Saturday will see the 2024 World Snooker Championship semi-finals reach their conclusions at the Crucible Theatre.
Only a few more frames separate each of the remaining four contenders from a spot in the final this year.
Among those, Kyren Wilson is in the strongest position after establishing a 14-10 lead heading into his last session with David Gilbert.
The English pair went toe to toe for the first couple of sessions, trading big breaks for fun across an opening 16 frames that were evenly shared.
But Wilson managed to pull away during the third bout of play on Friday evening, reeling off a pivotal five frames in a row to break the back of the match.
Gilbert’s break of 101 in the last frame, his fourth ton of the encounter and a tenth at the venue stages in Sheffield overall, just about kept him in the hunt.
But the 42 year-old will have it all to do if he’s to scramble his way back into the affair on Saturday afternoon, with Wilson looking very much like the new favourite for glory this year.
The other last-four clash has a little bit longer to go having only reached the midway point and the scores still locked at 8-8.
A topsy-turvy showdown between Stuart Bingham and Jak Jones has seen both cueists have moments in the ascendancy.
Two more sessions will be played on Saturday morning and evening to determine the second finalist in Sheffield.
Bingham, the 2015 world champion, probably remains the more likely player to advance, but it would be foolish for anyone to write off Jones at this stage.
The Welshman may not boast the attacking prowess of some of his rivals, but he has made up for it with strong all-round match play and composure during his biggest pressurised moments.
Jones, of course, is featuring in the semi-finals of a World Snooker Championship for the first time.
In today’s quiz, let’s test your knowledge on all of the previous last-four lineups at the Crucible since the tournament moved to Sheffield in 1977.
The question is, can you match the four semi-finalists with the correct year?
Click here if you can’t see the quiz (Sporcle website).
2024 World Snooker Championship Draw
Round 1 (bo19)
Luca Brecel (1) 9-10 David Gilbert
Robert Milkins (16) 10-9 Pang Junxu
Ali Carter (9) 7-10 Stephen Maguire
Shaun Murphy (8) 10-5 Lyu Haotian
Mark Selby (5) 6-10 Joe O’Connor
Kyren Wilson (12) 10-1 Dominic Dale
John Higgins (13) 10-6 Jamie Jones
Mark Allen (4) 10-6 Robbie Williams
Judd Trump (3) 10-5 Hossein Vafaei
Tom Ford (14) 10-6 Ricky Walden
Zhang Anda (11) 4-10 Jak Jones
Mark Williams (6) 9-10 Si Jiahui
Ding Junhui (7) 9-10 Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson (10) 5-10 Stuart Bingham
Barry Hawkins (15) 8-10 Ryan Day
Ronnie O’Sullivan (2) 10-1 Jackson Page
Round 2 (bo25)
David Gilbert 13-4 Robert Milkins (16)
Stephen Maguire 13-9 Shaun Murphy (8)
Joe O’Connor 6-13 Kyren Wilson (12)
John Higgins (13) 13-12 Mark Allen (4)
Judd Trump (3) 13-7 Tom Ford (14)
Jak Jones 13-9 Si Jiahui
Jack Lisowski 11-13 Stuart Bingham
Ryan Day 7-13 Ronnie O’Sullivan (2)
Quarter-Finals (bo25)
David Gilbert 13-8 Stephen Maguire
Kyren Wilson (12) 13-8 John Higgins (13)
Judd Trump (3) 9-13 Jak Jones
Stuart Bingham 13-10 Ronnie O’Sullivan (2)
Semi-Finals (bo33)
David Gilbert 11-17 Kyren Wilson (12)
Jak Jones 17-12 Stuart Bingham
Final (bo35)
Kyren Wilson (12) 18-14 Jak Jones
Click here for the latest live scores and session times.
Featured photo credit: WST
