Kyren Wilson reaches World Championship final after emotional decider

Kyren Wilson won an incredible final-frame decider to beat Anthony McGill 17-16, in an emotional and tense clash that saw fortunes fluctuate for both men. The Kettering man reaches his first World Championship final as a result, facing off against Ronnie O’Sullivan in pursuit of his sixth title.

McGill broke off, and then forced an error by Wilson after a safety exchange. He had a beautiful chance to win here after a superb long pot, but he only made a break of 39 before a split on the pack left him absolutely nothing. He attempted a very tough cut to the right-middle pocket, missing an leaving it for his opponent. Then, it was Wilson’s turn to start picking off the loose reds, and he made a break of 47 on the way to cleverly cannoning one of the two tough reds off the cushion. But, then faced with a simple pot on that red, he missed it.

With three reds left, McGill returned. He potted two, but landed on the wrong side of the blue to move the last one, and so played safe. Wilson immediately left him a shot – McGill hammered it, missing by a long way. A tense safety exchange followed, Wilson missing his own chance at the pot, and then McGill’s next shot left the black sitting in the bottom-right pocket. In his next shot, Wilson played a very clever snooker, putting the red right next to the black and concealing the white behind the yellow.

McGill was in trouble. He had eight attempts to escape before reaching the snookers required stage, and he gave away 35 penalty points in the process – Wilson couldn’t have the balls replaced any longer, and had to take on the red. He played a poor shot, double-kissing the red and going in-off, and suddenly McGill could win again.

The Scottish player tried to double the red into the top-left pocket, and then more safety ensued. McGill tried to cut the red into the right middle, leaving it near the pocket’s top-side and the white at the bottom end of the table. Both players tied to pot it off the top cushion, and it was McGill who eventually succeeded, potting the red and removing the black. It was down to the colours – the scores were 94-72 in Wilson’s favour, but a clearance would have put the Scottish player into the final.

I feel like I’ve had something stolen from me

– Anthony McGill

The yellow was pretty much over the left-middle pocket – McGill potted it, but inexplicably snookered himself on the green behind the pink. He escaped, leaving Wilson half a chance, but he didn’t get it. Wilson just needed green, McGill needed everything. A long safety battle ensued on the green, and Wilson ended it with a shot that fluked the green into the bottom-left pocket. He looked gutted by the result – he wanted to win, but not with a fluke – and McGill looked absolutely crushed. The Scottish player fought on for snookers, nearly laying a superb one on the blue behind the black on the cushion, but he was pushing against the tide and Wilson eventually potted the balls needed to end an emotional match, winning 103-83 after 62 minutes.

After the match, Wilson said: “I can’t believe it ended like that – I didn’t want to send someone home on a fluke. I played a great snooker that I thought had won me the match and if it had finished there it would be a different story, but I went in off the red.

“I couldn’t believe what was happening. It was absolutely mental. It was one of the best semi-finals you’ll ever see but I wish it hadn’t ended the way it did. You can’t just rely on luck to get you a world crown and whoever I play in the final I’ve got to produce great snooker and I’m not going to get there by fluking balls.

“I can go out and enjoy the occasion and give it my all. I’m going in there to win the world title to but have the pressure on the other guy hopefully plays in my favour.”

McGill said: “I feel like I’ve had something stolen from me – not by Kyren, but by the snooker gods.”