Kyren Wilson Crucible Rick Jones became the new king
Kyren Wilson defeated Jack Jones 18-14 in the final to become the 23rd player to lift the prestigious World Championship trophy at Crucible.
Winning the first seven innings on Sunday's opening set, Wilson was able to hold his advantage in a winning position, and although a tenacious Jones struggled to catch up, he was unable to close the gap to less than three innings. Chasing from 11-17 to 14-17, he created an exciting ending, but it turned out to be too little, too late. Wilson's score was impressive, and he joined the exclusive lineup of the sport's biggest prize, hitting a 4-100 and an 8-50+.
Shortly after Wilson first appeared at Crucible 10 years ago, he confidently stated that one day he would come back to win the championship. Sheffield hasn't always been a happy venue for the Warriors, and he's also suffered a couple of heavy defeats, notably an 8-18 loss to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2020 finals and a 2-13 defeat to Higgins a year ago. But his self-confidence never wavered, and in the end the 32-year-old from Caitlin is now paying off. He is the 23rd World Champion title.
The success of the father of two is encouraging, as his wife Sophie and youngest son Bailey have had serious health problems over the past year. Wilson's form has inevitably suffered, having only reached one ranking semi-final this season. But he has made up his mind to deal with adversity and will be celebrating with great pride with his close-knit family, which includes brother Taylor and parents Rob and Sonya, who have made great sacrifices since three years ago.
In a 10-1 first-round win over Dale, Wilson showed he was one of the most in-form players on the field before comfortably beating O'Connor, Higgins and Gilbert to reach his second World Championship final. His mixed results this season have belied the fact that his single-shot scoring ability is as good as ever – only Pett has created more than 100 breaks. In this game, he scored 8 strokes to 100 and 44 strokes of 50+, and such a prolific score, combined with a strong tactical style and the ability to calmly deal with any situation, made him the best player in the tournament.
It was Wilson's sixth ranking title, the first since winning the European Masters in 2022, and his first three-major title. With the top prize of £500,000, he jumped nine places in the rankings to reach a career-high world third.
Jones, ranked 44th in the world, reached the final as an outsider at 200 to 1 in qualifying and will be the most likely player ever to win the title. The 30-year-old won two qualifying matches before reaching the televised stage. Enjoying his time in the spotlight, he broke new ground in his career, highlighted by the win over Xiaote in the quarter-finals, but it was too difficult to come back from 7-0 down in the final.
Jones missed out on becoming the second qualifier to lift the trophy after Griffiths and Murphy. But after his first appearance in the final of his ranking event, the £200,000 prize money moved him up 30 places to 14th, his first time in the elite category. (Welcome to click to pay attention to moisturizing AB, please indicate the source for reprinting, thank you)