Thrillers at the Crucible
► Eighth seed snatches victory in stunning last-frame decider ► Selby accuses O’sullivan of gamesmanship after 17-16 loss
One of the most extraordinary days in Crucible history ended with Ronnie O’sullivan claiming a place in the World Championship final in which he will face Kyren Wilson. Both semi-finals ended in 17-16 victories. In their final frame Wilson snookered Anthony Mcgill on a red and the Scot missed it eight times in a row. Wilson then screwed the white back into the middle pocket, before fluking the green to eventually seal victory.
Kyren Wilson won one of the wildest frames in snooker history to beat Anthony Mcgill 17-16 and advance to his first World Championship final at the Crucible, where he will meet Ronnie O’sullivan – a 17-16 victor over Mark Selby.
Wilson edged home in an astonishing finale which included Mcgill missing a snooker eight times in succession and effectively concluded when Wilson fluked a green over three cushions.
The frame score finished 103-83 in favour of Wilson, who appeared to struggle to contain his emotions upon fluking the green, and subsequently broke down in a BBC interview.
Wilson said: “I didn’t keep myself together. That is what I am most annoyed about. I didn’t feel like I was quite there today and I thought Anthony was absolutely phenomenal.
“I’m in a really good place mentally. I’m enjoying just being a part of this World Championship. With everything going on in the world, it’s a bonus being here.”
Wilson had returned for their concluding session with a 13-11 advantage and stretched his lead to three frames with a nerveless break of 94. But qualifier Mcgill, 29, stormed back with consecutive breaks of 84, 87 and 122 to achieve parity at the mid-session interval.
Wilson nudged back in front with a break of 82, but Mcgill appeared unfazed and pulled back level, before a nerveless 98 put him one frame from victory. Kettering’s
Wilson forced the decider after a re-rack, but neither player could possibly have envisaged the drama that was to unfold.
Both players missed simple chances to claim frame and match, with Mcgill running aground on 39, then Wilson missing a simple red to middle on 47. With the black teetering over the top pocket, Wilson snookered Mcgill on a nearby red and the Scot missed it eight times in a row – leaving him requiring snookers. Yet Wilson duly stepped up and screwed the white back into the middle pocket, with another subsequent in-off handing back the initiative to his opponent.
The red then became perched tight on the top lip of the middle pocket, with both players trying and failing to pot it via the bottom cushion. Mcgill managed it at the second attempt, but with the colours seemingly at his mercy, he snookered himself on the green – which Wilson subsequently missed to effectively take the match.
After an extended and nervy safety battle, Wilson fluked the green via three cushions, leaving Mcgill requiring snookers again and Wilson ultimately thanking his outrageous fortune.
Mcgill said: “I feel like it has been stolen from me, not by Kyren, but by the snooker gods.”
Wilson must now tame O’sullivan, who reached his first World Championship final since 2014 by fighting back to defeat Selby 17-16. However, Selby accused O’sullivan of gamesmanship. “I felt it was a little bit disrespectful the way he played,” said Selby. “Every time I got him in a snooker he just went down and hit the ball at 100mph, it could have gone anywhere.”