Early years In April 2009, Saengkham lost in the final of the
ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship 1–5 to
Zhang Anda. He went one better at the 2009
IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship by claiming the title with a 9–8 win over
Soheil Vahedi in the final. It also secured his place on the main snooker tour for the
2010/2011 season.
Professional debut He lost his first three matches as a professional, only picking up one frame in the process before beating
Luca Brecel 3–1 in qualifying for the
2010 World Open. He lost to
Martin Gould 0–3 in the next round and could only win one more match in the next six months. Saengkham ended his first season ranked world number 92 which relegated him from the tour. Saengkham did not play a match in a professional snooker event during the
2011/2012 season. In the
2012/2013 season he came through Group G of the
2012 Six-red World Championship, but then lost 5–6 to
Graeme Dott in the last 32. He was awarded a wildcard for the
2013 World Open and lost 4–5 to
Mark Joyce.
2013–14 season In qualifying for the
2013 Australian Goldfields Open, Saengkham beat
Andrew Pagett 5–3 and
Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon,
Anthony McGill and
Jamie Jones all by 5–1 scorelines to reach the main draw of a ranking event for the first time in his career. He played
Stuart Bingham in the first round and lost 5–1. He also won through to the last 32 stage of the
UK Championship with victories over
Tom Ford and
Sean O'Sullivan, before being beaten 6–2 by
Shaun Murphy. Saengkham made it to the second round of the
Welsh Open and
World Open, but lost to multiple ranking event winners in
Mark Allen and
Mark Selby respectively.
2014–15 season Saengkham defeated
Alfie Burden 6–4 to qualify for the
International Championship and beat
Stephen Maguire 6–5, before losing in another deciding frame in the second round to
Xiao Guodong. He was knocked out in the first round of the
UK Championship 6–1 by
Luca Brecel. Saengkham eliminated
David Grace,
Mitchell Mann,
Ross Muir and
Kurt Maflin at the
Lisbon Open to reach his first quarter-final in a ranking event, where he lost 4–2 to Maguire. He was unable to build on this during the rest of the season as he lost eight of his last nine matches with his only win coming against German amateur Lukas Kleckers in the first round of
World Championship qualifying.
2015–16 season In his homeland, Saengkham beat the likes of reigning world champion
Stuart Bingham and ranking event winners
Michael White and
Joe Perry to play in the semi-finals of the
2015 Six-red World Championship, where he lost 7–3 to compatriot
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. A 6–2 win over
Stephen Maguire saw him qualify for the
International Championship for the second year in a row, but he was knocked out 6–4 by
Oliver Lines in the opening round. He lost 6–5 and 4–3 in the first rounds of both the
UK Championship and
Welsh Open to
Xiao Guodong and
Fergal O'Brien respectively. Saengkham won a deciding frame against Lines to qualify for the
China Open. A bad start from Saengkham saw him lose the opening four frames to
John Higgins, but he then pulled it back to 4–3. Saengkham missed a yellow in the next frame and would be defeated 5–3. His final match of the season was a 10–8 loss to Dott in the second round of
World Championship qualifying. He reached the last 32 of the
Scottish Open by beating
Craig Steadman and
Aditya Mehta, but he was whitewashed 4–0 by
Judd Trump. Saengkham defeated
Tom Ford 5–3 to qualify for the
China Open. A 5–3 victory against
Robert Milkins followed and he then lost 5–2 to
Stuart Bingham. After Saengkham overcame
Jak Jones 10–5 and
Anthony Hamilton 10–9 he was one win away from qualifying for the
World Championship. He overturned a 6–3 deficit against
Lee Walker to win 10–8 and met
Neil Robertson in the first round. Saengkham lost the opening session 8–1 and, though he won three of the next four frames, he was defeated 10–4. The run meant he finished the season 64th in the world rankings.
2017–18 season His
2017–18 season began positively, reaching the last 32 of the opening
Riga Masters event where he lost 4-2 to
Sam Baird. He also reached this stage at the
Northern Ireland Open,
UK Championship and
Scottish Open. At the
Welsh Open, he recorded the best ranking performance of his career by reaching the semi-finals including notable wins over
Judd Trump and
Kyren Wilson. He was defeated 6-4 by
Barry Hawkins. He finished his season by losing to
Hossein Vafaei in
World Championship qualifying, but reached his then-highest ranking of 52 at the end of the season.
2018–19 season Saengkham picked up where he left off the following season. He reached a ranking semi-final for the second time, this time at the
World Open where, in the last 16, he recorded an impressive 5-4 victory against
Mark Selby on the final black in a match which lasted 4 hours and 26 minutes. In the semi-final against
Mark Williams, he was 5-2 up and one frame from his first appearance in a ranking final, but lost 6-5. He followed this up with another impressive run in the
English Open, reaching the quarter-finals where he lost 5-3 to
Stephen Maguire. He also lost to Williams 6-3 in the
UK Championship, before suffering back-to-back defeats to Mark Selby in the last 16 of the
World Grand Prix and the last 32 of the
Welsh Open. Although ending the season on a low note after losing to
Zhao Xintong in
World Championship qualifying, he continued to climb up the rankings, reaching a then-career high of 38.
2019–20 season His
2019–20 season was a bit quieter, and by the time of the
World Championship, his best ranking performance over the course of the season was reaching the last 16 of the
China Championship, where he lost 5-2 to
David Gilbert. In the World Championship, postponed to July and August 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, he recorded qualifying victories over
Michael White and
Eden Sharav before being drawn against former world champion
Shaun Murphy in the last 32. Saengkham won 10-4 to record his first victory at the Crucible. Facing
Mark Selby in the last 16, he lost out 13-12 on a deciding frame in a tremendous match. He also broke into the top 32 of the rankings for the first time, being ranked 32 at the end of the season.
2020–21 season In a season played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Saengkham's best showing was a last 16 finish at the
Northern Ireland Open held in
Milton Keynes where he was defeated 4-2 by
Scott Donaldson. His season ended on a disappointing note as a positive COVID test forced him to withdraw from the
World Championship.
2021–22 season He managed to recapture a bit of form the following season, and at the
UK Championship he recorded victories over
Aaron Hill,
Ali Carter and
Stuart Bingham to meet
Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last 16. In a hard fought match and despite leading 3-2 he lost out 6-3. After missing out on the World Championship the previous season, he managed to find some redemption by qualifying for the
2022 edition after defeating
Daniel Wells 6-3 and
Robert Milkins 10-8. In the last 32, he faced
Luca Brecel and won 10-5, recording two centuries in the process. Facing four-time world champion
John Higgins in the last 16, Saengkham was defeated 13-7. After dropping to 44 at the end of the previous season, his ranking had now improved again to 37.
2022–23 season At the
British Open, Saengkham recorded victories over
Fraser Patrick,
Zhao Xintong,
Jordan Brown and
Jamie Jones to set up his first ranking semi-final since the
2018 World Open. In the semi-final against
Mark Allen, he was comfortably outplayed in a 6-1 defeat. The rest of 2022 was largely uneventful but he did qualify for the
2023 World Grand Prix. He defeated
Mark Selby 4-1 in the opening round before defeating
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-2 in the last 16, a result which he said left him feeling "over the moon". He then defeated
Mark Williams 5-3 in the quarter-final to set up another semi-final with Mark Allen. However he lost out again 6-1 in a relatively one-sided match. After coming through a final frame decider against
Zhang Anda in the final round of qualifying for the
World Championship, he was drawn against
Jack Lisowski in the last 32 where he lost 10-7. For the second time, he finished the season inside the top 32 of the rankings, at 27. ==Personal life==