It was party time at the Crucible on Monday night as Kyren Wilson added his name to the World Snooker Championship roll of honour when holding off sensational Welshman Jak Jones to secure a maiden Crucible crown.
Wilson was the best player over the course of the 17 days, and upheld the form book to beat Jones 18-14. Victory comes four years on from Wilson’s defeat to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2020 final, and he becomes the 23rd world champion of the Crucible era – and 28th overall.
After a disappointing campaign, Wilson kicked off his Crucible quest with a 10-1 mauling of Dominic Dale. Joe O’Connor was swatted away for the loss of six frames, John Higgins dispatched 13-8 and David Gilbert beaten 17-11.
Wilson broke the back of the final in the opening session, taking it 7-1. Jones, in his first Crucible final, fought valiantly but could not repair the damage as the pre-game favourite secured the biggest title in the sport.
Jones came out for the final session knowing he had to make something happen rather than wait for something to happen.
He crafted a couple of decent chances in the 26th frame, but missed a pink to the right centre and Wilson won a safety exchange before clearing to the brown to extend his lead to six frames.
Jones has demonstrated limpet-like qualities in keeping himself in the hunt at the Crucible, and he took the 27th with his first century of the final – a 105 – to a huge ovation from the Sheffield crowd.
Jones had the crowd on the edge of their seats when picking off 12 reds and 12 blacks – the first of which was truly sensational – but the 13th down the right rail did not drop. The consolation was that a break of 96 got him back to within four frames.
Jones then made it three frames on the spin when taking the 31st frame to cut the gap to 17-14.
Wilson found the winning line tough to locate, but it came his way in the 32nd. Jones was not without chances, but a rash double handed Wilson a chance and despite looking extremely shaky, he got over the line to become a world champion.
