Wu Yize beat Shaun Murphy 18-17 to win an enthralling 2026 World Snooker Championship final at the Crucible Theatre.
In the first final to be settled in a deciding frame since 2002, the 22 year-old held off his experienced opponent in the final session on Monday to seal a memorable success in Sheffield.
It represents the crowning moment of a breakthrough season in which Wu captured his maiden ranking title at the International Championship.
In lifting the sport’s blue-riband trophy, he becomes the youngest world champion since Stephen Hendry 36 years ago.
Wu collects £500,000 and ensures China celebrates back-to-back Crucible champions following Zhao Xintong’s victory last year.
A topsy-turvy final saw the momentum swing back and forth with the two finalists enjoying spells in the ascendancy.
Even though Murphy and Wu each emerged from titanic semi-final tussles on Saturday, it would have been reasonable to expect the latter to have the bigger hangover given his 17-16 victory over Mark Allen concluded just shy of midnight.
But it was actually Murphy who got off to a much slower start, making a number of mistakes that allowed his inexperienced opponent to quickly settle.
Wu duly took the first three frames, but Murphy got on the scoreboard with a run of 85 in the fourth before taking the following three in rapid fashion as well to take the front.
But the first session ended with parity restored, with a 65 from the Chinese competitor leaving the scores tied at 4-4.
When they resumed for the second session on Sunday evening, Wu produced a devastating array of long potting and strong break building to seemingly take a stranglehold on the contest.
The tenth seed dominated a lot of the exchanges, and Murphy might have felt relieved to come out of the nine-frame stint with another three frames under his belt.
With Wu leading 10-7 heading into the final day, the biggest narrative from the outset remained consistently in play – which among experience or youth would prevail?
For large periods of the third session, it very much seemed like the former.
Wu looked nervous for the first time and his once unflappable long-distance game was nowhere to be seen, with Murphy pouncing to win five on the spin and lead 12-10.
By this point, a runaway result was on the cards.
But the 2005 world champion, despite the sequence of dominance, was never quite exuding his trademark aura of confidence.
Wu, whose ability to instantly erase mistakes from his memory bank had been a feature of his entire tournament, was constantly getting opportunities to score.
A 64 break stopped the rot, and with belief returning he won the last two frames of the session to edge 13-12 ahead.
It was all set up in tantalising fashion ahead of the final session where both players received a rapturous welcome into the iconic Crucible arena.
There was still just one frame separating them when they reached the last mid-session interval, with Wu pinching an important 29th frame on the black to restore his advantage at 15-14.
Murphy, though, returned the favour when they resumed for the concluding frames, defying a break of 70 from his opponent to tie it up again.
Undeterred, Wu quickly responded to win the next, but Murphy shifted up a gear with a magnificent century break to make it 16-16.
With his tail up, the Englishman got in first in the following frame and was in prime position only to miss a routine red, with Wu countering with a nerveless 91 to move within the brink of glory.
But perhaps in fitting fashion, just as there had been barely anything separating them throughout the entire affair, Wu missed a black off the spot to allow Murphy in to force a deciding frame with a gutsy 75 contribution.
Amid an electric atmosphere, Murphy got in first in the last frame but quickly ran out of position, and Wu dished with a remarkable break of 85 under pressure to clinch it.
Featured photo credit: WST
In praise of Rob Spencer
Can I please add a huge shout-out for the performance of Rob Spencer as the referee of this unforgettable match, summed up so aptly (and amazingly quickly!) by David here?
I think he was a superb referee. They all are top notch at the Crucible, what there is in difference are points of personality and style. And it is here that Rob excels, with his calmness, the seeming ease of it all, which is a sign of true sovereignty. A point in case was when Wu was in doubt about the exact positioning of the pink, and Spencer, completely unperturbed, respotted it, demonstrating to the player with a few accompanying words the precise correct position of the ball.
Rob Spencer’s first Crucible final, I hope and trust not his last.
Congratulations to both players. The whole affair is not my cup of tea, but despite the 4 sessions and what that implies, the result truly represented the fact that any of top 20 players could have etched out a title win. From 23 tournaments this season there were a variety of winners and even though some love the long drawn out affairs of a John Higgins or Mark Selby and others are fanatical about the flair of Ronnie O Sullivan or Zhao Xintong, snooker is in a state of parody because the rules are similar to graded houses in the UK with 300 year homes with 6 foot ceilings and multiple tiny rooms. I have absolutely no right to advocate any changes, but when a force as China takes hold, potting will be the goal of the game and 100 minute frames will be lost forever. For a Wu Yize drawn into the longest frame or Mark Allen for that matter, it was the rules of the game that took these two aggressive players into stalemate city. These players nowadays have enough talent to be in a stalemate for much longer if they wanted. That is why my first conclusion I have from my first season watching snooker, I found the qualifiers and lesser skilled players games more entertaining in general because chances reared constantly and any form of a stalemate lasted 3 or 4 shots combined.
At the beginning of the Crucible someone said the whole reason for all these frames were to prove the right player won. So I guess when Mark Allen missed the black ball in the same area he has potting at a 99% accuracy, Wu Yize deserved to win. Let me put my brains and experience to work here and say the only motivation for too many frames and too many days is Money, money and more money. Sure you could think it’s tradition or to find the best winner if you want but I will stick to what is the main motive for crime, the reason there are wars and even why people cheat in sports; money.
I truly apologize for being so negative but I will finish my rant with this. I watched hours and hours and then more hours of snooker, and the way I feel when I watch a big break, or something like what Shaun Murphy did stealing a frame down 70-0 and coming back to put away everything left on the table with the black ball for the steal, I will not forget that anytime soon.
Len, if you didn’t enjoy that, then snooker’s not for you.
No question about it. This has been one of the most exciting World Championships ever, so no reason to moan.
Rob Spencer – one of the best no doubt.
What a great championship. Loved the qualifiers although I wanted Fu & Holt to do better (& also Ronnie tbh). I predicted Wu to win in a prediction contest (but got most of the others wrong!). Loved every moment with the exception of the MC & his ‘commentary’ too. All in all, a very enjoyable contest even though where I currently live & work the final frame was about 4am. So happy for Wu, Murphy is not my cup of tea but he played so well. Whatever everyone thinks, China is the ‘now’ & future of the game and that is not a bad thing…
Len is probably winding us up.
Anyone would enjoy that if they like snooker unless they’ve got personal issues as we shouldn’t forget life does get in the way sometimes. It has for me at points this year with my mom in hospital for part of the championship.
I thoroughly enjoyed the championships, and have to get up early here in the states to do so. Fans world wide were treated to a memorable event. I’m a Murphy fan but sure give credit where it was due and his opponent was a joy to watch.