Kyren Wilson says he can become the first qualifier since Shaun Murphy to win the World Snooker Championship after booking a place in the quarter-finals at the Crucible. Wilson, 24, held off an attempted comeback from Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen to seal a 13-9 victory which all but guarantees his place in the world’s top-16 next season.
Afterwards Wilson, who first came to widespread attention when he won last year’s Shanghai Masters while ranked No54 in the world, set his eyes on the bigger prize of emulating Murphy’s 2005 title triumph.
Wilson said: “It was obviously a fantastic achievement the way Shaun blitzed everyone with his sensational potting, so he’s proved that it’s possible and I’d love to add myself to that list. That match took a lot of mental strength but I think it set me up nicely for the next round. I’ve shown I can mix it, I can flow and I can battle. Whatever my opponent throws at me I’m capable of dealing with it.”
Wilson, who next faces the world No1 Mark Selby, added: “There’s only eight players left in the tournament and any one of the eight can still win it. I’m here to win it now and I was here to win it from the start.”
Resuming 11-5 up against Allen, Wilson saw his lead reduced to two frames after a strong start by his opponent, before breaks of 51 and 71 finally settled any nerves and saw him over the line.
He will head into the last eight buoyed by the opinions of some of his sport’s leading names, with Judd Trump adding himself to the growing list of Wilson admirers after the world No5’s own challenge ended in defeat to Ding Junhui.
Trump, who had been on the end of the 13-12 final defeat which gave Wilson his breakthrough in Shanghai, said: “I’m not surprised to see him in the quarter-finals at all. I think he’s the new John Higgins, the new Mark Selby. He could be around for a long time.”
Trump showed only glimpses of his potting ability as he fell to a 13-10 defeat against Ding.
The Chinese player, another looking to emulate Murphy having been forced to qualify this year after falling out of the world’s top 16, looked set to cruise into the last eight after winning two of the first three frames to move within one more of victory. Trump’s gradual recovery seemed to unsettle his opponent until a messy 23rd frame ended with Ding booking the fourth last-eight place of his career.
Afterwards Trump denied his social-media activity had been a factor in his defeat, having sent a number of tweets during mid-session intervals earlier in the tournament including one taking issue with comments made by a fellow professional and current TV commentator Dominic Dale.
Trump said: “It worked when I was 7-6 down to [Liang] Wenbo – I came back and played really well and I didn’t miss a ball. This time I lost because Ding was the better player – there’s no other reason. I don’t want to drain myself thinking about the game all day, every day.”
Responding to Dale’s comments about his perceived lack of cue ball control, Trump added: “I just think it’s a little bit wrong of him to say that during a game. You don’t chat about people’s techniques or stuff like that, you let them get on with it. But I would never win a game if I was thinking about stuff that is happening off the table, so me losing had nothing to do with that.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan was hoping to avoid joining Trump when he resumed his second-round match against Barry Hawkins in the evening session trailing 9-7.
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