Wu Yize wins dramatic decider to claim World Snooker Championship title

Wu Yize became the second-youngest player to win the World Snooker Championship as he edged out Shaun Murphy in a pulsating last-frame decider at The Crucible.

The 22-year-old held his nerve in a nail-biting climax to deny Murphy a second Crucible crown and become the second successive Chinese player to lift the sport’s ultimate prize.

In only the fourth final ever to go the distance at The Crucible, Wu recovered from 12-10 down to clinch the £500,000 top prize in Sheffield, producing a clinical 85 break in the deciding frame.

“I have been trying to go for this for ages,” said Wu. “For the past few months, I have been living the same life. I am so happy that I could play well today.”

With his mother and father appearing emotional in the background, Wu added: “My parents are the true champions.

“Since I made the decision to drop out of school, my dad has been by my side. My mum has also been going through a lot over the years. They are the source of my strength, I love them so much.”

Murphy was bidding to end a 21-year wait for a world title, having famously triumphed as a qualifier back in 2005, but was instead forced to settle for second prize for the fourth consecutive time.

Murphy, who also finished runner-up in 2009, 2015 and 2021, said: “I’d like to be the first to congratulate Wu Yize and his family, and everyone around him for being a wonderful world champion..

“I hate being right – I said sometime earlier in the season when we had a great game out in China somewhere, I won that one but I came out afterwards and said that he would be world champion one day. It’s just a real shame that it was today, but I couldn’t have given it any more, I couldn’t have tried harder.

“I played the best shots I could have played and I didn’t get my chance. I couldn’t do any more than that.”

Wu had come through an astonishing semi-final on Saturday night which had seen Mark Allen miss a routine black to seal victory, but the youngster showed no sign of fatigue as he raced into a 3-0 lead on Sunday.

Murphy, however, hit back with breaks of 85, 98, 77 and 109 to hit the front, but only for Wu to respond with breaks of 65, 82 and 103 to make it 6-4.

Further breaks of 89, 66 and 91 helped Wu on the way to establishing a 10-7 lead going into the second day of the final, but it was Murphy who came out firing to flip the match on its head.

The 43-year-old reeled off five consecutive frames with breaks of 76, 52, 59 and 60 along the way, before Wu stopped the rot with a break of 64.

That paved the way for Wu to go on and clinch the next three frames to open up a 14-12 advantage in Monday’s evening session, though Murphy responded with an 82 break en route to back-to-back frames to restore parity once again.

A major steal from Wu in frame 29 saw him wrestle back the upper-hand, but Murphy returned the favour in the following frame, recovering from 70 points behind to square up proceedings at 15-15.

After Wu had dominated frame 31, Murphy hit back with an emphatic clearance of 131, but the youngster remained unfazed and replied with a 91 break to go one away from victory.

However, his first title-winning opportunity broke down on 43 and Murphy stepped in to make an immaculate 69 break to force the first last-frame shootout at The Crucible since 2002.

The first gilt-edged chance fell to Wu, and he seized his opportunity in clinical fashion with a break of 85 to fulfil his destiny.

Wu is three months younger than Murphy was at the time of his world title win in 2005 and sits only behind Stephen Hendry – who was 21 when he reigned for the first time in 1990.

The Chinese sensation surges to fourth in the world rankings, having started the season outside the elite top 16.