The latest edition of the Championship League concluded over this past week and we’re going to take a look at a brief rundown of Kyren Wilson’s journey to become the eventual champion. The World Championship runner-up had to secure top place in two earlier group stages before he returned to compete in the final group in order to reach the final.
Wilson’s first match was against 1997 Champion, Ken Doherty who seemed to be struggling throughout their contest as he was unable to make a break above 30. It wasn’t Wilson’s best performance either as their match consisted of a significant amount of safety play nevertheless, Wilson was able to hold off Doherty from taking any points away from him. The score ended up 3-1 to Wilson.
Following Doherty, Wilson’s next contest proved to be the match where Wilson found his rhythm. Similar to Doherty, Joe Perry was struggling on this day however, Wilson was able to punish as he made breaks of 85 and 100 to secure Frames 1 and 2, then eventually take the third frame to gain another three points. The fourth frame wasn’t played as Wilson claimed a 3-0 victory.
At this point, Wilson was in a very strong position within his group table. His last opponent was John Higgins, who had just lost 3-0 to Doherty. Higgins required an undisputed 3-0 victory over Wilson in order to progress to the final against Judd Trump. And Higgins didn’t do too badly of a job. If Wilson was able to claim just one frame, then he progresses to the final due to frame difference (the difference between the numbers of frames won and lost in the whole group – in the event of a tie, the player with the higher frame difference progresses).
Higgins opened with an uncontested 123 break to lead the proceedings. However, while on a break of 24, Higgins missed a simple enough red which could have given him the victory he needed to reach the final. There were opportunities to lay some easy snookers but Higgins was unable to do so. This led to Wilson securing the one frame he needed to go to the final. But the match must go on and good thing it did since we were able to witness Higgins make his 11th career 147 break which received a wonderful uproar from Selby, Trump and the cameraman on the other table. Despite a 3-1 loss, Wilson was in the final.
Wilson vs. Trump is a match-up we’ve seen a lot of recently, and I imagine this will continue being the case going forward given the impressive form of these two individuals. They last met recently at the English Open, which saw Trump ease past Wilson 5-1 en route to the trophy. However, this wasn’t the case for the final match of the Championship League.
A terrific opening pot from the cushion at an acute angle saw Wilson take Frame 1 with a break of 64. But as expected, Trump hit back in the way we all know of him – with a 118 in the following frame. It was an unfortunate match for Trump, because he didn’t actually make any critical mistakes that would normally lead to a frame loss. A couple of shots in the final two frames which left Wilson with a shot-to-nothing allowed him to make significant contributions, including an 88 to win the final.
This victory marks Wilson’s fourth ranking title as he journeys into the Champion of Champions as an event winner. What did you think of the Championship League?
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