In the first semi-final of the just-concluded World Snooker Tour Championship on April 6, 2024, Beijing time, world No. 1 O'Sullivan and Gary Wilson competed for the first final spot.
After 17 rounds of competition, O'Sullivan defeated Gary Wilson 10-7 with a single stroke of 110 points, 102 points, 97 points, 57 points, 54 points, 53 points, and 129 points to successfully advance to the finals of this tournament.
This is O'Sullivan's sixth final this season, and he will challenge for his sixth title this season and the 82nd title of his career. Next, he will face the winner of Allen and Mark Williams for the title.
O'Sullivan won four games in a row to draw 4-4 with Wilson
In the first stage of the match between the two sides, both players played well and were in good form. In the first game, Wilson won the game 73-48 to take a 1-0 lead. In the second game, Wilson won another game 62:44 to lead O'Sullivan 2-0.
In the third game, O'Sullivan scored 102 points with a single shot to win the game, 1-2 behind Wilson. In the fourth game, O'Sullivan won the game 97:1 and drew 2-2 with Wilson. In the 5th game, O'Sullivan scored 110 points with a single shot and won the game 110:18, surpassing Wilson 3-2 and taking the lead.
In the 6th game, O'Sullivan scored 53 points with a single shot and won the game 80:40, leading Wilson 4-2. In the 7th game, Wilson scored 83 points with a single shot to win the game, thus trailing O'Sullivan 3-4. In the 8th game, Wilson scored 84 points with a single shot and won the game with 84:30 to draw 4-4 with O'Sullivan.
Wilson lost three games in a row and fell behind O'Sullivan 5-7
After the game entered the second stage, O'Sullivan and Wilson did not recover well. On the contrary, the state of the two people in the second stage will even decline relatively compared to the first stage.
In the 9th game, Wilson won the game 93:40 with a single shot of 60 points and multiple layups, thus leading O'Sullivan 5-4.
In the 10th game, O'Sullivan staged consecutive highlight moments in a backward situation and finally won the game 57:33 to draw 5-5 with Wilson. In the 11th game, O'Sullivan scored 54 points with a single stroke to complete the single-game reversal with 63:41, thus overtaking Wilson 6-5 and taking the lead again.
In the 12th game, O'Sullivan relied on a single-stroke performance of 57 points to complete the single-game reversal at 73:54 with a single-stroke performance of 57 points in a 16:54 situation to expand the advantage.
O'Sullivan sealed the win and defeated Wilson 10-7
In the 13th game, Wilson won the game 135:0 with an outstanding performance of 84 points with a single stroke, thus narrowing the gap by falling behind O'Sullivan 6-7. In the 14th game, Wilson scored 96 points and 96:35 to win the game, thus drawing 7-7 with O'Sullivan, once again pulling the two sides back to the same running line.
In the 15th game, O'Sullivan won the game 77-7 with his excellent ability to grasp opportunities and excellent defense and continued to lead Wilson 8-7. In the 16th game, O'Sullivan scored 97 points with a single shot and won the game with a 98:0 performance, thus leading Wilson 9-7 and taking the lead in getting the match point of the game.
In the 17th game, O'Sullivan scored a red ball and successfully won the upper game, and won the game with a single-shot performance of 129 points, thus defeating Wilson 10-7 and successfully advancing to the final. After this game, O'Sullivan successfully ushered in the milestone of reaching the final for the sixth time this season.