World Championship memoirs: Bingham stopped the Rockets, 3 dark horses reached a new high in the semifinals, and Gollik Wizard Jones cried after embarrassment
In the round of 8, Welsh qualifier Jack Jones staged a great Crucible counterattack, defeating 2019 world champion Trump 13-9. The player from England reached the quarter-finals on his debut a year ago, and this time he sensationally defeated Smaller to earn a place at the sacred single table. Jones started the tournament as an outsider with a 200-1 run, but after beating Zhang Anda, Si Jiahui and Trump, he found himself just one win away from the most important game of snooker.
Jones, 30, said: "I only slept two hours last night, but the adrenaline that came with the game kept me going. My dad was with me and he was a very calm person. He's been there for me since I was in junior high school, he's never been upset when I've lost, he's never excited when I've won. We don't even talk much about snooker. ”
Twelve months ago, Wilson suffered a heavy 2-13 defeat to Higgins, a 13-9 comeback over the Scots. The victory earned the Warriors a ticket to the semifinals of the World Championships for the fourth time in his career.
"In order to get out of Higgins' absolute fiasco against him here last year, I had to put that issue aside," Wilson said. There is nothing I can do about the past. I'm just focused on what's in front of me. ”
2015 World Champion Bingham won 13-10, ending Ronnie O'Sullivan's quest for a record-breaking eighth Crucible title. Gilbert beat Maguire 13-8 to reach the Crucible semifinals for the second time.
For the first time since 1977, three qualifiers have reached the semi-finals, but only one of them will make it to the finals. Wilson and Gilbert were undoubtedly the two main players who reached the semi-finals, and they collided with each other in the final. Until 9-9, when Wilson broke out, the difference between the two had never been more than one inning. He won five games in a row to take a 14-9 lead and eventually won 17-11. This is the second time that No. 12 seed Wilson has reached the final, while Potato has reached the last four for the second time in his career.
However, Brother Potato's 10-shot break is still the highest record in this tournament. "It's your dream to play the final in front of a packed crowd," Wilson said. I'll try to soak it all in, because you never know if you'll have the next chance. Whoever wins, it's going to be a fairytale ending. ”
In the other semi-final, 2015 world champion Bingham takes on underdogs Jack Jones. Jones won 17-12 to become the sixth Welshman to reach the final of the World Championships. As the world No. 44, he is the lowest-ranked finalist since 2005, when No. 48 Murphy won the title. It also means that this will be the first final since Murphy defeated Stevens in 2005, and the new name of the famous trophy has been confirmed.
"I watch the World Championship final every year and it's always been my dream to be able to play in the final and find out what an amazing occasion it is. Winning a championship means everything, but Wilson is playing just as well as everyone else. ”
The match saw Kyren Wilson finally realize his snooker destiny, and 14 years have passed since he first became a professional player to lift the prestigious World Championship trophy.
Wilson went 7-1 up in the afternoon's opening game that almost turned into a slaughter. However, it was Jones who fought back in the evening. With 6-10 down, he made the final game of Stage 2 where Wilson needed to do a snooker shot to turn the game around. But it was Wilson who equalised and the pair battled it out for a full eight minutes on the final black ball. Crucially, Wilson hit the black ball to end the game 11-6.
Jones fought back again in Stage 3 to get back into contention with a score of 10-13. But Wilson once again crushed his hopes of a game comeback, winning the final two games to take a 15-10 lead.
In the fourth stage, he continued to lead and at 17-11 he appeared to have won the title, but Jones fought back one last time to chase the score to 14-17. However, Wilson didn't back down and he took the eventual championship prize 18-14.
After shaking hands with his opponent, Wilson shed man's tears under the hugs of his younger brother Taylor and children Finley and Bailey. (Welcome to click to pay attention to moisturizing AB, please indicate the source for reprinting, thank you)