Defending champion Kyren Wilson won four frames on the bounce to come from behind and defeat Chinese number one Zhao Xintong 10-8 and reach the Shanghai Masters final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a victory to mirror last year’s event for Wilson, when he beat 2025 World Champion Zhao in the semi-finals. The Warrior went on to defeat Ali Carter in the title match to secure the title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He will be hoping for a similar outcome when he faces world number one and old rival Trump over 21 frames tomorrow. The winner will pocket \u00a3210,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The last 12 months have seen Wilson prosper in the elite environment of invitational events. He also won the Masters earlier this year to capture his second Triple Crown title, beating Shaun Murphy in the final. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The afternoon session saw Wilson edge in front with a narrow 5-4 advantage coming into tonight’s finale. 34-year-old Wilson hit the ground running this evening with 85 in the opener to double his advantage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zhao hit back immediately with a stunning 135, before a 70 in the 12th restored parity at 6-6. The last before the mid-session also went the way of Zhao who stole on the black in a 20-minute frame, which turned out to be the longest of the match. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When play resumed, Zhao moved two from the finish line with a contribution of exactly 100. However, it was at that point that 2024 Crucible King Wilson moved up a gear. Breaks of 101, 68, 129 and 51 gave him four frames in a row and saw him blitz to victory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I think it was a really good standard throughout. I was pleased with my afternoon’s work to lead 5-4, then Zhao Xintong showed his class and reeled off four in a row. All of a sudden I was 8-6 behind and I was a little bit frustrated. I’m proud of how I held myself together, recomposed myself and took the match by the scruff of the neck,” said Wilson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He is a hero out here and rightly so being China’s first ever World Champion. It is so important for our game that Zhao goes on to do well. For me, I have to be selfish and try to beat him when I can. It was a very good result for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I want to add all of these (invitational) events to my CV. You have the very best in the world. I’ve beat Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Williams, Zhao Xintong and now I have to face the world number one Judd Trump in the final. You really have to play well to win these events. I was proud to win two last year, but looking at the rankings you’d think I had a terrible season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I’ve played Judd in a few exhibitions out here recently. We’ve had good fun in those, but this is serious now. It is down to business.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Defending champion Kyren Wilson won four frames on the bounce to come from behind and defeat Chinese number<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[378],"class_list":["post-15270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-snooker"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t