World number two Kyren Wilson produced a session clean sweep to overhaul World Champion Zhao Xintong and prevail 10-5 to reach the Shanghai Masters final.
The 33-year-old proceeds to his second final in this prestigious event, which is a significant tournament in the history of his career. He last lifted silverware in Shanghai back in 2015, when he beat Judd Trump 10-9 to claim his first ever ranking title.
Fast forward ten years and the Shanghai Masters is now one of the sport’s most prestigious invitational prizes. Tomorrow, 2024 World Champion Wilson will have the chance to win the tournament in its present format for the first time. He faces Ali Carter over 21 frames for the £210,000 top prize. The Warrior hasn’t lost to Carter since the 2015 Australian Open.
Wilson has enjoyed a tremendous run to the title match, having scored a hard fought 6-5 win over Si Jiahui to start, before beating Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-3 in the quarters.
Zhao was afforded a hero’s reception this week, returning for his maiden tournament in his homeland since becoming China’s first World Champion in May. He put on fine performances to dispatch Chris Wakelin and legendary compatriot Ding Junhui. The Cyclone hadn’t been beaten since defeat to Shaun Murphy at the UK Championship last November. However, today proved a step too far.
The result is a continuation of the “Ding Curse”. The last 21 times Ding has been beaten on the World Snooker Tour, his opponent has then lost in the following round. The last player to overcome this was Robbie Williams at the 2024 Welsh Open.
Wilson and Zhao came into this evening’s session after a fiercely contested afternoon, which saw 28-year-old Zhao emerge with a slender 5-4 lead.
When play resumed, breaks of 70 and 101 saw Wilson quickly wrest the lead. There was then a 36-minute 11th, which saw Wilson make it 7-5 and he took the last before the mid-session to move just two from victory.
Wilson carried his momentum through the interval and went on to seal victory by taking the following two frames.
“The crowd were massively on Zhao Xintong’s side. That is to be expected, he is an absolute hero in China. I knew it was going to be tough but settled quite early and found my feet,” said ten-time ranking event winner Wilson.
“It is tough. We’ve experienced it playing Ding Junhui many times and now Zhao is the new local favourite if you like. Snooker in China is booming and you can feel an extra air of expectation every time Zhao turns up for a game. I knew I had to play well and shut that out.
“Ali has battled through some really tough matches. That is what he does best. He is a determined and gritty character. I’m going to have to really dig in tomorrow and play some of the best snooker I have in the last 18 months.
“This event seems to get bigger each year. It is really important for me in my career to try and make the most of snooker booming. The Shanghai Masters is the showpiece event in China now. Ten years on it would be lovely to win this event again.”
It’s fair to say that Zhao Xintong had a nightmare second session today, for whatever reason(s). Was it pressure? Was it the sudden realisation of how much the Chinese fans were expecting from him? Was it just tiredness? We will probably never know for sure. But it was strange and painful to watch.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 