Kyren Wilson has won the 2015 Shanghai Masters after a thrilling 10-9 victory over Judd Trump in China.
The 23 year-old withstood a strong fightback from the former world no.1 to collect his maiden ranking event title – the first of what will surely be many.
Wilson had never before been beyond the quarter-finals in a tournament of this stature, his previous best being a last eight appearance at the same event two years ago.
However, the young Englishman knocked out home favourite Ding Junhui with a clearance to the final black to embark on a debut semi-final outing, where he thumped last year’s runner-up Mark Allen 6-1.
It was expected that Trump would have too much experience for his shoulders to handle in the final, but for long periods Wilson showed no signs of nerves.
Ranked 55 in the world before proceedings began, Wilson demonstrated the kind of ability that many had preached would lead him to become an elite level player at some stage, with today’s performance recognising him as a fledgling star.
Wilson took control of the final in the first session when he opened up a 6-3 lead and shared the opening four frames of the evening bout of play to establish an 8-5 advantage at the last mid-session interval.
Trump took an important close frame after the restart and drew within one at 7-8 to really put the pressure on.
Even though Wilson finally got to nine, it always had the feel of a final that was going to go the distance, not least because referee Brendan Moore was officiating, who for some reason has this uncanny knack of taking control of tight tussles which go to a deciding frame.
And so be it, as breaks of 89 and 60 helped Trump, seeking his fifth ranking event success, ensured that the crowd earned their money’s worth of 19 frames.
In it you would have favoured the 26 year-old, but he never even got a chance as Wilson compiled a composed run of 75 to capture the trophy and the winner’s cheque of £85,000.
With the victory, Wilson truly announces himself as a major force on the snooker scene and isn’t it refreshing having a pair of competitors in their twenties going toe-to-toe in a significant final.
The only shame is that it wasn’t shown live on television as Eurosport featured other sports despite having provided coverage of most of the tournament throughout the week.
This sparked much debate on Twitter and doubtless elsewhere, with Wilson’s defining moment enjoyed by many reading 140 character scripts or by updating live scoring, rather than witnessing it for their own eyes, which is a shame.
Nevertheless, Wilson wont care too much about that, only about this famous triumph over one of the sport’s best players which has him joining an illustrious band of ranking event winners.
