Kyren Wilson entered the semifinals of the Indian Open world-ranking snooker championship beating Thailand’s Akani Songsermsawad four frames to two at the HICC-Novotel here on Friday.
The 24-year-old Wilson, who won the recent Shanghai Masters, continued with his impressive form to get the better of a very attacking Thai opponent.
Clearly drawing from the experience of training with former world champion Peter Ebdon, who incidentally was playing his quarterfinal match on the adjacent table, Wilson showed his class in potting and cue-ball control.
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Wilson’s ability to switch from attack to safety was one of the factors which proved to be decisive.
Up 3-2, Wilson had the fortune of seeing his opponent miss a simple pink in the sixth frame with only the black on the table, and the Englishman wrapped up the issue in style.
Wilson later reflected on Songsermsawad’s miss, attributing it to the 20-year-old opponent’s inexperience at this level. “But, he is a very good player to watch out for,” he added.
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“It was obvious that we both had chances in the sixth frame. But, I am glad to enter the semis here,” Wilson remarked.
“And, it is great to train with someone like Ebdon as his experience is priceless to me.”
In another quarterfinal featuring two veterans, Nigel Bond put it across 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon, beating him 4-3 in a marathon match lasted close to four hours.
Earlier in the morning, Anthony McGill of Scotland knocked out reigning world snooker champion Stuart Bingham 4-0 in the pre-quarterfinal.
The results:
Quarterfinals: Kyren Wilson (Eng) bt Akani Songsermsawad (Thai) 56-22, 0-71(71), 18-78, 90(60)-8, 89-16, 50-49; Nigel Bond (Eng) bt Peter Ebdon (Eng) 54-65, 73-0, 76-38, 15-67, 6-72, 100(52)-4, 81-44.
Pre-quarterfinals: Nigel Bond (Eng) bt John Astley (Eng) 67-47, 71(55)-4, 4-75 (54), 93 (54)-12, 52-61, 61-58 (54); Akani Songsermsawad (Thai) bt Gary Wilson (Eng) 104 (104)-15, 81-53, 0-96 (96), 1-74 (54), 65-38, 58-26; Peter Edbon (Eng) bt Dominic Dale (Wales) 0-99 (91), 90-24, 64-0, 64-0, 97 (97)-0; Kyren Wilson (Eng) bt Martin Gould (Eng) 92 (60)-0, 91(91)-0, 45-77, 13-106 (81), 83 (83)-0, 81(73)-31;Anthony McGill (Scot) bt Stuart Bingham (Eng) 64(64)-63, 77 (65)-35, 79 (60)-10, 73 (72)-1; Shaun Murphy (Eng) bt Oliver Lines (Eng) 113(109)-18, 59-53, 48-71(58), 67 (65)-5, 47-55, 121 (101)-7; Stepen Maguire (Scot) bt Barry Hawkins (Eng) 0-91 (84), 69-57 (52), 72 (72)-3, 4-77, 104 (104)-4,0- 65 (58), 76 (68)-0; David Lilley (Eng) bt Robert Milkins (Eng) 85 (56)-9, 80-5, 27-64, 71 (51)-39, 51(51)-69, 61-6.