Wilson leads Jones in World Snooker final

Kyren Wilson resisted an impressive fightback by qualifier Jak Jones to lead the World Snooker Championship final on Sunday at the end of the first day.

England’s 12th-ranked Wilson is 11-6 ahead with the first man to 18 frames to be crowned champion when the match is played to a conclusion on Monday.

Jones, the Welshman ranked 44 in the world, had been 7-1 down after the first session.

“I felt Jak played really well tonight. It’s not all about the scoreline, it’s about how the frame was won and there was obviously a lot of tension in there,” Wilson, the 2020 runner-up, told the BBC.

“I’m proud of the way I held it together. I had in my head I wanted to get to 11 tonight having been on seven (after the afternoon session). Target achieved.”

He added: “I’m just loving every minute out there. The atmosphere is fantastic. I’m very blessed and grateful I’ve been able to experience this in front of a packed house, having been robbed of that through Covid (in the 2020 final).”

Jones is the first qualifier in the final since China’s Ding Junhui in 2016 and he admitted it was “a miracle” to still be in contention.

He could even have won the final frame of the evening but lost out in a dramatic black ball climax which let Wilson off the hook.

“If I had a decent night’s sleep last night I think I could probably have done something today, it could have been different,” said Jones whose semi-final win over Stuart Bingham finished just before midnight on Saturday.

“Get a good night’s sleep, come out flying tomorrow and things could happen.”