Kyren Wilson powers past David Gilbert to reach second World Championship final

Kyren Wilson stormed into his second World Snooker Championship final after a 17-11 win over David Gilbert at The Crucible on Saturday.

The duo were locked level at 8-8 following the first two sessions, but Wilson dominated the second half of the match by clinching nine of the next 12 frames to book his place in the final.

Wilson, runner-up to Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2020, produced no century breaks to Gilbert’s four but punished a number of unforced errors from his opponent throughout the last two sessions.

He will now face either Stuart Bingham or Jak Jones in the final, which commences on Sunday afternoon.

“I didn’t even know what it was first to, I just kept playing,” Wilson told BBC Sport

“It felt like I broke the back of the match yesterday and I was very focused on hitting home the advantage. It was nice to kill off the match in one clean hit.

“Coming into this event I didn’t have the best of seasons, and then all of a sudden everybody is saying I’m the favourite and I’ve got to handle that pressure.

“I’m quite aware of that, but Dave had every right to be beating me as well.

“Dave’s a classy cueist, hits the ball unbelievably well and I just had to try to stop him getting into his stride.”

Gilbert had compiled a trio of tons en route to levelling the match at 8-8, and after Wilson took the opening frame of the third session with a break of 85, the Tamworth cueist made a 55 to restore parity again.

Wilson, however, broke the back of the match with a pivotal run of five consecutive frames which included breaks of 93, 51 and 88 to forge a 14-9 advantage.

Gilbert stopped the rot in style with a break of 101 to trail by four overnight, and he gave himself a lifeline by opening up Saturday’s final session with a break of 70 for a 14-11 deficit.

Wilson, though, sealed frame 26 to get back on track, before producing successive breaks of 54 and 67 to wrap up victory.

Gilbert, who also suffered semi-final heartbreak in 2019, admitted: “It’s been a great run – it was a very disappointing way to go out because I really believed I could win that game.

“I had more than enough chances to do so, but good luck to Kyren.

“Nothing to feel too bad about, I just lost a game of snooker.

“I’d love to get back in the top 16 – I miss it and I feel like I can be a top-16 player, and we’ll see. I’ll look forward to next season.”