Karen Wilson is looking forward to beating Sean Murphy in the semi-finals of the 2021 Snooker World Championships and having the enduring performance of a hotel upstairs room couple in the competition.
Text/ Hector Nance, The Sportsman
Karen Wilson
Wilson, a 29-year-old Caterling, eliminated title favourite Neil Robertson 13-8 in the quarterfinals of the World Championships, but the last runner-up in the four-year three-quarter finals was a bit distressed off the pitch, revealing that he was overwhelmed by the "indoor gymnastics" upstairs and was a bit sleepless.
Fortunately, he had a "secret weapon" in the 17-day event, the Hulk Fruit and Vegetable Juice, and the version he drank was made of guava and coconut water. Wilson said: "We ended the evening stage on Tuesday really late, and around 11:45 p.m. there was a couple of couples upstairs clapping for love. I wanted to fall asleep before 12 o'clock, but they snapped alive for half an hour, and I kept praying that they would finish their work quickly, and fell asleep at about 12:30. ”
"Then they started again at 7am and it was unbelievable that it lasted. I thought they could play, and I was still alone. At breakfast in the restaurant, I also deliberately looked around, which was interesting, but I didn't find any target person, I had to ask the room number to eavesdrop at the door! ”
Wilson eliminated Robertson in the final four
"That's it, I've been woken up by these sounds before the alarm goes off and listened to them all morning. In terms of my own endurance, I have Hulk juice to keep me energized and make me end the game like a monster and feel healthy. ”
"I'm working to improve my nutritional intake, my brother is an expert, and this type of fruit and vegetable juice can give you the energy you need. I think it's just plain milkshake fruit and vegetable juice, maybe a little guava in it, and coconut water, I don't know, he let me drink whatever I want, just drink water is too boring. ”
When it comes to the game, Wilson is full of confidence, he said: "I always come here full of confidence, I believe that I can win the championship. I'm not saying it casually, but I'm really confident, and I sincerely believe that it's a matter of time before I win the championship, not a question of whether I can or not. Maybe not this year, but I have a lot of time to fight, and I will continue to let myself grow. ”
"Even if I lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final last year, I drew a lot of positive energy from it, and in the second stage I was on the strong side and the score could have been closer. The table was really bad, one of the worst conditions I've ever played in Crucible. Keep a positive mindset anyway. ”
Wilson's semifinal opponent was Sean Murphy. Murphy was the 2005 World Championship winner, runner-up in 2015 against Stuart Bingham, and this year was his first world championship semi-finalist since 2015, beating another title-winning favourite, Judd Trump, 13-11 in the quarterfinals.
Murphy and Trump fought fiercely to 11-11, and in the end, Murphy won 13-11 with 70 points and 62 points. "I felt like a character in Rocky 4, beaten up for an hour by the Russians." Murphy said after the game, "See how he started, really outrageous, all kinds of advances." I've experienced it all and reversed it. ”
Murphy beat Trump
"I searched up and down until I finally waited for the opportunity, and the more he rose to power his supporters, the more excited he became, the noisier the audience became, and I wanted to hurry home." I'm glad I ended up at the end and came back to the semi-finals after a long time. ”
After the first stage of the semi-finals, Wilson temporarily led Murphy 6-2, a 17-win game in 33 innings that played in three stages.