Kyren Wilson charges into World Snooker Championship final with crushing win over David Gilbert
KYREN WILSON will attempt to win a maiden World Snooker Championship this Bank Holiday weekend.
The Warrior became the first man into the two-day final following a 17-11 win over qualifier David Gilbert.
The No.12 seed was 14-10 up overnight, having done most of the hard work on Friday evening.
And then he claimed three of the next four frames, hitting successive breaks of 54 and 67 to secure his passage.
Gilbert, 42, only had himself to blame by missing some key shots in those frames on Saturday afternoon.
Wilson, 32, punched the air and blew a kiss to his family high up in the stands of the Sheffield theatre.
He will start as favourite against either Stuart Bingham or Jak Jones, who both came through qualifying last month.
Memories of the 2020 final will be firmly in his mind when he was crushed in the finale by Ronnie O’Sullivan.
But he has played brilliantly this tournament, notably knocking out John Higgins in the quarter-finals, and he is a much better player than he was four years ago.
Reflecting on the win, Wilson claimed he had to be patient in order to overcome Gilbert.
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He said post-match: “It’s just like Groundhog Day. You have to keep doing the right things, keep eating the right food.
“I may end up growing gills given the amount of salmon I have been eating.
“At 16 frames up, I looked at the scoreboard and saw it was best of 33 frames, but until then, I didn’t really know. You lose what day it is.
“I have had a lot of people help me. I have worked with as a solution hypnotherapist. We started working before the worlds.
“He has been really helping me with my sleep, knocking me out basically. I slept eight-and-a-half hours last night.
“God help me when I get home and have to deal with my two kids.
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“Coming into this event, I didn’t have the best of season and now people say I am the favourite
“I have to handle that pressure. Dave’s a class cueist. He hits the ball unbelievably well.
“I broke the back of the match yesterday. Dave was in his primitive state. I was very focused on hitting the advantage.
“I ate too much pizza and drank too much Peronis the night before the 2020 final.
“I woke up that morning and so tired. The fire alarm went off the morning of the final. I had been since 6am, having had three hours sleep.
“But I can handle a final better now. I know what emotions to feel.”