Kyren Wilson storms into 7-1 lead in World Snooker Championship final

The Crucible Theatre resembles one of sport’s most compact, intimate settings. So intimate, in fact, that you can almost smell the breath of the players as they make their way around the snooker table. But here, on this Sunday afternoon in Sheffield, Jak Jones must have felt like the loneliest person on the planet as his dream slowly eroded into a nightmare.

The Welshman has made history across the past fortnight, joining the exclusive list of qualifiers to reach the final of the World Snooker Championship and impressing so many along the way. However, Jones is now in the history books for all the wrong reasons after not only losing control of his maiden world final in the opening session, but seeing his hopes almost evaporate already.

Perhaps it was the fact Jones had to play until late on Saturday evening against Stuart Bingham while his opponent here, Kyren Wilson, had already got the job done earlier in the day. There is no question that Jones, who has had to play over 20 hours more snooker than Wilson to get to the final, looked jaded on Sunday afternoon.

Perhaps it is Wilson’s prior experience of a final – having admitted in the buildup he drank too much beer and ate too much pizza the night before his 2020 final defeat to Ronnie O’Sullivan – which helped him settle quicker. But whatever the reason, the first final to be contested by two players both bidding for a maiden world title win in almost 20 years looks to be heading only one way.

This is only the third time in Crucible history that the opening seven frames have been won by one player, and a mix of nervy, edgy play from Jones combined with some stellar play from Wilson himself has made this year’s final already feel as if it could finish with some time to spare. The one hope for Jones? He claimed the final frame of the afternoon to avoid a session whitewash.

Things can still change. There are still three more sessions to play and Jones will have to treat them like a new match. But if Jones continues to toil while Wilson excels, this final is going in the direction of only one man.

The writing was on the wall from the opening two or three frames. These finals can so often be decided by who settles quickest and there was no doubting it was the man from Kettering who did so, with a wonderful 129 clearance in the opening frame. The following two frames were nervy, with both players missing chances, but Wilson claimed both of them to move 3-0 ahead.

Three became four shortly after with a break of 66 from Wilson, the first time a player has gone 4-0 up in a world final since 2018. Jones opted against heading to the practice table in the mid-session interval, instead retreating to his dressing room to try and clear his head. However, it was a move that backfired spectacularly on the Cwmbran cueist.

A break of 62 from Wilson was enough to claim frame five and already, it felt like Jones’ first session as a world finalist had gone into damage limitation mode. Mercifully for Jones, as he continued to struggle, Wilson sank further into a groove, with a break of 125 moving him six frames ahead.

The Crucible crowd erupted into applause that almost felt like it had a tinge of pity attached to it when Jones fluked the opening red of frame seven but yet again, the remainder of the frame followed a familiar pattern as Wilson got back in amongst the balls, secured a break of 90 and a 7-0 lead.

Jones needed something, however possible, to cling to something that resembled hope. He got it – and the loudest cheer of the afternoon – with a break of 65 to avoid a session whitewash. The pumping of his fist as he secured the frame underlined how he knew what an 8-0 deficit would have represented.

If there is one crumb of comfort for Jones, it is in those aforementioned history books. The only other two players to be 7-0 behind after the opening seven frames of a Crucible final were Jimmy White in 1991 – who ultimately lost to John Parrott – and Dennis Taylor, who actually went 8-0 behind in 1985.

We all know what happened that year. If Jones could replicate something even remotely like that, it will unquestionably rank as one of snooker’s greatest stories.