Kyren Wilson and Jak Jones set up unlikely World Snooker Championship final
Kyren Wilson eased into his second World Snooker Championship final after completing a win over qualifier David Gilbert at the Crucible Theatre and will face Welsh qualifier Jak Jones in something of a surprise showpiece.
The 12th seed Wilson took three of the four frames required in Saturday’s third session to wrap up a 17-11 victory that earns him a second crack at the title following his defeat in the 2020 final to Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Five frames in succession in their second session on Friday evening had done the damage as Wilson turned a neck-and-neck clash, that was finely poised at 9-9, into a four-frame advantage he never looked likely to squander.
Gilbert did reduce the deficit to 14-11 with a break of 70 in the opening frame of the day, but after coming off worse in a lengthy safety battle in the next, his fate was effectively sealed.
Wilson punched the air and blew a kiss to his family in the stand after potting the decisive blue and will start a heavy favourite in his second final against Jak Jones, who beat Stuart Bingham 17-12 in the second semi-final, which was much stodgier and slower going than the free-flowing Wilson v Gilbert contest.
Jones and Bingham had been locked at 8-8 heading into the first of two sessions on Saturday but Jones made the running in the morning to grind out a 13-10 advantage, although the pair were pulled off a frame early due to slow play.
Bingham, the 2015 world champion, won the first frame of the evening session but could never pull closer than that as the Welshman kept winning lengthy, 40-minute frames and eventually got over the line by holding his nerve in frame 29.
After reaching the quarter-finals on his Crucible debut last year, Jones has shaken off a mediocre season to go even further this time around and, although he will be an underdog in the best-of-35 final, he has shown incredible poise to beat former world champions Bingham and Judd Trump, as well as talented Chinese duo Si Jiahui and Zhang Anda, already in this tournament.
After beating Gilbert, 32-year-old Wilson revealed he has been benefiting from sessions with a hypnotherapist during his run to the final, which comes at the end of a low-key season in which he had just one tour semi-final, at the German Masters, to his name.
“It’s just about emptying your stress bucket,” said Wilson. “We all have things going on that can affect our day-to-day life and it allowed me to go out there and be a little bit freer.
“Our minds are so clogged up with so many different things that don’t need to be there, so if you can just eliminate them and go out and play snooker it makes the game a hell of a lot easier.
“When he (Gilbert) missed a few in the third session I knew I had to hit home. Dave could cue me off the table quite easily, so I knew I had to win that mental battle.”
Kyren Wilson stylishly dispatched David Gilber in the semi-finals (PA)
It was a game effort by Gilbert, the 2019 semi-finalist, who had arrived at the Crucible with few expectations after a period of personal turmoil and proceeded to win four frames in a row to dump out defending champion Luca Brecel in the opening round.
Gilbert conceded his latest defeat was easier to take than his final-frame agony against John Higgins five years ago but was still a little aggrieved by the manner of his defeat, blaming bad luck and questioning whether there was “needle” from Wilson.
“Kyren played a lot quicker, it was as if he thought I was crap,” said Gilbert. “I don’t know if there was a bit of needle there. I went to wish him all the best and there wasn’t much of a handshake there.”
Wilson flatly denied Gilbert’s suggestion, insisting he has “no problem” with his opponent, and looked forward to a final that will be very different to his heavy 2020 defeat to Ronnie O’Sullivan, which was played out in front of an arena just one-third full due to Covid regulations.
David Gilbert impressed at the Cruicble this year but couldn’t get past Kyren Wilson (PA)
Since then, Wilson has endured a difficult two years, partly due to injury and illness within his family, but showed no ill effects from last year’s crushing 13-2 loss to John Higgins as he swept aside Dominic Dale, Joe O’Connor then Higgins with relative ease.
“I have changed dramatically,” added Wilson. “Back then if it wasn’t quite going right, panic alarms would have gone off, and maybe my game would have deteriorated, but I’ve gathered the experience and learned a tough lesson.”
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