England’s Wilson beat Jones to win first world title

LONDON: England’s Kyren Wilson won his first world snooker title as he held off some dogged resistance from Welshman Jak Jones at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre on Monday.

The 32-year-old Wilson, runner-up in 2020, looked nervous as he edged towards victory in the face of a valiant Jones fight back but eventually prevailed 18-14. Wilson began the best-of-35-frame final in stunning fashion on Sunday as he romped in to a 7-0 lead and eventually ended the opening day 11-6 in front and within sight of victory.

Jones, who needed to qualify for the tournament, dug deep on the resumption but Wilson managed to keep him at arm’s length during some scrappy frames in which both players made errors.

When Wilson moved into a 17-11 lead, the trophy was almost in his grasp but the gritty Jones reeled off three frames in a row either side of the mid-session interval in the evening session to get to within three frames at 17-14.

Wilson finally got the job done with a frame-winning break, roaring his relief as he moved into an unassailable lead in what proved to the final frame of a gripping duel. “This means so much to all of us,” a tearful Wilson said as he thanked his watching family. “He was so tough. Jak and I came through the junior ranks and this was Jak’s first final and he conducted himself in an amazing fashion.” Wilson pocketed a 500,000 pounds ($628,000) winners’ cheque while Jones’s consolation was 200,000 pounds.