Kyren Wilson made it back-to-back triumphs on the Main Tour after claiming the 2018 Six Red World Championship title on Saturday in Thailand.
Wilson is the world number eight.
The Englishman produced an assured display to see off the challenge of former champion Ding Junhui with an 8-4 scoreline.
The last time the pair met in a big final was almost exactly twelve months ago when China’s Ding comprehensively got the better of the Kettering cueist to land the World Open trophy in his home country.
But the roles were reversed on this occasion as Wilson mostly dominated their showdown under the shorter guise of the game.
After Ding’s surprising missed pink when set to make a winning clearance in the opening frame, the 31 year-old took the next two frames to establish an early 2-1 advantage and looked set to extend the cushion further when he was within a couple of balls of taking the fourth as well.
But Wilson snatched that frame on the colours to draw level, which launched a five-frame mid-match winning spree that allowed the recent Paul Hunter Classic champion to mount what transpired to be an insurmountable 6-2 lead.
Ding briefly rallied to trail by only two frames again at 6-4 but Wilson rarely looked flustered and dominated the final two frames for victory.
With the success, Wilson collects silverware in successive months after winning the second ranking event of his career in Furth in August.
The Six Red World Championship is classed as just an invitational tournament but the top prize of just over £80,000 dwarfs the £20,000 that Wilson earned for his German glory.
The 26 year-old, who was the Masters runner-up last season and also reached the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible for the first time, is firmly establishing himself as one of the top competitors in the game.
Wilson also joins an exclusive group of players who have won this event in Bangkok, including 2016 champion Ding, last year’s winner Mark Williams, world number one Mark Selby, and legend Jimmy White.
With the lucrative Shanghai Masters to play in next week, a competition that Wilson won three years ago when it was previously staged a ranking event, Wilson will be riding a huge wave of confidence and should be considered one of the favourites in China.
For Ding, defeat will represent a double sense of disappointment because not only did he fall short of becoming just the second player – after Mark Davis – to win the world title twice, but he also missed a golden opportunity to secure an invitation to the Champion of Champions later this year in Coventry.
Overall, the Six Red World Championship seemed to be a big hit in the Thai capital, with decent crowds every day, especially over the last couple of days that featured three entertaining encounters to round off the tournament.
There are many out there who criticise the format but why not just enjoy it for what it is, something a little different that’s only on the calendar as a major event once every year.
Like the Snooker Shoot Out, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but there’s certainly a place for it to be included among the schedule of events and Wilson definitely won’t mind after raising the trophy aloft after a superb performance this week.
David Caulfield
Creator of SnookerHQ and a journalism graduate, David has been actively reporting on snooker since 2011. He has been published in national publications and has appeared on BBC World News and on talkSPORT radio as an analyst.
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