Snooker news - Yan Bingtao triumphs in Riga Masters final

The 19-year-old came through 5-2 against Joyce, who was making a first-ever final appearance in his 13-year career.

It was relatively evenly-matched at 3-2, but Joyce was never ahead and could not make ground on the 16th ranked Chinese player.

The tournament had a chaotic start after delayed flights led to a host of players missing the tournament, including defending champion Neil Robertson and Kyren Wilson.

Joyce reached the final with a nervy 5-4 win over Kurt Maflin. Maflin took the first frame but Joyce quickly levelled with a brilliant 109 break to take the second frame 113-0.

The two then swapped frames with neither winning two consecutive frames, leaving them on a ninth frame decider.

After a scrappy game throughout, Joyce rediscovered his fluency and hit a match-high 126 break to make his way to the final.

Bingtao defeated Britain's Matthew Selt in the day's second semi. There were no centuries in the eight frames, but Bingtao scored a match high scored of 88 in the first frame, and held off Selt with the scores at 5-3.

Joyce and Selt progressed to the semi-finals after convincing victories over their respective opponents, and fellow Brits, Stuart Carrington and Mark King.

Joyce beat Carrington 4-1, in a match which saw the highest break of 68 and a high score of 73. Meanwhile, Selt beat King by the same margin, also with a highest break of 75.

Maflin sealed his place in the semi-finals with a 4-1 victory over China’s Honghao Luo.

Joyce plays Maflin in the semi-final later on Sunday, meanwhile Selt will play Yan Bingtao who beat Li Hang 4-3 after forcing a decider - it is his first semi-final in a ranking event since November 2017.