nerve to clear the table and get over the line by a single point to set up a final meeting with Brian Cini on Saturday afternoon.

The WSF Championship final takes place on Saturday 1 February at 14:00 local time (GMT +1) and can be watched live on the WPBSA YouTube channel and WSF Facebook page.