Kyren Wilson wins first seven frames to take commanding lead in World Snooker Championship final but underdog Jak Jones stages late fightback

Kyren Wilson shone in the Crucible spotlight and is seven frames away from a maiden World Snooker Championship title after controlling the first day of the final against a reinvigorated Jak Jones.

The 32-year-old won the first seven frames and compiled four century breaks on his way to an 11-6 overnight lead, with the gritty Welshman making a game of it by winning Sunday night’s session 5-4.

But it could – and arguably should – have been 6-3 as both men battled over the decisive black in the final frame for over eight minutes.

Yet Wilson, who appeared to tire as the evening wore on, won it with a superb long pot and left the arena on cloud nine.

‘I felt Jak played really well tonight,’ Wilson told the BBC. ‘It’s not all about the scoreline, it’s about how the frame was won and there was obviously a lot of tension in there.

‘I’m proud of the way I held it together. I had in my head I wanted to get to 11 tonight having been on seven (after the afternoon session). Target achieved.’

Jones – who labelled rivals who criticise his perceived slow style of play as ‘pathetic’ – fought back from 7-0 down, reducing the arrears to five frames to give hope of further thrills and spills.

‘It’s a miracle that I’m still in it as I played shocking. I’m still in the match,’ Jones added.

‘Get a good night’s sleep, come out flying tomorrow and things could happen.’

Wilson looked comfortable from the start and got the best of the big moments.

He began the day in blistering fashion. His 129 break was the first in the opening frame of a final since Stephen Hendry’s 136 against Jimmy White in 1993.

Runs of 52, 66, 62, 84, 125 and 90 followed yesterday afternoon as the World No 12 sped into a 7-0 lead.

It matched the start made by John Parrott in the 1991 final, on the way to winning his only world title with 18-11 win over White.

For Jones, a 200-1 pre-tournament outsider and the World No 44, he melted under the heat in his first ranking tournament final. His plight was not helped by playing a well-rested man in the form of his life.

While Kettering-based Wilson reached the final with a session to spare after beating David Gilbert on Saturday afternoon, Jones was forced to scrap through a 12-hour tussle with Stuart Bingham.

Jones, who has only scored two centuries on his run to the final, failed to compile big breaks against Bingham and could not disrupt the metronomic Wilson’s rhythm until the latter stages.

The relief was palpable when he won his first frame with a 65 break at the end of the first session and celebrated with a smile and a fist pump. Cwmbran-born Jones made that three in a row as he went to 7-3, but Wilson stopped the run with a nerveless 125 to restore his five-frame advantage.

And Wilson, who admitted he has been approached about a breakaway tour away from World Snooker, took control of a vital frame before the mid-session interval to extend his lead.

The pattern of the first session was never likely to be repeated, but Wilson showed his class and mettle to keep Jones’s resurgence at bay, splitting the session 2-2.

But the Nando’s-loving Welshman showed his spicy side after the mid-session interval, winning a crucial frame after an unusual Wilson miss with the rest to make it 9-4.

Wilson responded with another rapid century – the 122 was his fourth of the final – as Jones countered by winning the 15th frame in gutsy fashion. He appeared to visibly relax, cracking a smile in his seat between frames.

He followed that up with a 90 break – his highest of the final - to get back within four frames.

Yet after that gripping final frame, Wilson appears to have restored the momentum as a thrilling final day beckons.