Advantage Wu Yize after fractious first day of World Championship final
Wu Yize came out firing at a fractious Crucible to establish a three-frame lead over Shaun Murphy ahead of Monday’s concluding sessions of the World Snooker Championship final in Sheffield.
The Chinese 22-year-old produced a stunning display of long potting and composed break-building to edge clear of the 2005 champion with a last-frame clearance of 91 handing him a deserved 10-7 advantage.
Frequent phone interruptions irritated Murphy, leading referee Rob Spencer to admonish the audience at the start of each session – and show no mercy by turfing out a spectator whose phone went off during the evening session.
Wu plainly stepped up a gear after appearing to show some ill effects from his late-night semi-final win over Mark Allen when the final began on Sunday afternoon, letting a hard-earned 3-0 lead dissolve into a 4-4 tie after the first eight frames.
Wu was suddenly looking fragile, missing easy shots and reluctant to go for his trademark long pots, and the experienced Murphy sensed weakness, powering in the first century of the final to extend Wu’s agony.
The Chinese player rallied in afternoon’s final frame, firing nine reds and eight blacks before jawing a black to the middle pocket and riding his luck as Murphy’s protracted search for snookers came to nothing.
Breaks of 82 and 103 saw him establish a 6-4 lead, and he retained his two-frame advantage at the interval after cancelling out Murphy’s well-taken response of 75 in the 11th frame.
Murphy continued to look ill at ease as Wu returned to extend his lead with another exhilarating break of 89, but the 43-year-old capitalised well on a fluked red with a break of 70 to arrest Wu’s surge.
Wu’s stunning assault on this year’s Crucible crown earned rich praise from Hendry, on punditry duties for the BBC, who said: “He’s just brilliant. He just plays the game properly. He just goes for his shots.”
Fellow multiple world champion Steve Davis added: “The game’s changing, and the likes of Wu Yize are changing the face of snooker by making it much more aggressive, and the players coming through, they’ve got to copy this, because you can’t play safe.”