World Champion Kyren Wilson prevailed in an epic latest edition of his rivalry with world number one Judd Trump, edging the Sportsbet.io Players Championship final 10-9 in Telford.
Wilson now has ten ranking titles to his name, matching the career tally of snooker legend Jimmy White. They are joint 12th in the all-time standings, one title behind Mark Allen and one ahead of John Parrott and Peter Ebdon.
It’s the 33-year-old’s fourth win of the season, having also lifted trophies at the Xi’an Grand Prix, BetVictor Northern Ireland Open and the Machineseeker German Masters. Wilson becomes only the seventh player to reach that tally in a single campaign.
The head-to-head standings between Trump and Wilson are now locked level at 13-13. Wilson has had the edge in recent times, with his final wins in Xi’an, Belfast and now Telford this evening all coming against Trump.
The Warrior walks away with the £150,000 top prize. It’s the first time he’s ever won the Players Championship, an event he failed to qualify for last year. However, Wilson remains a comfortable distance behind Trump in second place in both the Johnstone’s Paint One Year List and the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings.
Defeat for Trump means he will remain on 30 career ranking titles. The Ace in the Pack will also have to wait another year to get his hands on the Players Championship trophy for a third time, having lifted it in 2017 and 2020.
The pair were locked level at 4-4 coming into this evening’s climax and they continued to go blow for blow tonight.
The first two frames of the session were shared, before Wilson countered to come from behind in each of the next three with breaks of 72, 74 and 70 to move 8-5 ahead.
Trump took back-to-back frames to crank up the tension, before a dramatic 16th, which came down to the last two balls. Wilson eventually fired in a tricky pink to the right middle and deposited a more straightforward black to lead 9-7.
Trump refused to back down and breaks of 78 and 103 set up a nerve shredding deciding frame at 9-9.
After both players had failed to cash in on their first opportunities, Trump took on a daring long range red, but missed it and left Wilson his chance. He pounced and grasped victory with a match winning 36, clenching his fist and roaring to the capacity crowd after getting over the line.
“It is hard to keep control of your emotions in deciding frames like that. You feel like you are going to be sick. You just have to rely on your technique. All the hours of practising put you in good stead. If you can get the things you’ve worked on mentally right, the decider is the time to do it. I’m so pleased to get over the line.”
Wilson added: “I know what a competitor Judd Trump is. He will go away and be hungry to put it right next time we play. That is what spurs me on to keep practising and performing at the highest level. It is a really healthy rivalry for not just me and Judd, but snooker as a whole.
“It’s a huge tournament to win and any final you can beat Judd Trump in is always a feather in the cap. I didn’t even qualify for these events last year. I had quite a poor season leading up to the World Championship. It has been a conscious effort to make the most of it and I did that today by winning the trophy.”
Trump said: “We weren’t able to play our best, but there was some drama in the decider. Well done to Kyren and his family. I want to thank everyone for coming out to support us. It has been a great event.”
Article by WST.
