Players Championship: Kyren Wilson beats Neil Robertson in thriller to reach final
World champion Kyren Wilson beat Neil Robertson 4-1 to 6-5 and reached the final of the player championship.
Wilson will now face world No. 1 Judd Trump or four-time Crucible champion John Higgins at an exhibition in Telford on Sunday.
Robertson made a century and 83-point break at the high-quality opening of the game – when he made a dramatic fourth frame in black, then a fifth, the third final of the season seemed to be waving for the revived Australians.
However, Wilson gathered 116 points on his way to winning three consecutive frames with a 4-4 run.
Although he lost ninth place after his black breathing breath, Wilson responded with an 89 break and then won the victory with 134 clearances.
It was a particularly impressive ending for the 33-year-old, who failed to succumb to the last two frames and pushed Robertson in the classics, where he won his fourth ranking title in the campaign.
“It proves my spiritual power,” Wilson told ITV4. “It’s disgusting to lose the frame on the respirator.
“Neal is so great, his tips are second to none, but you have to switch and stay aggressive. It’s about digging, and at 4-1, I was able to do that.”
Earlier, Higgins held his last four meetings with Trump after recovering from 4-1 and 5-2 to defeating Little Zhuwang 6-5 on Saturday (19:00 GMT).
In the opening frame, 111’s excellent rest took the platform for China’s small platform to occupy the early stages of the quarter-finals against four-time world champions.
Further running of 55, 60 and 104 helped him move one frame from the victory.
However, Higgins turned 50 in May and recently won his first ranking title at the Global Open – returning with a 70-point break in the eighth frame before coming out of the next three games before finishing the game with a half-century match.
“I’m relieved. I’ve been having the wrong ending in a game like that, and I’ve been dominant. It’s great to come out on the right.”
“I really liked this game. He beat me, but it was so good. There was a crowd of people.
“That’s what I’ll miss when I retire from the game. It’s a 5-5 stressful moment when you have the chance to win the game. You can’t copy that at any time. It only happens in Snooker, in Crunch games.”
