Englishman is seven frames away from maiden title after controlling the first day of the final against Jak Jones
: PA/Mike Egerton
Kyren Wilson is closing on a first World Snooker Championship after withstanding a spirited comeback by Jak Jones and a dramatic seven-minute black ball finish to day one of the final.
After earlier becoming only the third player in Crucible history to win the opening seven frames of a final, Wilson saw his lead cut to 10-6 before salvaging a crucial last frame of the evening after needing a snooker.
Jones was poised to win seven out of the final 10 frames of the day but missed a crucial yellow off its spot before then also misjudging a swerve shot. Wilson still needed several chances before ultimately sinking the black and celebrating with a fist-pump at the end of a gripping safety exchange.
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Although Jones had won the evening session 5-4, there was still the very clear sense of a major opportunity missed and he will now resume at 1pm on Monday trailing 11-6 in the race to 18 frames.
“I tend to think that might be his World Championship gone with losing that framea five frame going into day two is big,” said seven times champion Stephen Hendry, who was commentating for the BBC. “The first two frames on Monday are monsters. It was dead after the afternoon sessionhe’s brought it alive.”
Jones, who had enjoyed a fairytale run to the final following wins against Judd Trump and Stuart Bingham, believes that one of the all-time great Crucible comebacks is still possible.
“It’s a miracle I’m still in it,” he said. “I played shocking, absolutely shocking. I’m just knackered, absolutely knackered. If I’d had a decent night’s sleep last night it could have been different.”
Dennis Taylor and Jimmy White are the only previous players to have trailed 7-0 in a final and, while Taylor did memorably recover from 8-0 down to beat Steve Davis 18-17 in 1985, that was after reducing the overnight deficit to 9-7.
Wilson lost against Ronnie O’Sullivan in his only previous final appearance in 2020 but has been among the world’s top 10 almost continuously over the past five years.
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