Jak Jones vs Kyren Wilson LIVE: World Snooker Championship final score and result as Wilson wins first title
Jak Jones battled back but eventually fell short as Kyren Wilson won the final at the Crucible and claimed his first world title
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Kyren Wilson survived a stirring fightback from qualifier Jak Jones to win the world snooker title for the first time at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Wilson struggled to contain his emotions as he wrapped up an 18-14 triumph over Jones, who fought valiantly after losing the first seven frames of the final, and reeled off three frames in a row from 17-11 to give himself some hope of an improbable revival.
Victory sealed a timely return to form for Wilson, who had arrived for his 10th tilt at the title on the back of his worst campaign in a decade, a solitary semi-final at the German Masters put into perspective by illness and injury afflicting his young family.
But he was made to work overtime by Jones, who looked down and out after losing the first seven frames, but staged a remarkable comeback and even threatened a maximum in the 30th frame before running aground after potting the first 12 reds and blacks.
Jones said at the presentation ceremony: “Congratulations to Kyren and his family, they deserve it. If anyone deserves it he does, so congratulations to them.
“It’s been an unbelievable tournament for me. About a month ago I was in my first qualifying match. It’s been a long month but I’m happy with it.
“I wouldn’t say (I came in) with a lot of hope. I just thought if I try my best, basically, see what happens. But when you’re playing someone as solid as Kyren, with such a good all-round game, it’s going to be hard to come back from a deficit like that so it wasn’t to be.”
Kyren Wilson 17-14 Jak Jones
Jones cuts in a thin red, then the pink, then pots another delicate red along the rail after a clever positional shot, and he adds the black.
After swatting a fly, he flukes the yellow, pots the green, brown and blue, and that’s the frame!
Goodness me, what are watching? Kyren Wilson was winning 17-11 – it’s now 17-14.
Wilson still needs only one frame to win a first world title, but you sense he is thinking about that fact and it’s weighing on his mind. Jones looks free and relaxed, and now needs four frames in a row to win an astonishing final himself.
Kyren Wilson 17-13 Jak Jones
Jones rolls on to one of the remaining three reds near the black, and the cue ball looks to be safe. But somehow Wilson pulls off an amazing pot down the rail, at speed. Brilliant. “One of the shots of the championship,” says Stephen Hendry.
Wilson can’t turn it into a big break though, and Jones comes back to the table needing to play safe, with two reds remaining, leading 53-22.
Kyren Wilson 17-13 Jak Jones
Wilson escapes from that snooker and avoids leaving anything on, and a few shots later Jones leaves a long red. Wilson pots it, then plays a clever snooker behind the green.
Jones takes a moment to pop out of the auditorium for a break.
Kyren Wilson 17-13 Jak Jones
Jones puts on 47 points before running out of position, and then plays a perfectly judged safety which leaves the cue ball snug behind the green ball near the baulk cushion. Jones’s safety has been the best part of his game throughout the tournament and it continues to be a weapon.
Kyren Wilson 17-13 Jak Jones
Jones escapes, nudging the reds after sending the cue ball around the angles off three cushions, but in doing so he leaves Wilson a red to pot into the left middle. Wilson fires it in and sends the cue spinning around the table and neatly for the blue – a wonderful shot – but a moment later he misses a red to the right middle.
Jones returns to the table trailing 15-6, and immediately pots a brilliant long red. He looks to be relaxed and freed by this dead-man-walking situation.
Kyren Wilson 17-13 Jak Jones
Wilson pots a fantastic long red to match Jones’s similar pot in the last frame. He follows it with the black, but this is not a straightforward situation because the black spot is swarmed by reds and the pink is up by the green pocket.
He opts to play a snooker tight behind the pink, and this is horribly difficult puzzle for Jones to solve.
Kyren Wilson 17-13 Jak Jones
Jones pots the first red of the 31st frame and then plays safe after losing position trying to cannon into the bunch.
Kyren Wilson 17-13 Jak Jones
The break collapses with three reds to go as he misses a tricky one down the right-hand cushion, but what an effort! Jak Jones takes another frame – can he keep this up?
Wilson leads 17-13 and still just needs one frame for the title
Kyren Wilson 17-12 Jak Jones
Whisper it quietly, but the 147 is on here for Jak Jones. Nine reds and nine blacks so far...
Kyren Wilson 17-12 Jak Jones
Jones is now piecing together a good score, with the reds nicely spread and the black on its spot and in the open.
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