Maximum man Kyren Wilson became only the third player to make five centuries in a first round match at the Crucible at he beat Ryan Day 10-5 at the Cazoo World Championship.
On what he will remember as one of the best days of his career, Wilson joined the elite Crucible 147 club, which has just eight other members, by making a maximum in the fifth frame. And the Kettering cueman joined Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Allen as the only players to register five tons in an opening round tie.
Wilson is in a purple patch of break-building form, having made six centuries in match of the same length at the recent Tour Championship, where he reached the final before losing to Shaun Murphy. His biggest goal in snooker is to win the world title and no one has played better over the first few days in Sheffield this time.
The world number seven now faces a potentially titanic second round clash with four-time champion John Higgins. That starts on Sunday and concludes on Monday afternoon.
Wilson was runner-up at the Crucible in 2020
Day trailed 6-3 going into tonight’s concluding session, and took the first frame with a break of 52 to pull one back. But there was little he could do as Wilson surged 9-4 ahead with runs of 120, 108 and 94.
In frame 15, Wilson had a chance to clear from 58-1 down, but missed the last red to a top corner, allowing Day to pull one back. But European Masters champion Wilson soon sealed the result with a 102 in frame 15.
“The 147 was absolutely unbelievable,” said five-time ranking event winner Wilson. “I usually try not to get carried away and keep things under wraps. But this morning I was beaming, it’s so nice to be a part of snooker history, that’s something money can’t buy. It’s one of the greatest achievements of my short career and something I will look back on when I’m an old man. To join that short list of players who have made a 147 at the Crucible is amazing.
“My wife Sophie told me our two kids were allowed to watch it at school and then they both came running out and gave her a big hug. It’s awesome for them because they are really getting into snooker.
“I have been very consistent for the last few months and I have managed to hold on to that form and to bring it here. I always really enjoy playing John Higgins, he is a proper snooker player and competing with him tests every part of your game.”
Welshman Day said: “Kyren played great. I don’t think I made all that many mistakes, but he punished any that I made. My season had good parts – winning British Open was great, it got me to a lot of big events and back up the rankings – but there were lots of not so good bits as well.”
On the other table, in-form Shaun Murphy faces a 5-4 overnight deficit against world number 80 Si Jiahui, the lowest ranked player in the field.
Fourth seed Murphy has won the Players Championship and Tour Championship in recent weeks, but after a bright start tonight he struggled to assert himself against Crucible debutant Si. They resume on Thursday at 7pm with Murphy needing six of the last ten frames to earn a second round meeting with Joe Perry or Robert Milkins.
Breaks of 131 and 72 put Murphy 2-0 up before China’s Si replied with a run of 87. Murphy, Crucible king in 2005, made a 92 to go 3-1 ahead but then lost his way after the interval as Si took four frames in a row with top breaks of 50 and 53. The last of the session went Murphy’s way, leaving the tie finely poised.
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